January 22, 2012

Tennis team drops dual match with Chattanooga, 6-1

Tennessee Tech's season-opening weekend in Chattanooga didn't net any luck as the Golden Eagle tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to the UTC Mocs Sunday morning despite forcing several tie-breakers and third-set play.

HIXSON, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech's season-opening weekend in Chattanooga didn't net any luck for the Golden Eagle tennis team, which dropped a 6-1 decision to the UTC Mocs Sunday morning at the Hixson Racquet Club. Tech's record fell to 0-2 after a loss to No. 71 Radford Saturday night by the same score.

The match was very close on Sunday as the Golden Eagles forced three singles events into a third set before falling in all three. Tech also saw points decided in tie-breakers in the other three singles contests.

After UTC won two-of-three matches to claim a 1-0 lead with the doubles point, sophomore Vasily Eremeev gave the Golden Eagles a jump start by winning his no. 6 match and being the first player off the courts in singles action. Eremeev downed Stephen Crofford, 7-5, 6-2, knotting the match score at 1-1.

UTC regained the lead when Roberto Vieira downed Syrym Abduhkailikov, 7-6, 6-2 at no. 1 singles in the second singles action to reach a decision.

After that, the close calls all fell in Chattanooga's favor as the Mocs reeled off four more singles victories for the final margin.

Tech didn't go down without putting up a good fight, however.

At no. 2, Alex Chen earned a 6-3 win in the first set before Chris Smith rebounded to win the next two, 6-4 and 6-2 to capture his point. It was a similar tale at no. 3, where Ankit Chopra bounced back with 6-4 ad 7-5 wins after Tech's Alejandro Augusto Bueno had won the first set, 6-2.

Justin Kirstein also captured a set at no. 5 singles, winning the second round convincingly, 6-1. Kirstein came back after losing a 6-2 opening set to Pavels Grigorjevs, but couldn't finish. Grigorjevs won the clincher in the third set, 7-6.

The only other straight set match in singles play besides Eremeev's victory came when Jackson Tresnan of UTC defeated Artem Tarasov at no. 4 by a 6-3, 7-6 count.

In the doubles play to open the day's action, Abduhkailikov and Chen teamed up to claim an 8-6 win over Smith and Vieira at the no. 1 spot. It came too late, however, as UTC had already posted wins at nos. 2 and 3 to claim the point. At no. 2, Chopra and Crofford posted an 8-3 win over Eremeev and Tarasov, and down at the no. 3 position, Grigorjevs and Tresnan earned an 8-4 win over Bueno and Kirstein.

Tech heads to Memphis next weekend for two matches. On Friday, the Golden Eagles meet Memphis at 6 p.m., and on Saturday it's a 1 p.m. contest againt UNC Greensboro.