UT's Smith reaches tennis quarterfinals

Tennessee freshman J.P. Smith is chasing history at the NCAA Championships.

Smith advanced to the quarterfinals of individual play Friday in Tulsa, Okla., beating East Tennessee State's Enrique Olivares 6-2, 6-2.

Smith has advanced farther in the tournament than any Tennessee player since 1993, when Knoxville product Chris Woodruff won the individual championship.

"J.P. is playing very well right now,'' UT coach Sam Winterbotham said. "He is focused and playing very confidently. J.P. beat a very good player convincingly (Friday), but he'll have another good player to go up against (today). He just needs to take it one match at a time and he'll be fine."

Smith, who hasn't dropped a set in his three victories in the tournament, faces 32nd-ranked Steven Moneke of Ohio State today at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Smith, the SEC freshman of the year, is 32-10 for the season and 15-8 against ranked opponents.

UT men's team, meanwhile, finished ninth in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. It was the highest finish for UT since 2002, when the Vols finished sixth.

Women's Tennis: The No. 16-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols doubles team of Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor was knocked out of the doubles play at the NCAA Championships in the round of 32.

The Lady Vols' duo lost to the fifth-ranked team of Amanda Fink and Gabriela Niculescu of Southern California, 7-6, 3-6, 2-6.

The Lady Vols' duo couldn't take advantage of the momentum generated by winning a tough first set. They won the tiebreaker 7-5. The Southern Cal tandem won four of the final five games in the second set and never trailed in the third set.

"Although it's not quite the way we would have liked for our season to end, I am extremely proud of how both Caitlin and Zsofia played all season," said UT co-head coach Mike Patrick.

Whoriskey and Zubor, both sophomores, finished 25-13 with 11 wins over ranked doubles teams.