By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A new postseason scene, but a familiar fate for the Tennessee Tech tennis team, as the Golden Eagles cruised to a 4-0 quarterfinal win over Northern Kentucky in Tech's first-ever showing in the Horizon League's Men's Tennis Championship.
Having ended its run in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in dominant fashion behind championships in five of the last six OVC tourneys played, Tech (8-13) displayed more of the same in Friday's shutout victory over the Norse to mark the seventh-straight year in which the Golden Eagles have won at least one postseason match and the eighth-straight spring Tech will play in a conference tournament semifinal.
The Golden Eagles breezed through doubles play in jumping out to an early lead over NKU (12-11), with the purple and gold picking up nods in both completed tandem duals. Tech's No. 2 combo of Evzen Holis and Pol Masafret took down Brando Ponomarew and Santiago Casamayor 6-2 and Paulo Ramos Martin and Jaime Paquet mirrored that margin with a 6-2 win of their own over Tom Berry and Trevor Ball in the No. 3 meeting.
The No. 1 battle pitting Elias Grubert and Mika Berghaus against Bartosz Losiak and Josef Zapletal did not finish.
Leading 1-0, TTU used singles action to power its way to the finish line thanks to victories in all three completed clashes. Berghaus rolled to a 6-3, 6-3 triumph against Nick Nienhaus in the No. 1 slot, while Grubert took home a 6-3, 6-4 nod over Ponomarew in the No. 2 get-together and Holis secured a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Losiak in the No. 3 affair.
With the quarterfinal match in hand, the other three solo tilts did not finish, however the Golden Eagles did capture a set in all three matchups. Ramos Martin took the first set 7-5 over Casamayor in the No. 4 dual before the second set did not finish with the Golden Eagle freshman down 4-3.
Masafret seized a 6-3 first-set win against Zapletal in the No. 5 meeting, but was tripped up 6-3 in the second set. The third set concluded with Zapletal leading 2-1. Paquet dropped the first set 6-3 to Emilio Bravo in the No. 6 tangle, but bounced back with a 7-5 triumph in the second set before it was called.
With its first-ever Horizon League Men's Tennis Championship win in its back pocket, Tech will set its sights on a semifinal contest against the North Division's top seed Cleveland State on Saturday, The Vikings lost just once during Horizon League action, rolling off a 7-1 conference mark and have won 18 of the last 22 matches overall. First serve from the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. is set for 2 p.m. CT.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
