Men's tennis team meets strong Middle Tennessee team in Nashville
O'Brien looks to continue winning start
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Sophomore Dean O'Brien looks to continue his
winning ways Friday night when he leads the Tennessee Tech men's
tennis team against Middle Tennessee State in a dual match in
Nashville.
Individually, O'Brien is 3-0 this spring, posting a pair of wins at
No. 1 singles and one victory in his only doubles contest.
The Golden Eagles, playing for first-year head coach Dan
Silverstein, are looking to post their first win after falling last
week at Florida A&M and Florida State to get the spring
schedule underway. Tech's singles lineup includes three freshmen
and three sophomores.
Following O'Brien in Tech's lineup will be freshman Alex Chen at
No. 2 singles and freshman Oscar Pachon at No. 3. The bottom half
of the lineup features sophomore Josh Girling at No. 4, freshman
Justin Kirstein at No. 5 and sophomore Mario Gutierrez at No.
6.
"This will be a really good test for our team," said Silverstein.
"Middle Tennessee has a strong team, they're well-coached, and
they're opening the season so they're anxious to play.
"We played well in our match at Florida State, and we've had a good
week of practice, so we're ready to go," he said. "The early part
of our schedule presents some outstanding challenges to such a
young team, but that's what these guys want. They want to play the
best competition they can."
The Blue Raiders will have a quick turnaround in their opening
weekend playing Tech directly after a 1 p.m. match against
Chattanooga.
"It is Dan Sliverstein's first year at Tennessee Tech but he came
from a very good South Alabama program," said MTSU coach Dan
McNamara. "He has seen our team play a lot over the years and knows
our team well. Tech has some very good players and we need to be
ready for a battle."
