Vols strike back at Kentucky in SEC tennis

Tennessee achieved a measure of tennis revenge against Kentucky on Friday in a quarterfinal match at the SEC men's tournament.

After suffering two regular-season losses against the Wildcats, the sixth-ranked Vols scored a 4-2 victory Friday at Auburn's Yarbrough Tennis Center.

"It was just a class SEC match,'' UT coach San Winterbotham said. "You had two teams that are two of the best in the country and they were giving it all they had. It was a great college tennis match.

"We made some adjustments as a team that (associate head coach) Chris (Woodruff) and I are extremely proud of. I really feel that this team is bringing it together."

A obvious change was winning the all-important doubles point. No. 12 Kentucky took the point in the two regular-season matches. This time, Tennessee prevailed with Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith beating Bruno Agostinelli and Brad Cox, 8-4. UT's Boris Conkic and Matteo Fago clinched the point by beating Graeme Dyce and Eric Quigley, 8-4.

Tennessee is 15-0 this season when it wins the doubles point.

Conkic, Christian Hansen and Matt Brewer won singles matches for Tennessee. Hansen's 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dyce was the clincher. Hansen has earned the clinching point a team-high seven times this season and in five of Tennessee's last eight victories.

Conkic won his match in straight sets against Brad Cox 6-2, 7-5. Conkic, a sophomore, has won 12 consecutive singles matches and is a team-best 19-2 in dual-match play this season.

Brewer won at No. 6 singles, beating Alberto Gonzalez, 6-2, 6-4.

Tennessee plays No. 4 Georgia at 4 in today's semifinals. The teams played last week in Athens, Ga., with the Bulldogs winning 5-2

"We just need to prepare now for Georgia and continue making the adjustments that we focused on," Winterbotham said.

Women's Tennis: Tennessee beat South Carolina 4-2 in a quarterfinal match at the SEC tournament that ended late Friday in Fayetteville, Ark.

Caitlin Whoriskey's 7-6, 7-5 win over Gira Schofield clinched the victory for the Lady Vols, who will face Ole Miss in a semifinal match this afternoon.

Softball: No. 15 Tennessee (36-11-1, 11-8-1 SEC) is in Athens, Ga., for an SEC weekend series against No. 8 Georgia.

A doubleheader starts at 1 today. The series finale is at 2 Sunday.

The series features the top two hitting teams in the conference and two of the best in the nation. Georgia has a .337 team batting average which ranks sixth nationally. The Lady Vols are hitting .322 (14th nationally).

Although Georgia leads the all-time series 23-21, UT has won the last seven games between the two teams and eight of the last nine.