By Dylan Vazzano, Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Another array of matches is set to rain down on the Tennessee Tech tennis team, one that will see the Golden Eagles in action for three-straight days over the weekend. Tech (3-2) will take its act down to the Sunshine State as the Golden Eagles will hook up with Central Florida Friday at noon C.T. and Florida Gulf Coast Saturday at 6 p.m., before ending its trio of tilts with a Sunday 10 a.m. neutral site match against Charlotte that will be played in Fort Myers.
The busy stretch will mark the second time in the last three weeks in which TTU will play three matches in three days over the weekend, following a pair down in Chattanooga Feb. 3-4 against the Mocs and Georgia Southern, and a Feb. 5 meeting at the University of Tennessee. This weekend's affairs will be the final time during the regular season in which the Golden Eagles will play three matches in three days.
Tech is coming off its best win of the season last Saturday behind a 6-1 victory at UNC Asheville that snapped a four-match slide against the Bulldogs. Juniors Marcos Bernardes and Jorge Alfonozo, sophomore Guillermo Nicolas, and freshman Marc Mila each collected wins in doubles and singles play for a perfect afternoon.
Bernardes' pair of nods, both out of the No. 2 spot, pushed the Brasilia, Brazil native to his first career OVC Player of the Week honor. Overall, the 5-foot-9 junior is 3-0 in doubles play and 2-2 in singles action this spring.
Bernardes has set the Tech bar in the doubles circuit, while fellow junior Eduardo Mena is TTU's leader in singles victories this season with a 4-1 overall record, with all five matches coming out of the No. 1 slot for the nation's 66th ranked player.
UCF (4-1) will welcome Tech to Orlando after a lengthy hiatus that hasn't seen the Knights in action since a 7-0 sweep of Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 29. UCF did not drop a set in all six singles matchups with the Wildcats, and in only one of the 12 sets did Bethune-Cookman score at least three points.
Junior Korey Lovett is a perfect 5-0 in singles play out of the No. 1 spot, one of two Knights with at least two wins that are undefeated, joining senior Chris Barrus, who is 4-0.
UCF has won all three previous meetings in the series with TTU, the last of which occurred in 2008, a 5-2 Knights nod.
Before its get together with Tech on Saturday, FGCU (2-2) will host Charlotte Friday evening with the Eagles eyeing the chance to hand Charlotte (5-3) its fourth-straight loss this spring after a 5-0 start. FGCU possesses two players with an above .500 singles record as Oliver Landert and Mateo Ruiz both enter the weekend at 2-1. Both players are also atop the Eagles' doubles leader board with 3-1 marks.
FGCU bested Tech in last year's meeting, a 5-2 win in the only matchup in the all-time series.
After outscoring its opponents 24-3 in its first five matches of the spring, Charlotte has been upended in three-straight with losses at South Alabama, Mercer and Georgia Southern. Sam Rice and Alejando Garcia Moreno have set the 49ers' singles pace with identical 6-2 records, with all eight matches for Rice out of the No. 1 slot.
Freshmen Max Benaim and Constandinos Christoforou have led Charlotte's doubles charge with 5-2 records in their rookie campaigns.
Sunday's meeting will mark the first in the all-time series between the 49ers and Golden Eagles.
Photo by Jim Dillon
