The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team opens its spring season on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Middle Tennessee. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) at the Adams Tennis Complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn. A link to follow live scoring is also available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.
UTC has made the trip to MTSU to open the spring season a regular tradition for the last six years. The Mocs are trying to snap a 17-match slide to the Blue Raiders and score their first win over MTSU since 1988. Chattanooga is 11-21 in the all-time series.
The Mocs lost 7-0 in last year's meeting, but had added some strong newcomers to a solid core of returners for the 2019 campaign. Juniors
Niklas Gerdes and
Simon Bustamante are back from the top two spots in last year's lineup, along with fellow starters senior
Pablo Llebeili and sophomores
Jacob Marshall,
Cooper Long and
Luke Plaisted.
Freshman
Kerim Hyatt scored a runner-up finish in the consolation bracket at the ITA Regionals in the fall, while fellow newcomer
Tomas Rodriguez posted a 6-3 mark in tournament play.
MTSU is led by senior Gonzalo Morell Raschiatore, who currently holds a ranking of 119 in the nation by the ITA.
"We are super excited about opening the spring with MTSU," stated second-year head coach
Chuck Merzbacher. "They are a nationally ranked team right off the bat, but we feel, even though we are a young bunch, we can compete at every spot."
Also on the slate this week is a trip to No. 22 Alabama on Saturday, Jan. 19. That match is the second of a double-header for the Crimson Tide, who also host No. 10 Michigan at 1:00 p.m. First serve for the Mocs-Alabama match is 7:00 p.m. at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Mocs dropped last year's meeting 6-1 on Jan. 20 in Tuscaloosa. Long scored the lone point for UTC with a three-set win over Sam Fischer [6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)]. UTC is 0-3 all-time against the Crimson Tide, having previously faced them in 1982 and 2003. A link for live scoring is available for this match on the wrestling schedule page on GoMocs.com.
