University of Tennessee Athletics
2003-04 Season Review
June 14, 2004 | Men's Tennis
June 14, 2004
Tennessee's men's tennis team enjoyed a comeback year, of sorts, in 2004. After an uncharacteristic sub-.500 mark the previous season, seventh-year head coach Michael Fancutt and associate head coach Chris Mahony guided the Volunteers back to their place among the nation's elite.
The Vols' recipe for success in 2004: two doses of experienced senior leadership, a few gritty returnees and five helpings of fresh, talented rookies. While UT's dish du jour satisfied the palates of most Big Orange tennis connoisseurs, most opponents were left with a sour aftertaste.
Upsetting the Competition
In keeping with tradition, Tennessee's 2004 schedule was among the most difficult in the country. Along with the traditional gauntlet of imposing Southeastern Conference foes, the Vols also dueled with respectable non-conference programs such as Duke, Virginia, William & Mary and Memphis. When all was said and done, Tennessee's 23 dual-match opponents boasted an average national ranking of No. 41 at the time of competition.
The biggest story of UT's 2004 home season was the Vols' virility against Top 10 teams. Three times Top 10 opponents attempted an invasion of UT's Varsity Courts, and three times the Vols notched impressive upset victories.
The first of such wins came against No. 6-ranked Duke Feb. 20. Fueled by the singles return of injured junior Mark Dietrich (who notched a win at No. 6 singles), Tennessee surprised the Blue Devils 4-3.
Then on March 28, No. 9-ranked Florida strolled into town boasting a bevy of ranked players. In spite of their lack of chances on paper, the Vols refused to back down versus the Gators. Tennessee received huge upset wins from No. 45-ranked Simon Rea (who defeated No. 17-ranked Hamid Mirzadeh) and unranked freshman Ockie Oosthuizen (who toppled No. 100-ranked Vladimir Obradovic). When the dust settled, Tennessee had engineered a 5-2 dismantling of its SEC Eastern Division rival.
The Vols' final home-court win against a top-10 opponent in 2004 occurred April 10 versus No. 9-ranked Georgia. Adding to Tennessee's hunger and intensity that afternoon was the fact that it was Senior Day, marking the final home match for seniors Rea and Wade Orr. As the Vols battled their fiercest rival during doubles competition, both squads also battled uncooperative weather conditions. After a handful of brief rain delays, singles play commenced, uninterrupted, and the Vols posted a 5-2 victory that clinched a season sweep against top-10 foes at home.
Making a Point
A primary reason for Tennessee's winning ways in 2004 was the team's absolute dominance in dual-match doubles play. The Vols won the critical doubles point in 20 of 23 dual matches on the season and posted an overall spring doubles record of 49-15 (.766). Tennessee won five dual matches by a score of 4-3. The doubles point proved to be the difference in four of those contests (UT lost the doubles point to Arkansas March 5 but still managed to post a team victory).
Vols Returnees
While the Vols players and coaches alike would undoubtedly point to the team's doubles potency and 14 team victories as the story of the season, there were also plenty of individual highlights for Tennessee players in 2004.
But the year began with a disastrous tragedy on Sept. 20, 2003. That night, Dietrich was struck by a vehicle while he was walking near the UT campus. The Memphis native was sent airborne through an intersection before finally coming to rest nearly 25 yards from the point of impact. While Dietrich was fortunate enough to escape without any life-threatening injuries, his promising tennis career (he had earned preseason ITA rankings of No. 37 in singles and No. 19 in doubles that fall) was certainly in question. He suffered a fractured tibia in his right leg, which required surgery. After the insertion of four screws and a metal rod into his leg, Dietrich began his quest to return to the tennis courts. His recuperation progressed with uncanny results, and in a move that astonished the UT medical team, Dietrich returned to the Vols' doubles lineup Jan. 31 versus No. 28-ranked Virginia.
Five months to the day after his accident, the hard-serving junior played singles -- and won in straight sets -- as Tennessee upset No. 6-ranked Duke.
As Dietrich worked to regain the strength and court coverage he enjoyed during his first two seasons with the Vols, he was still able to post solid results against opponents from many of the nation's elite teams. At season's end, his overall singles record stood at 13-7 (10-6 after the injury). He also recorded a 15-5 doubles record with longtime partner Orr.
Two other upperclassmen enjoyed winning seasons in a year that doubled as their collegiate farewell tour. Fittingly, seniors Orr and Rea ended their decorated careers at an event at which each player had many fond memories, the NCAA championships.
Orr owns the rare distinction of having been a member of teams that reached three consecutive NCAA semifinals. He redshirted during UT's semifinal season in 2000 before becoming a key contributor in 2001 and 2002.
A native of Clarksville, Orr slugged his way to a 12-7 overall singles mark in 2004 (he was ranked No. 117 in the final ITA singles poll), but his doubles play was what set him apart. He tied for the team lead with 20 doubles wins, including 15 with Dietrich. The pair also snagged a team-best five doubles-clinching points on the year. Orr's final career records stand at 62-57 in singles and 50-28 in doubles. A three-time Academic All-SEC honoree, he will graduate with a degree in industrial engineering in and plans to attend either law school or engineering graduate school at UT.
The 2004 season marked Rea's second year as the Vols' top singles player. He led all Tennessee players by winning six clinching points, and his 17 singles wins and 20 doubles triumphs tied for the team lead.
