Doubles have caused trouble for Tennessee men’s tennis all season long.
In each of the Vols’ six losses, they have dropped the doubles point, putting them immediately behind 1-0.
Further, among their 12 matches so far this season, they have won the doubles point just four times — ETSU twice, Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky. That is not exactly a daunting gauntlet of foes that they have found success against.
“We’ve been up and down, honestly,” associate head coach Matt Lucas said after the Chattanooga match. “We haven’t strung together all three courts playing well on the same day, which is frustrating.”
Lately, Tennessee has faced a lack of consistency in its tandems. After rolling the same three doubles courts through the first five matches, the Vols have not since used the same three pairings in consecutive matches. The last time they won the doubles point was on Jan. 29 against Eastern Kentucky, as their 7-0 match win against Michigan State stemmed from a forfeit.
Perhaps the biggest problem the Vols have faced has been the reliability of their doubles pairings.
They have tried 11 different doubles pairings across their 12 matches. The combination that has played the most matches has been Dragos Cazacu and Piotr Siekanowicz with six, holding a record of 1-5, though that does not include a win over Texas A&M during ITA kick-off weekend.
“(Siekanowicz) and (Cazacu) at one beat TCU, beat (Texas) A&M, lose to ETSU, lose to UTC,” Lucas said.
Five losses are five losses — the highs compete with the best, while the bad have been played down to the level of their competition.
The duo with the next most matches together is Jose Garcia and Boruch Skierkier, and while they are 2-2, they each prefer to play more from the baseline, a style that is not very conducive to quality doubles.
When assessing the top teams in the nation, like Virginia and Ohio State, they have multiple elite doubles tandems. Even top conference foes like Mississippi State and Texas have at least one very reliable pairing to call upon to deliver them in the doubles session.
Meanwhile, the Vols have none, and it is quite a problem to overcome in the waning days of February.
“We’re still dealing with finding ourselves, finding our pairings, but we’ll get it sorted out soon,” Lucas said.
That was said after the Chattanooga match, in which they were thoroughly cleaned out on all three courts. More importantly, it was said three days before their first SEC match. That is quite the problem to have on your hands just days before conference play begins.
When asked if there was any certainty in doubles entering SEC play, Lucas was brief in his reply.
“No. To be determined,” he said.
It foreshadowed the struggles that would continue into Lexington and follow them down to Nashville. Friday will be their chance to prove they left this problem somewhere along I-40, as they face No. 18 Auburn.
Beyond the simple math of starting each singles session at a deficit, the psychological impact lingers the rest of the match, as Tennessee faces more pressure on each court. Flipping that script the right way begins with pairing the right players together, and that starts with determining who works well together.
“You need, in volleyball terms, a hitter, a setter and a hitter, so to speak,” Lucas said. “We’re still looking for that.”
Whatever “that” is, they need to find it fast so they can finally start fast, starting with Auburn. Otherwise, the Vols will spend the rest of the season the way they have started their matches — playing catch-up.
