University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Mercer
Men's Tennis Collects Second Doubleheader Win
January 18, 2016 | Men's Tennis
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee men's tennis team is off to a 4-0 start after collecting two more wins Monday to wrap up the first week of play at Goodfriend Tennis Center.
The Vols started the day by beating North Florida 4-1 and followed with a 7-0 victory over Mercer.
"Both teams we played today fight and have great energy, so it was a really good test for us," Winterbotham said. "To be honest, we handled the day really well, better than I expected.
The afternoon featured the debut of Tennessee's newest player, Srdjan Jakovljevic, who arrived on Saturday evening from Novi Sad, Serbia. He entered UT's lineup for the match against Mercer and powered his way to a quick 6-3, 6-0 victory over Fernando Guardia on court 5.
"Srdjan, poor guy, gets in at 11 o'clock on Saturday evening," Winterbotham said. "He's not able to train until he has a physical this morning. Then he comes out and plays a great match for us."
Jakovljevic was the first player off the court with a win against the Bears. Five of six Vols won their matches in straight sets, and freshman Jack Heslin capped his first collegiate weekend by completing the Mercer shutout with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Ruben Vanoppen.
In the morning North Florida match, the Vols made their push midway through singles play to take the momentum. The Ospreys were poised to take first sets on three of six courts when sophomore Igor Smelyanski reeled off four games to take his opening set 6-4 on court 1 as the Vols picked up steam.
Heslin and fellow freshman Timo Stodder pushed the Vols ahead 3-0 with wins on courts 6 and 3. Minutes later, Luis Valero served out a 6-2, 6-4 win over Julian Bradley on court 2 to clinch the 4-1 victory against UNF.
Five Vols played their first dual matches in Tennessee uniform during the holiday weekend. Heslin and Stodder each went a combined 8-0 between singles and doubles in their first weekend. Sophomore Preston Touliatos was 7-0 with an unfinished singles match.
SHUTOUTS ETC.
- The Vols already have two 7-0 shutouts in four matches, a sign that the Vols were performing on all six singles courts. UT did not have a non-conference 7-0 shutout last year. Before the start of this season, the last 7-0 win came against Eastern Kentucky on opening day of 2014.
- In 24 singles matches played over the weekend, the Vols lost only two matches and just seven total sets.
- Tennessee won all 11 completed doubles matches.
ANOTHER VOL FROM NOVI SAD
- Srdjan Jakovljevic is the second Vol from Serbia during the Sam Winterbotham coaching era. More specifically, he's the second Vol to come out of the city of Novi Sad.
- The first Vol from Novi Sad was four-time All-SEC and 2011 All-American Boris Conkic (2008-11). Conkic was memorably part of the Vols' run to the NCAA title match in 2010.
BOX SCORES
Tennessee 4, North Florida 1
Singles
1. #75 Igor Smelyanski, UT, led Jack Findel-Hawkins, UNF, 6-4, 2-3, unf.
2. Luis Valero, UT, def. Julian Bradley, UNF, 6-2, 6-4
3. Timo Stodder, UT, def. Yannick Zuern, UNF, 6-3, 6-1
4. Lasse Muscheites, UNF. def. Jack Schipanski, UT, 6-4, 6-0
5. Preston Touliatos, UT, lef Jonathan Deautriell, UNF, 1-6, 6-4, 1-0, unf.
6. Jack Heslin, UT, def. Alberto De Meo, UNF, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
1. #4 Findel-Hawkins/Zuern, UNF, led #23 Schipanski/Valero, UT, 5-3 unf.
2. Stodder/Smelyanski, UT, def. Muscheites/Deshmukh, UNF, 6-3
3. Touliatos/Heslin, UT, def. Alawi/Goldberg, UNF, 6-2
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (6,3,4,2).
Tennessee 7, Mercer 0
Singles
1. #75 Igor Smelyanski, UT, def. Arnav Mohanty, Mercer, 6-3, 6-0
2. Luis Valero, UT, def. Nicolas Guillon, Mercer, 6-1, 6-1
3. Timo Stodder, UT, def. Anderson Scarpa, Mercer, 6-4, 6-2
4. Preston Touliatos, UT, def. Arsav Mohanty, Mercer, 7-5, 6-1
5. Srdjan Jakovljevic, UT, def. Fernando Guardia, Mercer, 6-3, 6-0
6. Jack Heslin, UT, def. Ruben Vanoppen, Mercer, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Smelyanski/Stodder, UT, def. Mohanty/Mohanty, Mercer, 6-3
2. Touliatos/Heslin, UT, def. El Ayat/Anderson Scarpa, Mercer, 6-1
3. Valero/Sullivan, UT, def. Philp/Vanoppen, Mercer, 6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,2,1,3,4,6)
