The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 marathon match to Mercer today.  The Mocs battled throughout the affair that took over three-and-a-half hours at the UTC Tennis Center.

The loss drops UTC to 10-9 overall and 1-2 in Southern Conference action.  The Bears improved to 9-9 overall and 2-1 in league play.

Mercer won the opening doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3.  Junior Niklas Gerdes and freshman Tomas Rodriguez scored a 6-3 win over Stathis Tsiranidis and David Georgadze at No. 2 to improve to 14-2 in the spring. 

Singles was all over the board, starting with Mercer's win at No. 1 to grab a 2-0 advantage.   The Mocs then stormed back in front with wins at No. 4, No. 3 and No. 6.

Junior Simon Bustamante moved to 9-8 in the spring with a straight-sets win at No. 4 over Tsiranidis (6-4, 6-2).  Freshman Kerim Hyatt followed that with a win at No. 3 against Carver Avant (7-5, 6-3).

Sophomore Jacob Marshall snapped a three-match slide with his three-set comeback win at No. 6 against Piyush Salekar (1-6, 6-1, 6-1).  He lost the first set 6-1, but only dropped two more games the rest of the way.

That left Rodriguez at No. 2 against Nicolas Guillon and senior Pablo Llebeili at No. 5 against Georgadze.  Llebeili dropped his first set 6-2, but won the second in a tiebreaker.  He was up 5-4 in the third and had two serves to win, but could not convert.  He eventually lost in another tiebreaker [6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4)]. 

Rodriguez opened with a 6-4 win, but lost the second frame in a tiebreaker.  He was up 2-0 in the third when cramps set in.  He lost the next four games to go down 4-2, but battled back to tied it at 4-4.  Despite the gritty effort, he lost in three sets (4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4). 

"I could not more proud of a group than this bunch," stated head coach Chuck Merzbacher.  "Down, 0-1 after doubles and battling all the way to a couple of dual match points. These kids showed all the ingredients you have to have to win in this league, we just came up short.  I am only disappointed for them because of how hard they fought to get back in the match."

Up next for the Mocs are two more home matches in league play.  UTC hosts Wofford on Saturday, March 30, at 1:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) and ETSU on Sunday, March 31, at Noon at the UTC Tennis Center. 

Mercer 4, Chattanooga 3
03/24/2019 at Chattanooga, Tenn. (UTC Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Olivier Stuart (MER-M) def. Niklas Gerdes (UTC) 6-1, 6-1
2. Nicolas Guillon (MER-M) def. Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
3. Kerim Hyatt (UTC) def. Carver Arant (MER-M) 7-5, 6-3
4. Simon Bustamante (UTC) def. Stathis Tsiranidis (MER-M) 6-4, 6-2
5. David Georgadze (MER-M) def. Pablo Llebeili (UTC) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4)
6. Jacob Marshall (UTC) def. Piyush Salekar (MER-M) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Olivier Stuart/Nicolas Guillon (MER-M) def. Simon Bustamante/Kerim Hyatt (UTC) 6-1
2. Niklas Gerdes/Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) def. Stathis Tsiranidis/David Georgadze (MER-M) 6-3
3. Carver Arant/Fernando Guardia (MER-M) def. Pablo Llebeili/Jacob Marshall (UTC) 6-4

Match Notes
Mercer 9-9, 2-1 SoCon
Chattanooga 10-9, 1-2 SoCon
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (1,4,3,6,5,2)
T-3:30 A-37