University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennis Vols Open NCAA Tournament Against ETSU Saturday
May 11, 2005 | Men's Tennis
May 11, 2005
The 14th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team (14-8, 6-5 SEC) opens NCAA regional play Saturday at 10 a.m. against intrastate rival ETSU (20-3, 10-0 SoCon) at UT's Varsity Outdoor Courts.
Tennessee is the No. 10 seed in the tournament. Only the top 16 teams are seeded. The Vols last hosted a regional in 2002. The Vols are led by senior Mark Dietrich. Dietrich is ranked No. 54 in the latest ITA poll. Doubles tandem Ockie Oosthuizen and Ben Rogers are ranked No. 9.
The Volunteers defeated ETSU 6-1 Feb. 8 and lead the all-time series 16-0. ETSU has won 18 straight matches since the loss to UT. The Bucs are led by nationally ranked Oscar Posada. Posada, who is ranked No. 70 in the ITA poll, is 15-3 this season at the No. 1 singles position, one of those losses is to Dietrich. Freshman Sebastian Serrano is 14-1 at the No. 6 singles position. His only loss is to UT freshman Kaden Hensel. ETSU has been dominant in doubles this season. Its three doubles tandems to appear in the tournament are a combined 43-7 (.860). Tennessee won the doubles point in the previous match.
The winner of the Tennessee-ETSU match will advance to Sunday's second round match-up against the winner of the Ohio State-Brown match. Ohio State (19-8, 8-2 Big 10) is ranked No. 26 in the team rankings and features the highest-ranked singles and doubles tandem in the Knoxville Regional. Buckeye sophomore Devin Mullings is ranked No. 40 in the ITA and doubles duo Scott Green and Ross Wilson are ranked No. 5. Brown University (23-5, 7-0) is ranked No. 40 in the team rankings and is led by Adil Shamasdin who is ranked No. 86 in singles.
Tennessee has defeated Ohio State in all seven previous meetings. The Vols have never faced Brown.
All matches will be played at the UT Outdoor Varsity Courts. In case of inclement weather the matches will be moved to the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students and children 2 and under get in free.
Tournament Schedule
Saturday, May 14
10 a.m. 10-seed & No. 14 Tennessee vs. ETSU
1 p.m. No. 26 Ohio State vs. No. 40 Brown
Sunday, May 15
1 p.m. Winner of 10 a.m. match vs. Winner of 1 p.m. match
Players Mentioned
