The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 late night match to Tennessee Tech Tuesday evening. The Mocs had their four-match winning streak snapped by the Golden Eagles at McCallie's Strang-Voges Tennis Center tonight.
The dual was originally scheduled for an afternoon first serve, but rain in the area forced the event indoors with an 8:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) start time. The loss moved UTC to 4-6 overall, while TTU won for the third time in a row and is now 3-5 on the year.
Chattanooga opened by taking a hard-fought doubles point. Sophomore Kerim Hyatt and freshman Jeffery Dewald secured the 1-0 lead with a win in a tiebreaker over Elias Grubert and Rafael Tosetto (7-6) at No. 3. It was the third win in a row for Hyatt and Dewald.
UTC opened with a 6-2 win when Senior Turner Voges and sophomore Simon Labbe won their in a row at No. 2 over Carlos Vicente and Mika Berghaus.
The Mocs dropped the first set in five of the six singles matches, allowing Tennessee Tech to grab a 2-1 lead with wins at No. 4 and No. 6. Voges tied the score with a (7-5, 6-4) win over Evzen Holis at No. 2.
After the Golden Eagles moved back ahead with a win at No. 5, Hyatt tied it again at 3-3 with a three-set (2-6, 7-5, 6-2) win over Grubert at No. 3. It was Hyatt's sixth win in a row in singles play.
That left the No. 1 match as the decider between UTC sophomore Tomas Rodriguez and TTU's Vicente. Vicente won the first frame 7-5, but Rodriguez came back to take the second 6-4. Vicente put some distance between himself and Rodriguez early in the third to secure the win (7-5, 4-6, 6-2).
Up next for the Mocs is a road trip to Georgia State on Sunday, March 21. UTC faces the Panthers in Atlanta at Noon (E.D.T.). A link for live scoring is available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.
Tennessee Tech 4, Chattanooga 3
3/16/2021 at Chattanooga, Tenn. (Strang-Voges Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
1. SASAGAWA, Jun/HOLIS, Evzen (TTU) def. Tomas Rodriguez/Peyton Gatti (UTC) 6-4
2. Turner Voges/Simon Labbe (UTC) def. VICENTE, Carlos/BERGHAUS, Mika (TTU) 6-2
3. Kerim Hyatt/Jeffrey Dewald (UTC) def. GRUBERT, Elias/TOSETTO, Rafael (TTU) 7-6
Singles competition
1. VICENTE, Carlos (TTU) def. Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
2. Turner Voges (UTC) def. HOLIS, Evzen (TTU) 7-5, 6-4
3. Kerim Hyatt (UTC) def. GRUBERT, Elias (TTU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
4. TOSETTO, Rafael (TTU) def. Jeffrey Dewald (UTC) 6-0, 6-2
5. RODEIA, Andre (TTU) def. Simon Labbe (UTC) 6-4, 6-4
6. SASAGAWA, Jun (TTU) def. Peyton Gatti (UTC) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
Match Notes
Tennessee Tech 2-5
Chattanooga 4-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,6,2,5,3,1)