“If you look back to when we got those football national championships, it almost feels a little bit like some glory days of Georgia athletics,” said women’s tennis coach Drake Bernstein, whose team won both the ITA National Indoor Championships in February and the NCAA Championships in May. “And this year kind of obviously feels exceptional with what equestrian and track did, also. So just being in the same sentence as other national champions and, I don’t know, playing a role in making this year special for UGA athletics is a big deal for all of us over here.”

For tennis, an experienced roster achieved something it had chipped away at for years, losing in the round of 16 in 2022, advancing to the final four in 2023, losing in the finals in 2024 and now going out on top at NCAAs.

Also beneficial was the Bulldogs prioritizing women’s sports, per Bernstein.

Women’s sports at Georgia are no stranger to championships — think 10 national championships for the gymnastics team, including five in a row from 2005-2009 under coach Suzanne Yoculan — and strong attendance.

The Gym Dawgs sold out Stegeman Coliseum in their win vs. Boise State in January (attendance: 10,224), and this past softball season featured a season attendance record at Jack Turner Stadium (52,704 total fans). In October, Georgia volleyball drew 8,376 at its 3-2 win vs. South Carolina at Stegeman, breaking the record for the largest crowd to watch an NCAA volleyball game in the state.