By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Playing in its fifth NCAA Tournament over the last six full seasons, the Tennessee Tech tennis team came up short in the opening round of Regional action, as the Golden Eagles fell 4-0 at No. 6 Tennessee Friday afternoon from the Goodfriend Tennis Center.
The host Vols (23-7) secured the doubles point to jump out to an early 1-0 edge over the purple and gold, before picking up three more points in singles play to officially clinch the contest. UT will greet No. 21 Duke on Saturday in the tourney's second round.
Tech's season concludes with an 8-13 overall mark, a second-place finish in the OVC's regular season and the program's 11th OVC Tournament title.
Two of the three tandem tilts went right down to the wire in the match's early stages. The Golden Eagle duo of Carlos Vicente and Rafael Tosetto was ousted 6-4 by Johannus Monday and Mark Wallner in the No. 3 position, while the top tangle pitting Elias Grubert and Mika Berghaus against Adam Walton and Pat Harper did not conclude with Grubert and Berghaus trailing 5-4.
Emile Hudd and Shunsuke Mitsui collected a 6-2 victory over Evzen Holis and Jun Sasagawa in the No. 2 matchup on the way to helping UT secure the doubles point.
The Vols went on to notch nods in three of the six completed singles bouts to reserve a spot in Saturday's matchup against the Blue Devils with a place in the Super Regionals at stake. The club's top two solo competitors, both ranked in the nation's top 10, rolled out wins over Tech's top two in straight sets. No. 3 Adam Walton secured a 6-2, 6-0 decision against Elias Grubert in the No. 1 battle and No. 10 Johannus Monday took home a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Mika Berghaus in the No. 2 get-together.
Prata Martim rounded out Tennessee's trio of singles wins behind a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Andre Rodeia in the No. 6 meeting.
Evzen Holis seized the first set over Pat Harper thanks to a 7-6 (7-5) nod in the No. 5 slot, but the match was halted in the No. 2 set, one of three singles showdowns that did not finish. Carlos Vicente and Rafael Tosetto were on the short end of two highly-contested opening sets, with Vicente falling 7-6 (7-3) in the No. 3 clash against No. 74 Emile Hudd and Tosetto tripped up 7-6 (7-2) by Shunsuke Mitsui in the No. 4 connection.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
