“Everything was really good, I cannot begin to say how good it felt to have the whole team here. It is such a different environment when everyone is all together,” head coach Alison Ojeda said after the day. “We all know tennis is an individual sport and that is what the fall is about, but when you have the team around you, it just feels better.”
That was evident as the Lady Volunteers started to make their way out in groves in the middle part of the day. On the outdoor courts, UT won its last six singles bouts and quickly carried that momentum into doubles where it was a clean sweep in the pro-style, first to eight games, sets.
“The biggest takeaway from me from today was Elza having a moment in the second set with something we have been working on in between points and I knew we were going to find out how she is taking that,” Ojeda continued. “To her credit, at one-all, love-30, she stepped up and did it. That to me was huge, that was a big win.”
Elza Tomase enters the event as the defending singles champion and took care of business against Amy Kaplan from Ball State, securing a 6-0, 6-1 winner in the first round.
“Doubles-wise, the energy and concepts we are trying to teach, I thought the girls did a fantastic job,” Ojeda added. “It’s a long day, we were on court for a lot of time and the energy as we left the building is just what it was when we came in this morning, so that is a really good thing.”
Daria Kuczer and Eleonora Molinaro got it started in doubles. They breezed to an 8-4 win against Cincinnati and were followed up by equally as strong of performances from the other pairings.
Highlighting the day was the home debuts of both Lauren Anzalotta and Catherina Aulia. Anzalotta, who was the second Lady Vol on court in singles, and the final one to come off after doubles, earned the first UT victory of the tournament with a 6-4, 6-1 downing of Micah Pierce from Memphis. She followed that with an 8-6 doubles win with Rebeka Mertena to close out the first day of action.
Aulia also had as strong of a start as you could want on the home courts. She blew past Elena Malykh from Ball State, moving into the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. For doubles, playing with Esther Adeshina, she finished with an…
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