By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Armed with already one of its best seasons in program history, the Tennessee Tech tennis team is ready to take its show to a stage where the lights are brightest and the stakes are raised. The Golden Eagles are off to the 2016 NCAA Championship, slated to clash with No. 5 Ohio State Saturday at the Varsity Outdoor Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio as part of the opening-round of the tournament.
Tech (15-6) will face off with the Buckeyes (30-2) at 12 p.m. CT, while No. 23 Kentucky (19-9) and Virginia Tech (17-8), the other two teams in the region, kick start Saturday's action with a 9 a.m. beginning. The two winners will meet Sunday at 11 a.m. CT for the right to advance to the Sweet 16. The losers will call it a season in the tourney's single elimination format.
Live scoring throughout the weekend will be available. Click here to follow.
TTU marches back into the field of 64 for the first time since 2006, a season the capped off a stretch of three national championship appearances in a four-year span. Overall, Tech will make its seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament.
This year's Golden Eagles took down the tandem of conference titles behind a regular season OVC championship as well as an OVC Tournament championship to propel the Purple and Gold to the national setting. In fact, Tech ran the table to the tune of a perfect, 9-0, conference record during the regular season, the program's third undefeated campaign in the last five years. Overall, TTU has seized four of the last five regular season titles and this spring's 15 wins are the most since 2008.
Sophomore Eduardo Mena, the OVC's Player of the Year, spearheaded the Tech charge thanks to a 20-1 dual record and a 33-5 overall mark dating back to the fall. The Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native's 33 victories are the most in school history. Mena was also one of two Golden Eagles to roll out a perfect OVC record, joining freshman Guillermo Nicolas, who went 9-0 as well.
Nicolas captured the conference's Freshman of the Year award with an 18-3 dual record, in addition to accompanying Mena and junior Alberto Esteban on the first-team All-OVC squad. Senior Alex Arovin secured a spot on the second team.
Doing a bulk of his work out the bottom of the lineup, sophomore Marcos Bernardes collected a 14-3 dual record, going 8-1 in the OVC, while fellow sophomore Jorge Alfonzo registered a 7-1 conference mark.
Ohio State is off to the NCAA Championship for the 17th time in program history, posting an overall tournament record of 41-16 with its best ending being a runner-up finish back in 2009. The hosting honors will mark the 11th-straight season that the Buckeyes have welcomed schools to Columbus for the national championship.
OSU seized both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, going undefeated throughout conference action. Sophomore Mikael Torpegaard has paved the way for the Buckeyes, boasting a 23-0 spring record en route to being named the Big Ten Player of the Year. The Virum, Denmark native is currently the No. 1 ranked singles player in the country.
Saturday's matchup will be the first all-time meeting between Tennessee Tech and Ohio State. The Golden Eagles are 3-10 all-time against Kentucky and are winless in five chances against Virginia Tech.
Stay posted to ttusports.com as well as the Tech Athletics Facebook and Twitter for continuous updates on all things Golden Eagle tennis.
