By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Having already captured a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship, the Tennessee Tech tennis team aims to take its next step in an already memorable year as the Golden Eagles search to seize the title outright with a pair of home matches over the weekend.
Tech (11-6, 7-0) will host Austin Peay Friday and Murray State Saturday, and a win over either school, would give TTU sole possession of the championship. Both matches are slated to begin at 1 p.m. CT. Saturday's tilt will also be the last home match in the careers of seniors Alex Arovin, Alvaro Cintas, Gagan Jain, and Othon Lima.
A program steeped in success with now four regular season titles in the last five years, the Golden Eagles have won 15-straight conference regular season matches behind a 7-0 OVC mark this year, and eight-straight nods to close out 2015.
Tech reached lucky number seven this season thanks to a pair of 6-1 wins up north last weekend, topping SIU Edwardsville on Apr. 8, and Eastern Illinois on Apr. 9. The two overwhelming victories continues a noteworthy trend for the 12 cast in purple and gold that has featured 6-1 wins in five of Tech's seven conference matches this spring.
Sophomore Eduardo Mena, who added two more singles wins to his belt over the weekend, bumped his spring record to an impressive 16-1 as the Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native maintains his status as a serious Player of the Year candidate.
Mena is also one of two Golden Eagles to roll out a perfect conference singles record, joining freshman Guillermo Nicolas, who is also 7-0. Sophomores Marcos Bernardes and Jorge Alfonzo accompany Tech's sterling youth brigade, with both compiling 6-1 OVC records.
Following two-straight losses to begin the 2016 conference campaign, Austin Peay (6-9, 5-2) has captured five-consecutive OVC wins after recently completing a successful three-match conference home stand that saw the Govs take out Murray State, Tennessee State, and Belmont.
Junior Manuel Montenegro has paced the Governors' squad with a 6-1 singles conference mark, while the doubles combination of Aleh Drobysh and Almantas Ozelis has not dropped an OVC affair with an unblemished 7-0 record.
The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series, 41-25, with the Govs, however Tech will be out for revenge after Austin Peay knocked them out of last year's OVC Tournament behind a 4-0 semi-finals victory in Nashville.
Murray State (3-20, 1-6) is coming off its first conference win of the year thanks to a 4-3 triumph over Tennessee State on Tuesday in a match that saw MSU capitalize on taking the doubles point en route to the narrow victory.
Sophomore Marcel Ueltzhoeffer and freshman Javier Villar are the only two Racers with a winning singles record in conference play, posting identical 4-3 records. In doubles action, the tandem of Villar and sophomore Srdjan Trosic has had some success with a 2-1 OVC mark.
MSU leads the all-time set, 32-27, with Tech, but TTU is on quite the roll against the Racers with 14-straight wins in the series.
Before Murray State makes its way to Cookeville, the Racers will tangle with Jacksonville State on Friday.
Admission to Friday and Saturday's matches at Tech Tennis Courts is free of charge.
