By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A big weekend is on the books for the Tennessee Tech tennis team, as the Golden Eagles are set to greet Eastern Illinois in Saturday's OVC opener in Cookeville, before traveling to the University of Alabama for a Sunday evening showdown with the Crimson Tide. Saturday's conference clash with the Panthers is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. CT and admission at Tech Tennis Courts is free of charge. Sunday's affair at Alabama is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. CT.
A live stream will be available for Sunday's contest. Click here to watch. Live stats will also be available on Sunday. Click here to view.
A look at Tennessee Tech
After playing their first 10 matches on the road, the Golden Eagles (2-9) proved it was worth the wait for their 2022 home opener behind a thrilling 4-3 comeback win over Chattanooga on Thursday. Despite playing shorthanded and having to essentially forfeit two points with only five available Golden Eagles, Tech showcased its resiliency with wins in four-of-five completed singles matchups en route to the victory.
Down 3-2 late in the match, Elias Grubert registered a three-set nod in the top solo spot to square the score at 3-3, before Andre Rodeia put the finishing touches on the captivating comeback with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 triumph in the No. 3 position to push the purple and gold to their second win of the spring. Mika Berghaus and Jun Sasagawa were responsible for the other two Golden Eagle points with wins in each of their respective singles meetings.
Rodeia's victory was his team-leading fourth this season, while Berghaus and Grubert each have three solo nods. Berghaus and Grubert's three doubles triumphs are also the most on the club.
Saturday's matchup with Eastern Illinois is the first of four conference contests this year. Tech was selected to win the title in the preseason poll as voted on by the OVC's five head coaches. The Golden Eagles have won seven of the league's last nine regular-season championships.
Sunday's matchup with Alabama will continue a trend of tough non-conference competition that has featured tilts with six nationally-ranked opponents and will now be a sixth against a "Power 5" school.
A look at Eastern Illinois
The Panthers (3-16) come to Cookeville with just three wins under their belt this spring and are 0-13 in true away contests. The club topped Bellarmine 4-3 in a neutral-site clash in West Lafayette, Ind. and also picked up a pair of 7-0 home nods over St. Francis and Rose-Hulman.
Thomas Wallace is the EIU leader with seven singles victories, doing a bulk of the work from the bottom of the lineup with two wins out of the No. 5 spot and five victories out of the No. 6 slot. Charles Courteau has six solo nods, all out of the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. Wallace and Christs Kyrillou have been a formidable force during doubles play with an 8-5 tandem ledger that has seen the pair go an impressive 7-1 out of the top spot.
EIU was picked to finish fourth in the OVC's predicted order of finish after going 1-4 in conference action last spring.
A look at Alabama
Before hosting the Golden Eagles, the Crimson Tide (6-14, 0-6 SEC) will host No. 24 Texas A&M on Friday and Arkansas earlier in the day on Sunday in back-to-back SEC contests. Alabama is coming off a 6-1 win against Tennessee State in Nashville on Mar. 27.
Filip Planinsek and Enzo Aguiard both have double-digit singles wins, with Planinsek boasting a team-best 11-8 mark, all out of the No. 1 position and Aguiard going 10-8 this year, with a 7-7 out of the No. 2 slot. Aguiard and Joe Ferreira have the most doubles victories with an 8-9 tandem account this spring, going 6-8 in the No. 2 position and 2-1 in the No. 3 spot.
Inside the series
Tennessee Tech has taken 21 of 22 meetings in the all-time series against Eastern Illinois. EIU's lone victory in the set came Mar. 22, 2014 in Charleston thanks to a 5-2 triumph. Tech has not dropped a point in the last four meetings, which includes a 7-0 nod last spring in Charleston.
Alabama has captured five-of-six meetings in the head-to-head matchups with Tech. TTU's lone win in the series came the first time the two locked up with a Golden Eagle 6-3 win in Tuscaloosa on May 3, 1971. The Tide won both matches of a doubleheader last spring behind a 7-0 victory and a 4-0 win.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
