By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech tennis team is out west and in the Golden State for the start of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, locking up with No. 10 Cal in the first round of the championship. Making their second-straight appearance in the big dance, the Golden Eagles will connect with the eight-seeded Golden Bears on Friday at 3 p.m. CT from the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley, Calif.
Tech (13-6) will square off with Cal (18-7) in the day's second match, with No. 21 Northwestern and No. 45 Utah State slated to do battle in the afternoon's early action, a 12 p.m. CT tilt to kick off the start of the region. The two winners will take aim Saturday at 5 p.m. CT for the right to advance to the national quarterfinals on May 18 from the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. Friday's losers will call it a season in the single elimination format.
A live stream of the matches will be available. Click here to watch.
The Golden Eagles are back in the field of 64 for the second year in a row, following an appearance in Columbus against Ohio State in 2016, a match that featured a stellar performance by Eduardo Mena. The two-time OVC Player of the Year led the No. 1 player in the country, Mikael Torpegaard, seizing the first set, before leading in the second at the time the match was called.
This year's TTU squad secured its spot on the national stage thanks to another championship draped campaign that saw the Golden Eagles seize both the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament championship. Tech claimed its fifth regular season title in the last six years, the fourth undefeated voyage through the conference slate over that same stretch, behind a conference run in which TTU outscored its opponents 40-2 in six matches.
In the conference tourney, Tech flexed its muscles to the tune of two-straight victories, defeating Belmont, 4-1, in the semifinals and Eastern Kentucky, 4-0, in the championship bout.
Fresh off another OVC Player of the Year accolade, junior Eduardo Mena enters the NCAA Tournament on a roll having won 13-straight singles matches, heading to Berkeley with an eye-popping 17-2 record this spring.
Sophomore Guillermo Nicolas, who claimed a spot on the All-OVC second team is on an almost equally impressive heater, having seized nine-straight singles nods. Senior Alberto Esteban, a first teamer in the conference, has captured three singles wins in a row and is 8-1 in his last nine bouts.
Cal wrapped up the regular season in second place in the Pac-12 with a 5-1 conference mark. The Bears were upended in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championships, falling 4-1 to USC. No. 12 Florian Lakat, a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week has spent a bulk of the time on the No. 1 court with a 12-7 singles mark out of the top spot, going 19-10 overall.
Senior Andre Goransson heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 24-11 overall singles mark, going 10-7 out of the No. 2 slot. Senior Filip Bergevi has teamed up with Florian Lakat to make up Cal's most formidable doubles tandem as the pair has combined for a 21-6 record, including 13-4 out of the top position.
The Bears are making their 36th total trip to the NCAA Tournament and 18thconsecutive. Friday's meeting will be the first ever between Tech and Cal.
Photo by Tony Marable
