February 18, 2012

Golden Eagles head to Louisville to face No. 35 ranked Cardinals

The Tennessee Tech tennis team comes off a two-week layoff to face the Louisville Cardinals Saturday afternoon. Louisville was listed No. 35 in the latest ITA rankings.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech tennis team has not played in two full weeks, thanks to weather forcing a postponement of last weekend's home match. On Saturday afternoon, coach Kenny Doyle's team is slated to return to action, and the Golden Eagles have a substantial challenge facing them -- they play at No. 35 Louisville.

The match against the Cardinals is scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Louisville hosts Belmont Saturday at 10 a.m. before facing the Golden Eagles in the late afternoon.

Louisville enters the day with a 5-4 record in dual matches following a 5-1 win over Clemson on Monday. The Cardinals saw their 31-match homecourt winning streak snapped last week with a loss to No. 3 Ohio State, and are anxious to begin a new string of victims.

Louisville opened the spring schedules with convincing wins over Xavier, Austin Peay and Maryland before dropping three straight to Washington, VCU and Michigan. They have wins over Minnesota and Clemson in addition to their loss to the Buckeyes.

The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are 1-4 this season with a 4-3 decision over UNC Greensboro. Tech has losses against Radford, Chattanooga, Memphis and Elon.

Junior Syrym Abduhkalikov plays in the top singles position for Tech, where he has posted a 2-3 record this spring. Following him in the lineup, Tech will send Alex Chen, Alejandro Bueno, Vasily Eremeev Artem Tarasov and Justin Kirstein for singles play.

In doubles, Abduhkalikov and Tarasov play the No. 1 match, with Chen and Bueno facing the No. 2 opponent. At No. 3, it will be Kirstein and Eremeev.

To follow live stats of the match, click here. Final results will be posted on TTUsports.com