Tennessee Wraps Up Day One of Knoxville Showdown

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Sunny skies greeted Tennessee’s men’s tennis team for its first home action of the fall slate Thursday, as the annual Knoxville Showdown commenced.
 
The Vols opened the event with doubles action, taking two of three matches over members of Columbia. Graduate student Kent Hunter and sophomore Shunsuke Mitsui took a tiebreak win over Columbia’s #21 Max Westphal/Theo Winegar, 7-6(4) after earning a break in the first game of the match. On court two, senior Blaise Bicknell and graduate student Emile Hudd tallied a 6-2 victory over the Lions’ Michael Zheng/Henry Ruger.

In singles play, Tennessee picked up four more victories, as #115 Bicknell took down Columbia’s 10th-ranked Alex Kotzen 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Bicknell went up a break at 4-2 in the first set before battling for the three-set win.

Sophomore Gabriele Brancatelli logged his first action in Tennessee’s Barksdale Stadium, capturing a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Hugo Hashimoto. On court five, Tennessee graduate student Boris Kozlov earned a straight-set win over Columbia’s Westphal, dominating the second set in route to a 6-3, 6-0 decision. Later, graduate student Tomas Rodriguez needed just 14 games to defeat Columbia’s Ruger, 6-1, 6-1.

 

The Vols return to action at the Knoxville Showdown Friday morning at 10am ET, for singles and doubles competition against members of the MTSU Blue Raiders.

Results

Doubles

Kent Hunter/Shunsuke Mitsui (Tenn.) def. #21 Max Westphal/Theo Winegar (Columbia) 7-6(4)

Blaise Bicknell/Emile Hudd (Tenn.) def. Michael Zheng/Henry Ruger (Columbia) 6-2

Nicolas Kotzen/Roko Horvat (Columbia) def. Boris Kozlov/Tomas Rodriguez (Tenn.) 6-4

 

Singles

#115 Blaise Bicknell (Tenn.) def. #10 Alex Kotzen (Columbia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1

Michael Zheng (Columbia) def. #82 Shunsuke Mitsui (Tenn.) 6-2, 6-3

Roko Horvat (Columbia) def. #94 Kent Hunter (Tenn.) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4

Gabriele Brancatelli (Tenn.) def. Hugo Hashimoto (Columbia) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Boris Kozlov (Tenn.) def. Max Westphal (Columbia) 6-3, 6-0

Tomas Rodriguez (Tenn.) def. Henry Ruger (Columbia) 6-1, 6-1

Ishaan Ravichander (Columbia) def. Angel Diaz (Tenn.) 6-3, 6-4

Single-set match: #47 Emile Hudd (Tenn.) def. Theo Winegar (Columbia) 6-1

 

Friday’s Schedule

10 a.m. ET – Tennessee & MTSU (doubles)

10:45 am ET – Tennessee & MTSU (singles)