UTC Men's Tennis Hosts Davidson

SoCon Tournament at Champions Club

  • Wednesday, April 16, 2014
  • B.B. Branton

UTC men's tennis coach Carlos Garcia knows that most people are overlooking the Mocs to make much noise at this week's Southern Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Championship at the Champions Club in Rivermont.

Yet the 13-year Mocs head coach believes his players are ready to give a good account of themselves starting with the Davidson match today at 11 a.m..

"We lost to Davidson 5-2 earlier in the season, we only have one starter (No1. Pavels Grigorjevs) who has any SoCon tournament experience and we were 1-8 in the conference this week, so on paper that doesn't look good for us," Garcia said.

"Our guys could have easily packed it in after finishing 1-8 in conference, but our last four or five practices have been the best workouts we have had all season.

"We are playing at home, have the home crowd behind us and we are prepared to see if we can't change that earlier score with Davidson."

Garcia knows that winning the doubles point to start the match can be big for either team.

"We won the doubles point in our match in March and had three, 3-setters (all won by Davidson) that we hope to turn around today."

The winner will advance to the quarterfinals Thursday at 8:30 a.m. against No.1 seed Elon.

The semis are set for Friday at 10 a.m. and the finals on Saturday at 10 a.m.

"Elon is on a mission to win the conference and earned the top seed by going undefeated in league play, but if we get the chance to play them, it will be on our home court which should help us."

SoCon History: The Mocs have won 12 SoCon tournament titles, the last coming in 2000 when the tournament was held in Chattanooga.

McCallie Grad with Davidson: Sophomore Evan Watkins plays No.5 singles for the Wildcats and won both his singles and doubles matches against UTC in March.

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net

 

Sports
Mocs Houk Named SoCon Golfer Of The Week
  • 3/27/2024

Chattanooga Mocs senior John Houk claimed this week’s Southern Conference Golfer of the Week honor with an impressive runner-up performance at the General Hackler Championships. The Athens, Tenn., ... more

UTC Homecoming Set For October 26
  • 3/27/2024

The Chattanooga Mocs completed spring drills prior to Spring Break and are now deep into strength and conditioning work ahead of the summer in preparation for the fall season. One highlight to ... more

Chapman's 5 RBIs Lead Vols To Run-Rule Win Over Tennessee Tech
  • 3/27/2024

A five-RBI game from Reese Chapman and impressive group effort from the pitching staff highlighted No. 5/5 Tennessee's 11-1 run-rule victory over in-state foe Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night ... more