By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tech Tennis Courts will be the epicenter of the Ohio Valley Conference tennis world over the weekend as three OVC clubs with a combined conference record 10-1 will clash in Cookeville. The Tennessee Tech tennis team hosts undefeated Morehead State Friday at 1 p.m. CT, before hooking up with Eastern Kentucky Saturday at 1 p.m.
Saturday's matchup pits the co-preseason No. 1 ranked teams against each other after both the Golden Eagles (7-6, 3-0) and Colonels (14-10, 3-1) deadlocked for the top spot when the polls were released back in early February. TTU and EKU finished last season as co-regular season champions.
The Golden Eagles return home where they are a perfect 2-0 this season, and over the last seven seasons, TTU is 27-3 at Tech Tennis Courts.
Tennessee Tech has carried last year's momentum into the spring, thanks to three-straight wins to christen its 2016 conference campaign. Following a pair of 6-1 wins in Nashville with nods over Tennessee State and Belmont, Tech continued its OVC road show with a 5-2 victory at Jacksonville State on Saturday to improve to 3-0 in conference action.
The usual suspects were at play in Saturday's triumph over the Gamecocks, with both Eduardo Mena and Guillermo Nicolas capturing singles wins to each move to 3-0 in conference play. Junior Alberto Esteban and sophomore Marcos Bernardes registered singles nods as well, both bumping their conference marks to 2-1.
Overall, Mena has been nearly unblemished this spring as the Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native boasts as 12-1 singles record in 2016.
Morehead State (5-7, 4-0) marches to Cookeville with an undefeated OVC record after accomplishing a perfect Nashville road swing with a pair of 4-3 wins at Tennessee State and Belmont over the weekend.
In singles action, sophomore Sabastian Penaloza tops the Eagles squad with a 5-2 mark, while the doubles combination of senior Gabriel Ruiz and junior Ritchie Kruunenberg lead the MSU charge with a 7-2 record this spring.
Tech has controlled the all-time series between the two schools with a 40-11 advantage in the all-time set, including wins in the last 10 meetings.
Before EKU tangles with TTU, the Colonels will be at Jacksonville State Friday morning in search of the club's fourth OVC win of the year. Eastern Kentucky won two out of three in Nashville last weekend, seizing a non-conference nod over Lipscomb after splitting its OVC matches with a loss at Belmont and a win at TSU.
With already 24 matches under their belt this spring, two Colonels have at least 14 singles wins as junior Diogo Soares has collected a 14-6 mark thus far, and senior Florian Graskamp displays a 16-5 record.
Tennessee Tech leads the all-time series, 49-20, with the Colonels, but EKU has won two-straight and three of the last four.
Admission to Friday and Saturday's matches at Tech Tennis Courts is free of charge.
