The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped its spring season opener at Middle Tennessee today.  The Mocs won the doubles point but fell to the Blue Raiders 6-1 in Nashville, Tenn.

MTSU took the first doubles match when Robin Riethmueller and Dima Zyhmantovich scored a 6-1 win over senior Pavels Grigorjevs and junior Gino Delavalle at No. 3.  The Mocs came back with junior John Peacey and sophomore Lucas Plesky's 6-3 win over Ben Davis and Ettore Zito at No. 1.  Chattanooga secured the point when juniors Nick Wingord and Luke Saunders closed out Yannick Born and victor Hoang (6-4) at No. 2. 

The 1-0 lead was short-lived for Chattanooga.  Both Grigorjevs and sophomore Nic Wilson are top-6 players who could not go in singles today due to nagging injuries.  As a result, the Mocs dropped all six singles in straight sets. 

Saunders put up the biggest fight of the day.  He lost (6-4, 6-3) to Zyhmantovich in a tough battle at No. 3. 

UTC stays on the road for a visit to No. 6 North Carolina on Monday.  Match time is set for 10:00 a.m. in Chapel Hill, N.C.  A link for live scoring is available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.  Chattanooga opens its home schedule on Saturday, Jan. 24, when it hosts Austin Peay at 1:00 p.m. at the Hixson Racquet Club. 

Middle Tennessee 6, Chattanooga 1
Jan 17, 2015 at Nashville, Tenn. (Nashboro Village)
Doubles competition
1. John Peacey/Lucas Plesky (UTC) def. Ben Davis/Ettore Zito (MT) - 6-3
2. Nicklas Wingord/Luke Saunders (UTC) def. Yannick Born/Victor Hoang (MT) - 6-4
3. Robin Riethmueller/Dima Zyhmantovich (MT) def. Pavels Grigorjevs/Gino Delavalle (UTC) - 6-1

Singles competition
1. Ben Davis (MT) def. Nick Wingord (UTC) - 6-4, 6-2
2. Ettore Zito (MT) def. Lucas Plesky (UTC) - 6-3, 6-0
3. Dima Zyhmantovich (MT) def. Luke Saunders (UTC) - 6-4, 6-3
4. Victor Hoang (MT) def. Gino Delavalle (UTC) - 6-2, 6-2
5. Gian Issa (MT) def. John Peacey (UTC) - 6-1, 6-1
6. Robin Riethmueller (MT) def. Derrick Brown (UTC) - 6-0, 6-1