By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech tennis team is now within an eyelash of reaching the pinnacle after knocking off No . 4 Jacksonville State, 4-2, in Saturday's semifinal action at the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament from the Centennial Sportsplex Tennis Center. The top-seeded Golden Eagles (14-6, 9-0) will play for all the marbles come Sunday morning, taking on No. 2 Eastern Kentucky in the championship match at 10 a.m. CT with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Despite dropping the doubles point to the Gamecocks (10-15), Tech took care of business in singles play, soaring to the tune of victories in four of the five affairs to take a stranglehold of the match. Sophomore Eduardo Mena, the OVC's Player of the Year, needed only two sets to dispose of senior Pedro Wagner, capturing the No. 1 battle with a 6-3, 6-4 nod for the Bultrago del Lozoya, Spain native's 13th straight singles win.
Mena's two-set winner would prove to be the only one of the match as the other four singles tilts went right down to the wire, needing three sets apiece for their conclusion.
Guillermo Nicolas, the OVC's Freshman of the Year, used a huge final set to slide past fellow freshman Vinicio Hadlich in the No. 4 spot, seizing the finale 6-0 after winning the first set, 6-2, before Hadlich took down the second one, 6-4.
Junior Alberto Esteban, an All-OVC first teamer, edged junior Mathias Chaim in the No. 3 slot, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3, while sophomore Marcos Bernardes topped freshman Andres Gomez in the No. 5 position, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
JSU's lone singles nod came in the No. 2 spot, using a Jaryd Reese 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over senior Alex Arovin, an All-OVC second teamer. Sophomore Jorge Alfonzo's clash against freshman Shao Chun Liu in the No. 6 slot did not finish.
The Gamecocks collected early momentum in the match behind a grasp of the doubles point, taking two of the three tilts. The tandem of Andres Gomez and Shao Chun Liu took down Alex Arovin and Alberto Esteban, 6-2, in the No. 1 slot, and the duo of Pedro Wagner and Mathias Chaim notched a 6-4 win over Jorge Alfonzo and Guillermo Nicolas in the No. 3 spot.
Eduardo Mena and Marcos Bernardes collected a 6-3 victory against Jaryd Reese and Austin McCormick in the No. 2 position.
Catapulted into the championship bout, the Golden Eagles will look to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006. Tech defeated Eastern Kentucky in its regular season contest, a 5-2 win in Cookeville on Apr. 2.
