By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Ohio Valley Conference play has arrived for the Tennessee Tech tennis, as the Golden Eagles unwrap the rapid five-match voyage with a Friday afternoon trip to Belmont for the league opener. First serve from the Belmont Tennis Complex in Nashville is slated for 1 p.m. CT.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fan attendance at Belmont home tennis matches will be restricted to a small number of family members of the Belmont tennis team players.
A look at Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles head into the first conference clash scorching behind three wins in their back pocket. Tech (3-5) has shown its flair for the dramatic of late, capturing all three contests by 4-3 margins with victories at Kennesaw State (Mar. 7), vs. Radford (Mar. 11) and at Chattanooga (Mar. 16). Tuesday's triumph at UTC came down to the final singles battle, and with everything on the line in the No. 1 position, Carlos Vicente collected a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 nod to push the purple and gold into the win column.
Vicente enters the OVC opener with three straight singles victories, all out of the top spot in Tech's lineup. The Valencia, Spain product is one of three Golden Eagles with three solo wins this spring, joining Elias Grubert and Andre Rodeia as the club leaders.
As far as doubles play is concerned, the tandem of Evzen Holis and Jun Sasagawa leads the team with four wins, highlighted by three out of the top slot in the TTU lineup. The duo of Grubert and Rafael Tosetto have been sharp as well with a 3-1 record out of the No. 3 position.
Tech marches into the league opener having won seven of the last nine regular-season titles to go along with four straight OVC Tournament championships. The Golden Eagles are the first four-peat tournament winner since Middle Tennessee claimed eight consecutive titles in the early to late 90s. TTU is the only team out of the current six league members that has ever won four championships in a row.
Tech was selected to win the regular-season crown in the OVC's predicted order of finish as voted on by the league's head coaches. Tech received five out of six first-place votes.
A look at Belmont
Similar to the Golden Eagles, the Bruins (6-1) enter Friday's league opener on a hot streak as well having won six straight following a season-opening loss at Vanderbilt on Jan. 31. Belmont's six-match surge marks the second consecutive season in which the Bruins have rattled off six in a row after the club won eight straight in 2020 before the rest of the year was canceled due to COVID-19.
Senior Marko Illic, who was chosen as the top player in the OVC's preseason rankings, has gone 5-2 out of the No. 1 slot in singles play this spring. The Zagreb, Croatia native is coming a solo win Tuesday over Lipscomb for his 50th career singles triumph to tie for ninth in program history. Junior Arthur Toledo is 6-0 this spring out of the No. 2 spot, while freshman Diego Castro possesses a 5-1 singles record, highlighted by a 3-1 mark out of the No. 5 position.
Illic and Taisei Miyamoto have proven to be the squad's most formidable doubles duo thanks to a 6-1 ledger, all out of the top spot in the Belmont order. Castro and Tomas Luis have teamed up to go 4-1 out of the No. 2 slot.
Inside the series
Tech leads the all-time series 17-10, but Belmont has seized two of the last three matchups. The Bruins took home a 4-3 win in Cookeville on Mar. 23, 2019 the last time the two squads faced off. The Golden Eagles captured the last OVC Tournament showdown with a thrilling 4-3 nod in the championship match in Nashville on Apr. 22, 2018.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
