The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team has three matches on the schedule this weekend. The Mocs travel to Lipscomb on Friday, Feb. 15, and host North Dakota and Lee University on Sunday, Feb. 17.
Match time against the Bison is set for 7:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) at the Richland Country Club in Nashville, Tenn. Based on the current weather forecast in Chattanooga, Sunday's matches will take place at the Baylor School Indoor Courts.
UTC faces North Dakota at 10:00 a.m. and Lee at 2:30 p.m. Live scoring for Sunday's matches will be available for the end of the North Dakota match and the entire Lee dual.
The Mocs are 3-4 overall after splitting last weekend against
Belmont (5-2) and
UNC Asheville (2-5). Senior Pablo Llebili leads the way with a four-match winning streak in singles play. He is 4-0 at No. 6 and 4-3 in the spring.
Junior
Niklas Gerdes and freshman
Tomas Rodriguez make up UTC's top doubles tandem. They are 4-0 since pairing together in the No. 2 spot.
Lipscomb is 3-3 overall, including wins against Samford (4-1), Furman (4-3) and Austin Peay (7-0). The Bison's three losses have come against Louisville (5-1), UAB (4-3) and Grand Canyon (6-1). UTC is 7-1 in the all-time series with Lipscomb, but this is the first match between these two teams since 2012.
"This team is very solid top to bottom," stated UTC head coach
Chuck Merzbacher. "It will take a total team effort to compete with them on the road. They have already had a nice win over Furman and Samford from our league, so we know they are good."
North Dakota is 2-1 heading into a Southern swing this weekend. They also have matches at Tennessee State on Friday and Lipscomb on Saturday, before visiting Chattanooga on Sunday. This is the first meeting in the series.
Lee is 1-1 on the year, with duals against Carson-Newman on Thursday and Lee-McRae College on Saturday, before visiting the Mocs on Sunday. The Mocs are 5-0 all time against The Flames, including a 7-0 win last year on Jan. 19 in Chattanooga.
"We are excited to play a team like North Dakota, that we normally don't see," added Merzbacher. "They look to be solid from top to bottom as well. We played Lee last year, and I was impressed by their team. It will be our second match of the day and we'll need to be ready for a long day of battling."
Be sure to check back to GoMocs.com for a full recap after each day of action is complete.
