Box Score
MARYVILLE, Tenn. - Maryville's men's tennis team had a strong outing in a differently formatted match against Johnson University.
Coach
Doug Corbett and Johnson's coach agreed to play a scrimmage with four matches of doubles and eight matches of singles, and the Scots had a very impressive showing on the scorecards, winning eight out of 12 total matches played.
The majority of the Scots' work came in singles, where No.'s 3 through 8 won in straight sets. After splitting the doubles matches, with wins coming from No. 2 pair James Smith and Steven Fitzsimmons with a score of 6-3 and No. 4 pair Sergio Balsamo and Eli Cauthorn with a score of 6-0, Maryville took a lead 3-2 with a convincing victory from Balsamo, taking it 6-3 6-0 at No. 5 singles. Johnson regained the lead for a short period of time, but after Fitzsimmons tied the score by winning a lengthy match 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 at No. 4, it was all Maryville.
"The matches were extremely encouraging," Corbett said. "Johnson has a talented team, and for us to take six of eight singles matches, that shows a lot."
The Scots closed out the scrimmage by winning the last four singles matches in a row. Luka Romano closed his match out by winning 6-4 6-4 at No. 3 singles, followed by Eric Vornhagen winning a nailbiter 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 at No. 6. Cauthorn clinched a victory at No. 7 6-0 6-0, and Ian Martin finished the contest at No. 8 by a score of 6-4 6-3.
"Shoutout to the freshmen for going 3-0 against some [very] solid competition, and we showed a lot of toughness to close out many tight sets," Corbett said. "I'm excited to keep building off of this for the rest of the fall and into the spring [season]."
Maryville men's tennis now prepares for the ITA Regional tournament at Rhodes College, starting October 3rd.
