By Stephen Mason
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It was a miserable start for the Tennessee men’s tennis team (6-4) on Wednesday as it hosted the Chattanooga Mocs (1-4) at the Barksdale Tennis Stadium in the Vols’ final game before SEC play.
However, the rain came and provided the team with the reset it desperately needed, and Tennessee pulled off a dominating 6-1 victory.
After a disappointing loss at the University of Michigan two weeks ago, head coach Chris Woodruff took another shot at the lineup for doubles play.
On court one, graduate Dragos Cazacu and sophomore Piotr Siekanowicz took on Jakub Jupa and Cortland Grove of the Mocs.
On court two, freshman Shioni Itsusaki and senior Ethan Muza matched up against Julian Franzmann and Kristof Kincses.
And on court three, seniors Boruch Skierkier and Alejandro Moreno played Jaxon Lamb and Carter Ramthun.
Things could not have gotten off to a worse start for the Vols as they fell behind 1-4 in every match early on. Eventually, the Mocs took wins on courts one and three, with Cazacu and Siekanowicz falling 6-1, and Skierkier and Moreno losing 3-6. Itsusaki and Muza were well behind their opponents when doubles play ended.
“I saw a team for Chattanooga that really wanted it, and a team from Knoxville that wasn’t ready to play,” Tennessee assistant coach Matt Lucas said. “That’s the bottom line, they were ready to play and wanted it, and we weren’t ready.”
Since the start of the spring season, Tennessee has struggled to put together a consistent doubles lineup. While talent and experience are scattered across the roster, finding the pairings with the right chemistry has been challenging. With SEC play just a few days away, today’s performance shows that more moves will have to be made.
“We’ve been up and down; we haven’t strung together all three courts playing well on the same day, which is frustrating,” Lucas said. “We’ve seen glimpses from every court … so we’re still dealing with finding ourselves and finding the pairings, but we’ll get it sorted out soon.”
While the three doubles matches are only worth one point of the team’s total score, winning them provides valuable momentum, and losing them can put the team in a hole that is too deep to dig out of. The Vols have learned this the hard way in their losses to Michigan, No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 3 TCU, and No. 11 Texas A&M.
Despite falling behind early, Tennessee had a chance to reset at the start of singles play when rain forced the matches to be moved to the Goodfriend Tennis Center. Once play resumed, the Vols looked like a different team, and all six players in the singles lineup — Moreno, Jose Garcia, Jan Kobierski, Skierkier, Muza, and Itsusaki — won their matches in two sets. It was an impressive bounce back and response from the sluggish start.
“It was more about what they said to themselves. I think they could sense the coaching staff’s unhappiness … we didn’t have to say much, it was guys bonding together, and what they did,” Lucas said.
While the Vols put strong individual performances together in singles play, the question going into SEC play will be whether they can find the right pairing for doubles play. The 2026 roster is stacked with experience, with three seniors and one graduate player, as well as young talent like the freshman Itsusaki, who has already put in some solid showings for the Vols.
Up to this point, the team has been battle-tested in non-conference play with matches against the No. 1, No. 3, and No. 11 teams in the country. They will try to use these matches to find more consistency going into SEC play.
“The good is very good, but I feel like we’re on a little too much of a rollercoaster,” Lucas said. “And it’s not even just the tennis, I think it’s the emotions that are getting the best of us sometimes.”
Up Next: Tennessee is hitting the road this weekend, starting with its SEC opener at Kentucky on Saturday at 1 p.m. The team will then travel to Nashville to play Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. Monday before returning to Knoxville for its SEC home opener against Auburn next Friday.