A testament to the strength of this year's senior class* of JP Smith, Matteo Fago, and Boris Concik, the Vols are advancing to their fourth consecutive round of 16 after giving Virginia Tech on Saturday what might fairly be characterized as their proper whuppins. The below video was put together in the middle of the men's match against Virginia Tech, but it at least gives you some action footage. It shows that the Lady Vols won as well.** WooHoo!
Next up: California, and in more ways than one. The Vols will take on the University of California Bears on Thursday at Noon at the Taube Tennis Center in Palo Alto. The Bears certainly will have a home court advantage in this contest, but I don't believe whatever advantage home court advantage provides will be enough to overcome the talent differential between the two squads. Yes, your brash but humble contributor is hereby predicting that the Vols will prevail against the Bears, and advance to the round of 8*** in the process.
Fully realizing that college tennis is maybe not the most glamorous of the glamour sports, I just have to (I repeat: have to) believe that at some point as the tournament advances, the matches will be viewable on this new invention that many refer to as "television". The only information that I presently have on this front indicates that the Vols will only be television-viewable if they again make it back to the finals, but that same link also indicates that Division III men's and women's tennis will get more coverage than the D-I variety, which doesn't exactly make perfect sense. I'll see if I can get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, we'll have to settle for the live blog provided by UTsports.com, a link to which will be posted closer to time.
*The senior class that I indicated there would be a post dedicated to before I got tied down with something else late last last week. Post forthcoming, I promise.
**Your brash but humble contributor has been sticking to the men because (a) he has this pesky day job and must pick his spots, and (b) the men's squad has what appears to be a more likely chance of winning the whole thing.
***Not sure if they call it the elite 8, or if that term is exclusive to basketball.