KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - - Belmont University men's tennis opened the 2018 season Monday with a loss on the road to the Tennessee Volunteers, 6-1.
The Bruins lost the first point in the match and were not able to gain any momentum as Tennessee was able to get to four points before Belmont could get one.
When asked about what he saw in Monday's match, head coach Mauricio Antun said, "For our first match, I believe we did what we were supposed to do in terms of competing, but we definitely made more mistakes than we should, part of it because we were nervous, and also because we haven't played a true match since October."
Belmont's Hendrik Inno and Marko Ilić found difficulties in their doubles match against Preston Touliatos and Adam Walton, as they were defeated six games to two.
Stephen Goldman and Jake Briggs also struggled against the Vols as they lost the set to Nicaise Muamba and Andrew Rogers 1-6.
The doubles duo of Vincent Sterkens and Grant Kelly showed a lot of promise though, as they were leading the set 4-3 against Timo Stodder and Luca Wiedenmenn before the match was halted due to Tennessee already winning the two out of three doubles matches needed to gain the first point out of seven.
From there, the Bruins weren't able to find a whole lot of success in their singles matches as Tennessee was able to grab the remaining three points that they needed to win against the Belmont.
After finding some success against Luca Wiedenmenn, Grant Kelly of the Bruins struggled at the No. 6 position as he was defeated by Wiedenmenn in both sets. He lost the first set 2-6 and the second set 1-6.
Freshman Jake Briggs also lost both sets as he was defeated by Adam Walton 1-6 and then 0-6.
Sophomore Vincent Sterkens gave the Timo Stodder a couple of good sets after finding some success against Stodder in the doubles match, but the First Team All SEC member was able to get the final point needed for Tennessee as he defeated Sterkens 6-3 in the first set and 6-4 in the second set to win the match.
After Tennessee's fourth point, both teams decided to finish the matches that were already in progress.
David Faulkner was up 4-2 in his first set but was unable to hold his lead as he lost 6-4 in his first set against Andrew Rogers. He then lost in the second set 2-6.
Marko Ilić struggled as well as he faced off against Preston Touliatos. He lost the first set 2-6 and then the second set 4-6.
In the final match of the event, sophomore Hendrik Inno was able to grab his first win of the season and the only point for Belmont as a result. Inno was looking sharp early on as he won the first set 6-4. However his opponent, Nicaise Muamba, was able to win the second set 6-2. Inno was able to close it out as he won in the tie breaker 13-11.
"Hendrik [Inno] had a big win", said head coach, Mauricio Antun. "He was down 5-9 in the match-tiebreaker and found a way to turn that around and pull out the win. I am very pleased that he did it since last year, he was the one that found himself having those opportunities to finish the match but wasn't able to close the deal."
Belmont will be looking to take what they learned against Tennessee and apply in their next event, as they will go up against IUPUI in Indianapolis on Jan. 20.
Tennessee 6, Belmont 1
Singles
1. #36 Timo Stodder (UT) def. Vincent Sterkens (Belmont) 6-3, 6-4
2. Preston Touliatos (UT) def. Marko Ilic (Belmont)
3. Hendrik Inno (Belmont) def. Nicaise Muamba (UT) 4-6, 6-2, [13-11]
4. Adam Walton (UT) def. Jake Briggs (Belmont) 6-1, 6-0
5. Andrew Rogers (UT) def. David Faulkner (Belmont) 6-4, 6-2
6. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) def. Grant Kelly (Belmont) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
1. Touliatos/Walton (UT) def. Ilic/Inno (Belmont) 6-2
2. Muamba/Rogers (UT) def. Briggs/Goldman (Belmont) 6-1
3. Stodder/Wiedenmann (UT) vs. Sterkens/Kelly (Belmont) 3-4 unf.
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (4,6,1,5,2,3)
