The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team hits the road this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches. The Mocs (1-1, 0-0 SoCon) travel to Murray State on Friday, Jan. 27, and Middle Tennessee on Sunday, Jan. 29.
The Racers open their spring schedule with UTC's visit on Friday. Match time is set for 11:30 a.m. (E.S.T.) at the Kenlake Tennis Center in Aurora, Ky. Chattanooga defeated Murray State 6-1 in last season's meeting on March 10 at the Baylor School in Chattanooga.
Juniors Roberto Vieira (Bedfordview, South Africa), Chris Smith (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Jackson Tresnan (Apopka, Fla.) all posted singles wins in the previous win over the Racers. Smith & Vieira and Tresnan with junior Stephen Crofford (Franklin, Tenn.) also won their doubles matches in that meeting.
Chattanooga will then travel to Nashville for a Sunday dual against the Blue Raiders, beginning at 11:00 a.m. at the Nashboro Village Athletic Club. MTSU is 0-1 after dropping a 6-1 dual to Vanderbilt on Jan. 8. They will visit Auburn on Friday before hosting the Mocs. Live scoring is planned for the match with a link available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.
The Mocs were swept in last year's meeting with the Blue Raiders in Nashville on Jan. 22. Tresnan, Smith, Crofford and juniors William Disterdick (Hixson, Tenn.) and Sam Parfitt (Norwich, England) all competed in the loss last season. Vieira missed the match with an injury.
Chattanooga is led by head Coach Carlos Garcia who is in his 11th year at UTC. The Mocs return five of six starters including Vieira, a two-time All-Southern Conference performer.
The Mocs are currently 1-1, having split their opening weekend matches at the Hixson Racquet Club. UTC fell to No. 71 Radford (7-0) on Jan. 20, but bounced back with an impressive 6-1 win over Tennessee Tech on Jan. 22.
Eight letter winners return to the roster that also includes eight juniors. Chattanooga is without a senior and has two sophomores and one freshman. Junior Ankit Chopra (Chandigrah, India) leads the team with a 6-5 overall record while Vieira is 5-5 in singles.
Look for Chattanooga to use a lineup similar to its opening weekend with Vieira at the top spot and Smith at No. 2. Chopra, Tresnan, freshman Pavels Grigorjevs (Riga, Latvia) and Crofford should level out the singles. Smith and Vieira hold the No. 1 doubles tandem with Chopra and Crofford at No. 2 and Grigorjevs and Tresnan at No. 3. Junior Manuel Barroetavena (Buenos Aires, Argentina) will work his way into the mix once he gets back from a finger injury he suffered just before the start of the spring season.
