The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 late night match to Tennessee Tech Tuesday evening.  The Mocs had their four-match winning streak snapped by the Golden Eagles at McCallie's Strang-Voges Tennis Center tonight. 

The dual was originally scheduled for an afternoon first serve, but rain in the area forced the event indoors with an 8:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) start time.  The loss moved UTC to 4-6 overall, while TTU won for the third time in a row and is now 3-5 on the year.

Chattanooga opened by taking a hard-fought doubles point.  Sophomore Kerim Hyatt and freshman Jeffery Dewald secured the 1-0 lead with a win in a tiebreaker over Elias Grubert and Rafael Tosetto (7-6) at No. 3.  It was the third win in a row for Hyatt and Dewald. 

UTC opened with a 6-2 win when Senior Turner Voges and sophomore Simon Labbe won their in a row at No. 2 over Carlos Vicente and Mika Berghaus. 

"We probably played the best doubles of the year across the board," stated UTC head coach Chuck Merzbacher.  "We didn't particularly settle down in the beginning of singles and we had to claw our way back in the matches."

The Mocs dropped the first set in five of the six singles matches, allowing Tennessee Tech to grab a 2-1 lead with wins at No. 4 and No. 6.  Voges tied the score with a (7-5, 6-4) win over Evzen Holis at No. 2. 

After the Golden Eagles moved back ahead with a win at No. 5, Hyatt tied it again at 3-3 with a three-set (2-6, 7-5, 6-2) win over Grubert at No. 3.  It was Hyatt's sixth win in a row in singles play. 

That left the No. 1 match as the decider between UTC sophomore Tomas Rodriguez and TTU's Vicente. Vicente won the first frame 7-5, but Rodriguez came back to take the second 6-4.  Vicente put some distance between himself and Rodriguez early in the third to secure the win (7-5, 4-6, 6-2).

"Great wins for Turner, and Kerim," added Merzbacher.  "We had some chances at No. 1 and No. 6 singles to get the match but just came up short. Credit to Tennessee Tech, they are a tough team and compete hard and well.  We've had some tough 3-4 matches this year that will help us as we progress through the spring."

Up next for the Mocs is a road trip to Georgia State on Sunday, March 21.  UTC faces the Panthers in Atlanta at Noon (E.D.T.).  A link for live scoring is available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.

Tennessee Tech 4, Chattanooga 3
3/16/2021 at Chattanooga, Tenn. (Strang-Voges Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
1. SASAGAWA, Jun/HOLIS, Evzen (TTU) def. Tomas Rodriguez/Peyton Gatti (UTC) 6-4
2. Turner Voges/Simon Labbe (UTC) def. VICENTE, Carlos/BERGHAUS, Mika (TTU) 6-2
3. Kerim Hyatt/Jeffrey Dewald (UTC) def. GRUBERT, Elias/TOSETTO, Rafael (TTU) 7-6

Singles competition
1. VICENTE, Carlos (TTU) def. Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
2. Turner Voges (UTC) def. HOLIS, Evzen (TTU) 7-5, 6-4
3. Kerim Hyatt (UTC) def. GRUBERT, Elias (TTU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
4. TOSETTO, Rafael (TTU) def. Jeffrey Dewald (UTC) 6-0, 6-2
5. RODEIA, Andre (TTU) def. Simon Labbe (UTC) 6-4, 6-4
6. SASAGAWA, Jun (TTU) def. Peyton Gatti (UTC) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1

Match Notes
Tennessee Tech 2-5
Chattanooga 4-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,6,2,5,3,1)