The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team opens its 2010 home schedule this weekend against Belmont. The Mocs (0-2) take on the Bruins at 1:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) on Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Hixson Racquet Club.
The Belmont match will be the spring home opener for Chattanooga. UTC had a pair of home matches cancelled due to winter weather in the area last weekend. UTC was scheduled to host Lipscomb (Jan. 29) and UAB (Jan. 31) last weekend, but both matches were postponed. Make-up dates for those two contests are being discussed but have not been finalized.
Chattanooga is 0-2 on the year, having played a tough schedule in its first two weekends. UTC dropped a 7-0 contest at No. 55 Vanderbilt on Jan. 16 and had another 7-0 loss at No. 5 Tennessee on Jan. 23.
Head coach Carlos Garcia, who is in his ninth year of guiding the men's tennis program, has one of the youngest teams in his career. The roster does not include any seniors and just four juniors. Five freshmen were in the singles line-up for the first two weekends.
The Mocs return four letter winners, including juniors Rick van de Bovenkamp (Netherlands), Tyler Pullen (Mount Juliet, Tenn.), Gordon Rudell (Knoxville, Tenn.) and sophomore Sam Parfitt (Norwich, England). However, only van de Bovenkamp saw singles action the first two weekends.
Newcomers include junior-transfer Matt Harris from Tennessee-Martin and freshmen Stephan Crofford (Franklin, Tenn.), William Disterdick (Hixson, Tenn.), Ryan Pool (Victoria, Australia), Chris Smith (Johnson City, Tenn.), Jackson Tresnan (Apopka, Fla.) and Roberto Vieira (Bedfordview, South Africa).
Chattanooga's probable line-up includes No. 1 Vieira, No. 2 Pool, No. 3 van de Bovenkamp, No. 4 Smith, No. 5 Crofford and No. 6 Tresnan. The doubles teams could include a combination of the six above, mixed in with Parfitt and/or Disterdick.
Despite the identical score, Chattanooga was much improved during its second match of the season against the highly-ranked Vols. The Mocs played even through the first four games of doubles play. At one point, the score was 4-4 in each of the three doubles contests.
In singles action, Pool at No. 2 and Smith at No. 4 both had a set points but were unable to close them out. Crofford held a 4-1 lead in the first set of the No. 5 match but could punch it through losing 7-5, 6-3. Tresnan won the second set at No. 6 and ended up losing in a third-set super tie-break.
Belmont is 0-1 on the season, also losing 7-0 at Vanderbilt on Jan. 16. This will be Belmont's second trip to the Scenic City this season. They participated in the UTC Steve Baras Classic at the Champions Club in the fall. Sophomore Rodrigo Amaral, a 2009 A-Sun All-Freshman selection, won the B-1 singles flight at the Baras. Freshman Bruno Silva reached the finals of the C-1 flight.