Eight ranked singles opponents fell victim to Rea's serve-and-volley style of play in 2004, including five foes ranked in the top 50. He was the Vols' only representative in the NCAA Division I Men's Singles Championships and also earned a spot in the doubles championships with partner Damien Spizzo.
Rea's final career statistics are among the most respectable of former Vols greats. His overall singles record of 87-45 was only three wins short of placing him on UT's all-time singles wins top-10 list. Also a wily doubles tactician, his final doubles record stands at 71-39. In the ITA rankings, Rea ascended as high as No. 9 in singles and No. 6 in doubles, finishing the year at No. 37 and No. 10 in each poll, respectively. His top-10 doubles ranking at season's end also earned him All-America status for the first time in his outstanding career.
The only other upperclassman on UT's 2004 roster was Australian Spizzo, a junior from Skye, Victoria. Spizzo's rocket-blast forehand endured a season on the sidelines following his transfer from the University of Southern California after the 2002 season. While injuries limited his singles game in 2004 (7-15), he more than made up for it on the doubles court. He played with three different partners throughout the year, posting an overall record of 19-5 and a team-best .818 doubles winning percentage. Spizzo's outstanding play with Rea earned the pair first-team All-SEC honors and a spot in the field of 32 teams at the NCAA Division I Men's Doubles Championships in Tulsa, Okla., where they fell in the round of 16. Spizzo joined Rea as a 2004 All-America honoree.
Rawl Martin was the only sophomore on the Vols' roster in 2004, and while his court appearances were few and far between in the spring, he proved his worth tenfold by exhibiting a potent game during the individual fall season.
The Memphis native opened his second collegiate campaign by going undefeated at the Air Force Academy Fall Invitational. Two weeks later at the Adidas Invitational near Atlanta, Martin won his first two contests - giving him a perfect 6-0 start to the season - before finally falling in the round of 16.
Martin went 1-3 to finish out the fall, but he won both of his outings in the spring, netting singles victories versus UT-Martin and The Citadel. He ended the year with a 9-3 singles record and led the squad with a .750 singles winning percentage.
"Fresh Men" for the Future
After placing much diligence in offseason recruiting, Fancutt entered the 2004 season with a roster that included five freshmen. At the halfway point of the spring, the talented group of Vols rookies had prompted Fancutt to tab them as the best rookie class he had ever inked at Tennessee.
The first frosh to arrive on campus was Chattanooga prep standout Johnny Thornton. A lifelong Big Orange fanatic, Thornton was also the only freshman to compete during the fall. He totaled four singles wins in limited action for UT and benefited from a full season of training under the Vols' superb coaching staff.
Matt Berry, a native of Western Cape, South Africa, arrived in Knoxville in early January and honed his game throughout much of the regular season. He broke into the Vols' singles lineup in mid-April and finished the year with a 3-5 record in singles and a 2-1 mark in doubles.
Accompanying Berry to Knoxville was his friend and countryman Oosthuizen, from Bellville, South Africa. Oosthuizen wasted little time making his presence felt in the Tennessee lineup. He spent much of the dual-match season playing out of the Nos. 2 and 3 singles positions, where he performed admirably. He also teamed with fellow frosh Ben Rogers at the No. 2 doubles spot, where the pair compiled an 8-6 record and clinched three doubles points.
Oosthuizen's rookie totals were impressive to say the least. His final singles record stood at 9-12, including five victories against SEC players. He also clinched two Tennessee wins and toppled a pair of ranked singles opponents (No. 7-ranked Ludovic Walter of Duke and No. 100-ranked Vladimir Obradovic of Florida). Oosthuizen's final doubles record was 14-6.
Rogers graduated early from Kingsport's Dobyns-Bennett High School to get an early start on his collegiate tennis career with the Volunteers. His success in the UT doubles lineup was not limited to his time with partner Oosthuizen. Rogers also teamed with Rea to go 6-0 early in the spring. Additionally, Rogers saw limited action in the bottom half of the Tennessee singles lineup, posting six victories. His season totals included a 6-6 singles record and a 14-6 doubles tally.
Auckland, New Zealand, native Kiril Tcherveniachki was a key contributor to the Tennessee lineup. Designated by the Big Orange coaches as a singles specialist, Tcherveniachki amassed an overall record of 17-8, primarily at the Nos. 4 and 5 spots. His .680 singles winning percentage ranked second on the team, and he clinched UT's upset win over No. 9-ranked Florida March 28. Historically, Tcherveniachki's 17 victories were the most spring wins by a UT freshman since former Vol Adam Carey won 20 matches in 1999.
Coach Fancutt also enjoyed an individual highlight of the historical variety in 2004. Tennessee's 5-2 Senior-Day triumph over Georgia April 10 marked Fancutt's 121st win as a head coach. That milestone moved him past Louis Royal (120 wins from 1968-76) into second place on Tennessee's all-time coaching wins list.
Tennessee's season-ending national ranking of No. 21 was a far cry from the No. 54 ranking the Vols garnered in the preseason. The top-25 finish marked the sixth time in Fancutt's seven years as head coach that the program accomplished such a feat. And with a battle-tested nucleus of talent set to return in 2005, Tennessee tennis appears to be poised for continued greatness in the future.
