Crimson Tide Men's Tennis Falls on Rocky Top
3/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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Crimson Tide Men's Tennis Falls on Rocky Top
The Alabama men’s tennis (5-6, 0-2 SEC) team dropped its second consecutive Southeastern Conference match Sunday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn. to No. 18 Tennessee, 6-1.
The Volunteers won five of six singles matches and two of three doubles matches to put Alabama away.
“We are finding ways to lose instead of finding ways to win,” Alabama head coach Billy Pate said.
The 6-1 final score didn’t indicate how close the Crimson Tide was to potentially winning the match. With Tennessee leading the match 3-1, the final three matches all stretched into a third set. Alabama’s Joseph Jung then served for his match leading 5-3 in the third, but couldn’t convert and lost 2-6, 6-1, 7-6. Alabama would go on to lose the final two matches as well.
Billy Mertz did come through Sunday afternoon with his 17th win on the year, a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kiril Tcherveniachki. The freshman is now 17-9.
RJ Murray and Sammy Struyf won the Alabama’s lone doubles match, 8-5.
Alabama will return home to play twice this weekend. Friday, Alabama will host Ole Miss at 3 p.m. and Sunday Mississippi State will visit Tuscaloosa for a match set to begin at 1 p.m.
Tennessee 6 Alabama 1
Singles
1) No. 60 Mark Dietrich (UT) def. No. 46 Luigi D'Agord (UA) 6-4, 6-4
2) Bobby Cameron (UT) def. No. 99 Joseph Jung 2-6, 6-1, 7-6
3) Ockie Oosthuizen (UT) def. Eric Molnar (UA) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
4) Billy Mertz (UA) def. Kiril Tcherveniachki (UT) 6-4, 6-1
5) Kaden Hensel (UT) def. Sammy Struyf (UA) 6-4, 6-1
6) Matt Berry (UT) def. R.J. Murray (UA) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
Doubles
1) No. 5 Oosthuizen/Rogers (UT) def. D'Agord/Molnar (UA) 8-5
2) Murray/Struyf (UA) def. Cameron/Hensel (UT) 8-5
3) Berry/Dietrich (UT) def. Kindervater/Mertz (UA) 8-2
