Change is a natural part of life. Things grow stale, repetition grows tiresome or perhaps a chapter of life simply comes to its natural conclusion.

For senior Tennessee men’s tennis athlete Ethan Muza, change was necessary.

“I loved Baylor, I loved my time there, I love the program, I’m still close with a lot of the guys still on the team there,” Muza said. “But I just felt like I needed a fresh start, I needed to start over somewhere new.”

After three seasons at Baylor, a place where he went 37-22 in singles and 20-14 in doubles, Muza entered the transfer portal.

“I just felt that I wasn’t gonna get everything I wanted to out of my tennis at Baylor,” Muza said. “I felt that it was time for both parties to move on, and I just felt I was in a place where I needed somewhere new, I needed new faces, new place.”

But why depart as a senior?

“I just think we had our differences, and we both felt that it’s probably better for me to move on somewhere else,” Muza said.

No hate, no ill will, no resentment lingered. But his time in Waco had run its course, and he needed to choose a new home where he could end his college career on his terms. For Muza, that process was quite brief.

“Tennessee reached out to me pretty quickly, and I was committed within a few days, honestly,” Muza said. “I spoke to a few different schools, but I really only took a few days after Tennessee reached out, spoke with coach (Chris) Woodruff, coach (Matt) Lucas, coach (Jaime) Barajas, and I kind of knew at that moment, like, that’s the place to move forward with.”

For some, the allure of the SEC calls their name in the same way a candy store attracts the attention of anyone with a sweet tooth.

For Muza, it wasn’t just about the prestige of the conference — it was about the culture that he had witnessed firsthand with Baylor.

“We had played Tennessee in the past when I was at Baylor, and they compete really hard,” Muza said. “When you sign up, you’re playing against the Tennessee Volunteers, you know that all their guys are gonna die out there for the team to help everyone win, so that is definitely something that I really wanted to be a part of.”

Still, making the change is half the battle. The other half is settling into the new environment. Fortunately for the new transfer, the transition was smooth.

“All the guys on the team are really, really good guys, I’m really close with everyone,” Muza. “We got a bunch of characters on the team.”

While Muza is a character off the court, his on-court demeanor seems to take on a life of its own.

“It’s pretty obvious, but I’m a little crazy,” Muza said. “If anyone watches us play and they see a 5-foot-9 dude jumping around, screaming, like ‘Who’s that?’ If you have to ask yourself that, you’re probably like, ‘Oh, it’s probably Ethan out there.’”

His energy is quickly felt by his teammates and strikingly visible to the casual observer. Senior Alejandro Moreno experienced that flare up close early as his doubles partner early on in the season, and the chemistry they developed emerged rapidly.

“Together as a team, we’re super super close,” Moreno said. “I just think that togetherness, that friendship that we’ve created makes it very easy to get along on court.”

Such energy can permeate through other courts, and his energy is a microcosm of what makes college tennis so different from other sports like football or basketball, or even from different levels of tennis.

“It’s a lot more emotionally driven, it’s a lot louder, it’s a lot more energy than you grow up playing junior tennis, and even on the professional circuit. It’s just not the same,” Muza said. “I think just being a part of a team in college and being able to expend more energy, get all my teammates into it, I think, is just something I love.”

The team dynamic, the desire to win and the passion created by the environment can galvanize a group and sway a match on a dime. Such was the case early in the season when Tennessee played host to the defending national champions: Wake Forest.

“You try not to distract yourself by looking around, but you can definitely feel the momentum shifting,” Muza said. “All of a sudden, you got a different feel in the building. It went from, ‘Oh, they might run away with this one,’ to ‘Yeah, this is a real dog fight here.’”

He and Moreno partnered for doubles that day, bringing the energy early and elevating their game, each other and the crowd.

“We were just very energetic the whole time, but at the same time, we were calm,” Moreno said. “When we would do something positive, we wouldn’t get too high. When we would do something negative, we wouldn’t get too low … We believed in ourselves — win, lose or die — that we could win.”

While focusing on the goal in front of you is paramount, Muza said that everyone in that moment is aware of what is going on, everyone needs to lean in, and everyone needs to step up.

That day did not end with the result the team wanted, but the vibrant atmosphere shifted the momentum of the match and gave the team a belief that they could turn things in their favor — a dynamic that did not go unnoticed.

“We had a lot of people there, and it really did make a difference,” Muza said. “I mean, the atmosphere was everything for us, and we’re really appreciative to everyone who comes out.”

Experience brings perspective, and Muza understands what matters. Winning and losing matter little — the people around you matter more, and the way you bond with them and fight for them is everything.

Such a perspective is how he will dictate whether or not this is a successful season for him.

“Really being able to ask myself, after the season’s over, ‘Did I give it my all? Did I try everything I could to help the team win?’” Muza said. “And if I can answer ‘Yes’ at that time, I gave everything, tried everything I could, I tried to help the team win, I want everyone to be successful, I’ll be able to look in the mirror come May and say that it was a success regardless of any results we had about the year.”

Change is a natural part of life. Too much change breeds chaos, while too little creates stagnation. For Muza, his address and his jersey changed, but his personality and goals remain constant.

“I hope to just gain more of the bonds and friendships that I had at Baylor as well,” Muza said. “ A lot of the time, people get caught up in the winning and losing and they don’t really enjoy the process. They don’t really appreciate the day-by-day grind of playing college tennis. And I think people realize it a little too late, is that, that’s what you’re gonna remember, that’s what you’re gonna take with you.”