University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#50 Alabama
Vols Defeat Alabama 4-3 in Quarterfinal
April 27, 2018 | Men's Tennis
PHOTO GALLERY
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Sophomore Luca Wiedenmann tied it up with a win on Court 6 before redshirt junior Preston Touliatos clinched the victory for the Vols at No. 5 as No. 21 Tennessee earned a come-from-behind 4-3 win over No. 50 Alabama in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal on Friday.
After dropping the doubles point, the Vols (20-7) were able to claw their way back and punch their ticket to the program's first semifinal in the conference tournament since 2013.
In singles, Alexey Nesterov picked up a quick 6-2, 6-1 win over Adam Walton to make it 2-0 in favor of the Crimson Tide (18-12). With UT needing an answer, senior Luis Valero stepped up and delivered a key win at No. 2 to put the Vols on the board.
Scott Jones would tie it at 2 with victory on Court 3. After edging out a tiebreak win in the first set, Jones put on a dominant display in the second, winning 6-1.
14th ranked Timo Stodder then fell to No. 18 Mazen Osama in a matchup of top 20 players as the Tide went ahead 3-2.
As the two remaining matches came down the stretch, it was clear that the victory was up for the taking. On Court 6, Wiedenmann continued his hot second half of the season by coming away with a 6-3 win in the third set to tie the score.
All eyes then came down to the deciding match between Touliatos and Zhe Zhou, which was tied at 5-5. After holding serve to go up by a game, Touliatos was able to break Zhou and cap off the comeback for Tennessee.
Following the match, head coach Chris Woodruff attributed a survive-and-advance mentality as well as credited his lone senior for swinging momentum the Vols' way early in the singles matches.
"Really proud of our guys," Woodruff said. "Great atmosphere. In a tournament like this, you win, you stay alive, you lose, you go home. We are fortunate to have won. Luis Valero stepped up big."
UP NEXT: Tennessee will take on top-seeded Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament semifinal round on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. The Vols and Aggies met in Knoxville on March 25, when A&M came away with a 5-2 win.
#21 Tennessee 4, #50 Alabama 3
Singles
1. #18 Osama, Mazen (UA) def. #14 Timo Stodder (UT) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
2. Luis Valero (UT) def. Kaukovalta, Patrick (UA) 6-3, 6-1
3. Scott Jones (UT) def. Ortiz, Edson (UA) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
4. Nesterov, Alexey (UA) def. #117 Adam Walton (UT) 6-2, 6-1
5. Preston Touliatos (UT) def. Zhou, Zhe (UA) 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
6. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) def. Roberto, Riccardo (UA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
1. #13 Touliatos/Valero (UT) def. #30 Ortiz/Osama (UA) 6-1
2. Cancel/Nesterov (UA) def. Stodder/Walton (UT) 7-6 (8-6)
3. Kaukovalta/Zhou (UA) def. Muamba/Jones (UT) 7-6 (11-9)
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,2,3,1,6,5)
Players Mentioned
