Tennessee
No. 43 Tennessee Outlasts No. 54 Cal Poly in ITA Kick-Off Opener
1/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – For the third time under the direction of fifth-year head coach Nick Carless, 54th-ranked Cal Poly men's tennis opened its spring season at the prestigious ITA Kick-Off Weekend and was defeated by 43rd-ranked Tennessee, 4-2, on Sunday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
After the Volunteers captured the doubles point, Cal Poly freshman Josh Ortlip (pictured) secured a straight-set victory over Preston Touliatos at the No. 4 singles position, 6-2, 6-1 to knot the match at one apiece. Tennessee would then win three of the next four singles matchups to hand Cal Poly its first defeat of the season.
The Mustangs opened doubles action with a lead after juniors Garrett Auproux and Tim Tan beat UT's Jack Heslin and Touliatos, 6-4 at the No. 2 spot.
Cal Poly's No. 1 doubles duo of juniors Ben Donovan and Corey Pang were outlasted by the Volunteer combination of Jack Schipanski and Luis Valero, 6-4, who were the 23rd-ranked pairing nationally by the ITA. Tennessee's Timo Stodder and Marshall Sullivan ousted Cal Poly freshman Aiku Shintani and sophomore Karl Enander at No. 3 doubles, 6-4, to take the early match advantage.
Tennessee then grabbed a 3-1 lead after consecutive solo wins before Cal Poly junior Corey Pang trimmed the deficit to 3-2 after a three-set win over Schipanski, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 at No. 3.
Cal Poly sophomore Axel Damiens forced a third and decisive set at No. 5 against Srdjan Jakovljevic only to fall in three, 6-7, 7-5, 3-6 which cemented the match triumph for the Volunteers.
At No. 1 singles, Donovan was beaten by Valero in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, while Auproux was tripped up by Stodder in three sets, 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 from the second position. Cal Poly's Shintani had his battle at No. 5 halted with UT's Heslin after the Volunteers secured the team victory (the two were tied at five-all in the third set with the matchup even at one).
Cal Poly, the third seed in the Wake Forest bracket, will battle the fourth-seeded Auburn Tigers at 8 a.m. PT Monday in the consolation match. The Tigers were defeated by number-one seeded Wake Forest, 4-1 on Sunday. To follow Cal Poly against Auburn on Monday morning, use this LINK.
