Tennessee tennis knocked off Duke 4-3 on Sunday afternoon in improbable fashion to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.
The No. 14 Vols (20-8, 9-5 SEC) got off to a slow start in doubles, but pulled off an unlikely comeback to take the match win in singles action.
It was a lackluster day on doubles for the Vols as the dynamic performances Tennessee has come to expect out of its Court 1 and 2 pairs never came, and Lance Nisbet and Jose Garcia were left unfinished, tied at 4 with Remy Dugardin and Gerard Planelles Ripoll on Court 3.
Despite the lack of doubles results, Tennessee delivered yet again in singles action.
The match came down to Jan Kobierski and Alex Kotzen on Courts 5 and 1. Kobierski clinched 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 over Connor Krug to tie the match at three and bring it down to Kotzen.
Kotzen trailed Krug 5-0 in the third set when Kobierski leveled the match at three, spelling a feeling of despair among the coaching staff and fans. But Kotzen never gave up for a moment, and a seemingly insurmountable deficit slowly cracked as he began to believe in himself.
“They were just like, ‘believe,’” Kotzen said. “And I don’t think they believed, but then I believed because that’s what you say, and then it’s like, ‘alright’ and as you build momentum you start to believe more.”
Moreno also didn’t fare any better against Petrovic on Court 3, falling to the Duke graduate in straight sets 4-6, 5-7. Moreno’s second postseason loss gave Duke a 3-0 advantage in the final stage of singles.
Over on Court 2, Mitsui got back on track from his doubles loss with Jesudason, defeating No. 47 Williams, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. Tennessee’s standout senior, who has been the stabilizing force of the team all season, notched his 128th career singles win, which gave Tennessee its first point of the afternoon and energized the team and fans.
Ian Cruz bested Saahith Jayaraman in three sets, giving the Vols some life and energy back into the match. The senior dropped his first set to Jayaraman, but bounced back in the second set and clinched Tennessee’s second point to remain perfect in the postseason with his fifth win, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 over the Blue Devils’ freshman.
Once Mitsui and Cruz clinched, the energy at Barksdale Stadium became palpable. The momentum shift in Tennessee’s favor was undeniable and the energy sparked on Kotzen’s comeback. Then, as Kobierski clinched his point and pulled the Vols even with Duke, the coaching staff started to believe.
“I knew we had to have (Court) 5 in order to get this win,” head coach Chris Woodruff said. “I’m just really glad that the guys stuck it out and hung in there, and happy for them that the season goes on.”
Needing to win five straight sets to at least force a tiebreaker, Kotzen locked in. Soon, 5-0 became 5-2, 5-3, 5-4 and then, when the Vols’ graduate notched the match-tying game, his teammates and the fans erupted, throwing Barksdale Stadium into a frenzy.
“I was kind of disappointed with the situation I put myself in,” Kotzen said. “But then once I saw it was coming down to me, I thought just ‘okay, be tough this point, play a good point this point’ every single point the rest of the entire match.”
Just a week removed from being on the wrong end of a situation like this against Texas’s Timo Legout in the SEC Tournament, Kotzen got a redemptive moment to preserve the Vols’ season for another week.
“It’s sports, I don’t really know what else to say,” Woodruff said. “For me as a coach, it’s a short memory so he’s the one who has to figure all that stuff out, and he obviously navigated himself well today.”
Tennessee will now face the same Texas team for the third time in a month, only this time in an NCAA Super Regional, which will take place in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, May 10 at 2 p.m. ET.
