The Tennessee men’s tennis team’s final week of the regular season will be a busy one.
The Vols (9-13, 1-9 SEC) look to bounce back from a frustrating loss against No.14 Florida on Sunday, April 8, with a plethora of matches this week.
Tennessee will play host to Alabama this Thursday at Barksdale Stadium. The match was previously scheduled for 1 p.m. but has been bumped up to a noon start time in an effort to squeeze in a second match against Charlotte at 5 p.m. that
evening.
Therefore, fans will be treated to a doubleheader on Thursday, April 13.
Along with the two matches on Thursday, the Vols still have to play LSU in Baton Rouge at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 15.
For seniors Sunay Bhat and Jack Schipanski, this week will be the final regular season competition the two see here at UT.
“It’s gone by really quick, I’m just really grateful for the experience,” Bhat said. “I’ll do whatever I can to enjoy these last couple of weeks, but other than that its business as usual.”
Bhat won his doubles match last week against Florida on Senior Day with the help of sophomore Srdjan Jakovljevic. Bhat, in doubles has a 3-5 career record when paired with Jakovljevic and 3-1 record when paired with junior Luis Valero.
Schipanski lost his doubles and singles matches against Florida, but he still has a 57-29 career record in doubles competition.
Outside of the seniors, Timo Stodder is another player that head coach Sam Winterbotham believes could make an impact.
“You look at the lineup, and you’ve got Stodder who can pretty much play with anyone in the country,” Winterbotham said.
On Sunday, Stodder came back and pushed his singles match against No.11 Alfredo Perez from Florida to a third set and nearly beat Perez in a hotly-contested match before losing 6-4. The sophomore is now 22-13 on the season surpassing his previous best of 15-11 his freshman year.
Stodder has been a testament to the Vols’ roster this season. Of the nine members of the team, five are sophomores and freshmen with two juniors and two seniors. With youth playing a part this season, Winterbotham is still proud of his team’s fight throughout the season.
“We’re fighting tooth and nail, everybody can see it,” Winterbotham said. “We just have to do a better job at finishing.”
The Vols will look to put the pedal to the metal this week as they strive to end the regular season on a high note just a week and a half before the commencement of the SEC Tournament slated to begin April 26.
