Golden Eagles flock into OVC Tournament as the No. 1 seed in Nashville
With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the Tennessee Tech tennis team is back in Nashville for the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, a three-day weekend affair from the Centennial Sportsplex.
Official OVC Tournament Bracket
By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the Tennessee Tech tennis team is back in Nashville for the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, a three-day weekend affair at the Centennial Sportsplex. Behind a dominating spring campaign that saw the Golden Eagles capture their fifth regular season title in the last six years, TTU enters the postseason field of six as the No. 1 seed in the program's bid for its eighth tourney title and second straight after winning the whole shebang a season ago.
As the tourney's top team, Tech (11-6, 6-0) was granted a first-round bye, advancing straight to the semifinals where the Golden Eagles will start their title defense Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. TTU will play the winner of Friday's first-round matchup between No. 4 Belmont and No. 5 Austin Peay. No. 2 Eastern Kentucky also received a first-round bye and will await the No. 3 Jacksonville State-No. 6 Tennessee State victor to complete Saturday's semifinal slate.
The championship match is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. Admission is free to all matches.
Tech rolled through its OVC slate with another undefeated conference campaign, the club's fourth in the last six seasons. The Golden Eagles outscored its conference counterparts, 40-2, in six matches, running their OVC win streak to 23 in a row, a span of over two calendar years without a Tech conference loss.
For its efforts, TTU was showered with a slew of postseason hardware during Thursday night's OVC awards dinner, taking home the league's top three honors of Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. The Golden Eagles also placed four on the All-OVC first or second team.
Junior Eduardo Mena was named the OVC's Player of the Year, while Marc Mila was recognized as the co-Freshman of the Year, sharing the award with Belmont's Vincent Sterkens and Hendrik Inno. Kenny Doyle captured the Coach of the Year accolade for the third year in a row and fifth time in eight seasons at the helm of Tech tennis.
Mena also received a spot on the All-OVC first team alongside Marcos Bernardes and Alberto Esteban, as the trio assembled to make up the only school on the prestigious list with more than one All-OVC first team selection. Guillermo Nicolas seized a place on the All-OVC second team, completing an evening of seven different Golden Eagle awards.
Tech took down both of its potential semifinal opponents, knocking off Belmont, 6-1, on Apr. 15 in Cookeville, and disposing of Austin Peay, 7-0, on Mar. 24 in Clarksville. No. 60 Eduardo Mena, Marcos Bernardes, Alberto Esteban and Jorge Alfonzo made up the quartet of Golden Eagles to win a singles tilt in each match.
Belmont (9-13, 3-3) enters the OVC Tournament having dropped three of its last four matches, including last Saturday's 6-1 defeat at Tech in the regular season finale. A trio of Bruins secured spots on the All-OVC first or second team as senior Cedric Dujacquier was named a first teamer, and freshmen Vicent Sterkens and Hendrik Inno both netted second team honors. Sterkens and Inno also joined TTU's Marc Mila as the three winners of the OVC's co-Freshman of the Year award.
Dujacquier, Belmont's No.1 singles player, wrapped up the regular season with a 9-12 record, but did manage to go 4-2 in conference play. The Feluy, Belgium native heads into the OVC Tournament having won six of his last nine outings, however was upended in straight sets by Eduardo Mena last Saturday.
Inno spent time in both the No. 2 and No. 3 slots in the Bruins lineup, registering an 8-12 overall record with a 3-3 mark in OVC action. The Someru, Estonia native teamed up with Dujacquier to go 5-1 in conference play as Belmont's No. 1 duo. In singles play, Sterkens also primarily performed out of the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the Belmont order, rolling off an 11-9 spring mark with a 4-2 conference record.
Austin Peay (6-11, 3-3) closed out the regular season with back-to-back OVC wins with a 5-2 win at Eastern Illinois on Apr. 8, before taking down Eastern Kentucky, 4-3, on Apr. 14. Two Govs earned postseason hardware with sophomore Almantas Ozelis securing first team honors and senior Manuel Montenegro notching second team status.
Ozelis paced the Govs singles circuit with nine wins, going 3-0 out of the No. 1 spot and 6-8 from the No. 2 position. The Marijampole, Lithuania native went 5-1 in OVC action with his lone loss coming to Marcos Bernardes in three sets on Mar. 24. Montenegro finished 3-3 in OVC play, falling in straight sets to Eduardo Mena when the two teams locked up. The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain native went 4-10 out of the No. 1 slot and 2-1 from the No. 2 spot.
The Golden Eagles have won eight conference tournament titles, including last season. Prior to 2016, Tech last won it all back in 2006, capping off a stretch of three titles in a four-year span.
Photo by Tony Marable
