By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A trip to the Sunshine State and a pair of weekend matches is on tap for the Tennessee Tech tennis team, as the Golden Eagles will cruise to Tallahassee for back-to-back battles with No. 18 Florida State and Buffalo. Tech is set to tangle with the hometown Seminoles in a Saturday get-together at 2 p.m. CT, before ending the weekend with a Sunday neutral-site meeting against Buffalo at 9 a.m.
Both clashes will take place at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on the campus of Florida State. Live stats is available for both contests. Click here to view Tech vs. Florida State. Click here to view Tech vs. Buffalo.
A look at Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles (1-3) will hit the courts for the first time in nearly two weeks following the club's first victory of the season with a 6-1 nod at Appalachian State on Feb. 9. The match with the Mountaineers featured five singles wins, with solo nods by Evzen Holis, Carlos Vicente, Elias Grubert, Riku Kubota and Lucca Silva. Holis and Vicente teamed up for a doubles triumph, while the TTU tandem of Marc Mila and Rafael Tosetto was also victorious to help Tech clinch the doubles point.
Grubert is paving the way with a team-leading 3-1 singles record, one of two Golden Eagles with a winning solo ledger in the season's early stages. Riku Kubota heads to Florida with a 2-1 mark under his belt. Freshman Evzen Holis has looked sharp to begin his collegiate career with a 2-2 singles record, highlighted by a 1-0 mark out of the No. 2 spot.
TTU's tilt with No. 18 Florida State continues an early-season trend that has featured more than a fair share of sturdy competition. In fact, Saturday's contest will mark the fourth time in five matches in which the Golden Eagles have locked up with a nationally ranked foe. Tech began the year with back-to-back losses at No. 21 Mississippi State and also checked the defeat column against No. 7 Wake Forest.
A look at Florida State
The No. 18-ranked Seminoles (7-2) have not lost at home this year with a perfect 5-0 record in Tallahassee, while the club's only two losses overall have come at the hands of the nation's top two ranked teams. FSU fell 4-0 at No. 1 Texas on Jan. 26 and was tripped up with a 4-1 loss to No. 2 Florida on Feb. 1.
Rana Roop Bhullar possesses the best singles record with a 6-1 resume, doing the bulk of the work toward the bottom of the lineup with five of his six wins coming out of the No. 5 and No. 6 slots. Alex Knaff has impressed out of the No. 1 position with a 5-2 record out of the top spot in the singles lineup.
Saturday's meeting will be the seventh get-together in the all-time series. FSU leads 5-1, with the two teams last locking up in 2009, a 4-2 Seminoles nod. Tech's lone win came back in 2001 behind a 4-3 triumph in Tallahassee.
A look at Buffalo
Before battling Tech, the Bulls (2-3) will test the waters with the hometown Seminoles at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday. After dropping its first two matches of 2020, Buffalo bounced back with consecutive, 7-0, victories against St. Bonaventure and Niagara, but was unable to make it three in a row after falling 6-1 at Penn State in the club's last match on Feb. 8.
William Fridell, Matthew Johnson and Hao Sheng Koay have paced the squad with identical 3-2 singles records. Fridell has appeared in the No. 1 slot more than any other Bull, going 2-2 out of that position. Sheng Koay has proven to be the most effective player out of the No. 2 position behind a 3-1 mark in those appearances.
Sunday's matchup will be the first ever meeting between Tech and Buffalo.
Photo by Tony Marable
