Chattanooga 6, Tennessee Tech 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team posted a 6-1 win over Tennessee Tech at the Hixson Racquet Club today. The Mocs evened their record at 1-1 with a strong victory in a tight match that was much closer than the final score.
Leading 3-1 but even in all three of the remaining matches, Chattanooga needed one more singles win to grab the team victory. Junior Ankit Chopra battled to force a third set in his bout with Alejandro Bueno at No. 3, but quickly found himself down 5-2 in the final frame. He responded by running off five straight games to take the (2-6, 6-4, 7-5) victory.
With the outcome decided, juniors Jackson Tresnan and Chris Smith closed out the day with wins in their matches. Tresnan defeated Artem Taraspy (6-3, 7-6 (4)) at No. 4 and on the very next serve, Smith bested Alex Chen (3-6, 6-4, 6-2) at No. 2.
"We have matured a lot during the offseason," stated head coach Carlos Garcia. "It was nice to see us display that maturity on the court today. We closed out a lot of close matches and had guys come back from big deficits."
Smith, Chopra and freshman Pavels Grigorjevs all won three-set matches today. Grigorjevs won his first set, but was down 5-3 in his third before winning in a tiebreaker over Justin Kirstein (6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (4)).
Chattanooga set the tone early by winning the all-important doubles point. Chopra and junior Stephen Crofford won their match at No. 2 (8-3) over Taraspy and Vasily Eremeev. Grigorjevs and Tresnan teamed up to take the point with an 8-4 win against Bueno and Kirstein at No. 3.
Junior Roberto Vieira had an impressive (7-6 (3), 6-2) win over Syrym Abdukhailikov at No. 1. Abdukhailikov was once ranked as high and No. 548 in the world and has competed in the Davis Cup in his native Kazakhstan.
Chattanooga hits the road this weekend for a pair of matches at Murray State and Middle Tennessee. The Mocs face the Racers on Friday, Jan. 27 at 12:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) and the Blue Raiders on Sunday, Jan. 29 at Noon.
No. 44 Florida State 7, Furman 0
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. - The 44th-ranked Florida State men's tennis team defeated Furman, 7-0, Sunday afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla. The match made history as the first men's dual match held in the Florida State Indoor Tennis Facility.
The teams started the match with singles competition instead of playing the normal format of beginning the contest with doubles matches. The Seminoles swept the singles matches, with Jordan Kelly-Houston defeating junior Andrew Mellow, 7-5, 6-0, at number one, and Blake Davis beating sophomore Joel Cook, 6-0, 6-3, at number two. In the third singles match, Cristian Gonzalez Mendez posted a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over freshman Jacob Behal, and Andres Bucaro notched a 7-5, 6-2 victory over junior Robbie Aru in the fourth singles match. Jason Zafiros beat junior Tyler Droll, 6-2, 6-0, in the fifth singles spot, while Benjamin Lock came away with a 6-7(4), 6-2, 1-0 (11-9) win over freshman Ryan Miller at number six singles.
In doubles action, Kelly-Houston and Davis teamed up to defeat Mellow and Behal, 8-5, in the top doubles match, and Bucaro and Lock defeated Cook and Collins, 8-6, at number two doubles. Brian Alden and Zafiros beat senior Watson George and Droll, 8-3, in the third doubles contest.
Furman (0-4) will play at Alabama Febuary 11 at 10 a.m.
Davidson at Larsen Bowker Invite
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Davidson men's tennis team got a tune-up before they officially start their Spring season by competing in the Larsen Bowker Invitational held on the campus of Virginia Tech, Jan. 21-23.
In a flighted singles and doubles tournament format, the Wildcats played host Virginia Tech, Columbia and Middle Tennesse State over the weekend.
In singles play, freshman Nicky Kunz was the lone Wildcat to score a win. He opened his weekend with a three-set victory against MTSU, picking up a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 triumph in the flight B singles draw. The first-year player also went the distance against his Columbia opponent, falling 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.
Also competing in the "B" bracket was Joe Schafer, who opened his weekend with a three-set defeat, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Chris Mark and Calum Gee played in the flight A singles draw. Mark nearly came up with a win over Lucas Oliveria of Virginia Tech in his final day, falling in a three-set affair, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The flight C draw had Ethan Kallick, Robert Lightbourn, Connor Evins and Roger Irigoyen Berlanga each competing in it. Kallick and Lightbourn played tough first-round matches, with Kallick falling just short, 7-5, 7-5, while Lightbourn fell 6-3, 7-6. He came close to scoring a win on his final day, when he went to a third set against Marko Lovrinovic of Virginia Tech, but came up short in falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The Wildcats' doubles teams had a good showing over the weekend. The nationally ranked duo of Schafer and Gee picked up a pair of wins over Columbia (8-5) and MTSU (8-6).
Mark and Kunz also cruised to a opening-weekend win over MTSU, 8-2, in the flight A doubles draw.
Kallick and Evins along with Lightbourn and Irigoyen Berlanga each competed in the flight B bracket. Lightbourn and Irigoyen Berlanga picked up an 8-6 win to start the weekend. Kallick and Evins nearly won their first match, falling in a tie-breaker (7-4) to dropping a 9-8 match.
Davidson opens their home slate next against Gardner-Webb, Jan. 28 and then travels to South Carolina, Jan. 29.