When faced with the dilemma of historical recurrence, Mark Twain once said, “History does not repeat itself, it rhymes.” In that sense, the Tennessee men’s tennis team experienced its own historical rhyming this past weekend in its match against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Last year, the Vols followed up a loss in the ITA Indoor Championships to Virginia with a less-than-stellar victory over Wake by a slim margin of 4-3. And this year, the Vols entered their match against the Demon Deacons under similar circumstances.
Like last year, the Vols made it to the indoor ginals before falling to Virginia, a perennial tennis power, and entered the Wake match with something to prove. But this year, the match went differently from the very beginning.
In what should have been an outdoor match, play was postponed and pushed inside by sporadic rain, something that played to the Vols’ advantage because of their lack of practice time outside.
“We only got to practice one or two days outdoors,” sophomore Ed Jones said. “We’ve been playing a lot indoors and we’re more used to it.”
With the play moved inside, things appeared different for the Vols this time. By the time the final match had ended, the No. 2-ranked Vols downed the 35th-ranked Demon Deacons by a dominating score of 6-1.
The Vols opened strong with a clean sweep of the doubles matches. That feat was highlighted by sophomores Rhyne Williams and Tennys Sandgren cutting through the competition to win 8-7 in a tiebreaker.
“It feels good to get a win,” Williams said. “They’re a good team, and they gave us a run last year, so it felt real good.”
The other doubles matches for the Vols were won by seniors J.P. Smith and Boris Conkic, and senior Matteo Fago and sophomore Ed Jones.
The Vols carried their strong doubles momentum into the singles matches and won five of six matches, the only loss coming from Taylor Patrick. Patrick’s performance, however, was not a low point for the Vols, as he was not scheduled to play, only getting the nod after an injury to Fago.
“He handled it great,” coach Sam Winterbotham said. “He’s getting better and better … Taylor’s effort really stood out, and I was extremely proud of him.”
Another performer who stood out for the Vols was Ed Jones, who not only collected a doubles victory with Fago, but also finished his singles match in the fifth spot at a blistering pace, beating Adam Lee 6-3, 6-2.
“I’m very pleased,” Jones said. “I feel pretty confident about myself and the team.”
The quality of Jones’ performance was not lost on his coach, either.
“For the fourth time in five matches, Ed’s moved up from sixth to fifth and won two of them,” Winterbotham said. “He’s doing real well.”
Other performances of note were turned in by not only Rhyne Williams and Boris Conkic, who both pulled out victories with matching scores of 6-3, 6-4, but also J.P. Smith, who won in comeback fashion 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (4).
“He wasn’t handling himself well the first set,” Winterbotham said. “But he turned that around in the second set and the tiebreaker. He’s playing well right now.”
The Vols came into this match hoping not to repeat history. And despite coincidental circumstances, they left their last non-conference match with a commanding victory.
“We’re a slightly different team,” Winterbotham said. “We’re more experienced. We just need to practice more, outdoors and indoors, because everyone in the SEC is tough.”
