Competing against two of the top teams in the nation in consecutive days is a tall task for any group, but for Tennessee men’s tennis, it was more about process than outcome.
Head coach Chris Woodruff called Wake Forest a “dream team,” and for good reason — they are the defending national champions after all. Woodruff lauded TCU for having “world-class players.”
The Vols entered the matches unranked and outgunned, and while they have talent at the top of the roster, their deficit in depth to each squad was noticeable. Wake Forest had two players ranked in the top 15 in ITA college singles rankings. TCU had four in the top 80, with their best player being ranked sixth. The Vols’ highest-ranked player in said rankings was senior Alejandro Moreno, who currently sits at 121st. Across those two matches, the Vols only came away with one point, courtesy of Moreno.
“Wake Forest had two guys on the bench who were higher than my No. 1 Alejandro Moreno,” Woodruff said. “You’re just not gonna win all those matches.”
Despite the shortcomings of the weekend, there were bright spots. Moreno elevated his game against two of the nation’s best players in DK Suresh Ekambaram and Duncan Chan. Jose Garcia himself battled against tremendous players in Luca Pow and a very talented freshman in Oliver Bonding.
Still, the task does not get any easier, as they will face plenty of teams that are as talented, or close to, as Wake Forest and TCU. Texas currently stands as the fourth-ranked team in the nation, and the Vols will face them in Austin on March 27.
Two days later, they will battle Texas A&M, who is currently ranked 11th. When factoring in Mississippi State, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Kentucky, all of whom are currently ranked, it becomes clear that Tennessee will have its hands full in league play all season long.
For Woodruff, his eyes are fixated not just on the competition to come, but on rounding his guys into form at the right time.
“It’s like I’ve told our team, our objective isn’t necessarily to win, we are trying to build for the future, and get our guys who have never been in this situation before some experience,” Woodruff said. “February, March and April, that’s where we need to be experienced, and I truly believe we will be ready by then.”
Further, the young pieces are in place for Woodruff and company to build around. Garcia has a very strong baseline game. Piotr Siekanowicz has plenty of tools at his disposal. Jan Kobierski has competitive fire and a solid all-around game. All of them are sophomores, with Garcia and Kobierski having won crucial matches down the stretch for the Vols as freshmen.
There will be growing pains with some of these younger players, and, as Woodruff said, the focus is on the future and getting their guys more battle-tested. Perhaps as importantly for him, he believes that his team is “not that far off.”
“We gotta do a couple things better, we gotta believe a little bit more, we gotta execute, but there were a lot of things that we can build on from this weekend,” Woodruff said. “There were a lot of things that we can build on from this weekend.”
There is far more to gain by playing against such talented teams before the season starts, as they serve to indicate where a team is and where they need to grow. Such information is highly valuable as they inch closer to SEC play, where they are slated to face the aforementioned six teams that are currently ranked.
While it is easy to strictly focus on the match scores and draw conclusions accordingly, or dwell on the outcomes themselves, Woodruff continues to look ahead and focus on the process.
“It’s a long season, we’re not gonna sit here and over-analyze Wake Forest and TCU, who probably will be, you know, down to the last eight or four by the time the year ends,” Woodruff said. “We’ll just take it in stride and get back to work.”
They are not where they want to be, but Woodruff and company learned plenty from the weekend.
“We have potential, and I think we’re a close group,” Woodruff said.
