Tennis teams open at home against ETSU

Tennessee's men and women will begin the NCAA tennis tournament the same way - at home against East Tennessee State.

Both the No. 5 Vols and the No. 10 Lady Vols will play host to first- and second-round matches May 8-10.

The men's bracket opens May 8. No. 23 Duke (15-8) meets No. 51 Radford (20-3) at 10 a.m. at Varsity Courts.

The Vols (21-6) play No. 61 ETSU (13-7) at 1 p.m.

The winners meet at 3 p.m. Saturday for the right to advance to the Round of 16 in College Station, Texas.

The women's bracket opens Saturday. No. 22 South Carolina (14-10) faces No. 40 Wake Forest (13-12) at 9 a.m. The Lady Vols (17-6) take on ETSU (17-6) at noon.

The winners meet Sunday.

"It's been a few years since we've been at home,'' said Mike Patrick, UT women's co-head coach, "and it's a great advantage to be at home.''

The UT men are playing host for the third time in five years and seventh overall. The Vols are 11-1 at home in regional play.

"Being at home is really important,'' said associate head coach Chris Woodruff, "but being a really high seed, we have a draw that's favorable.

"The guys are used to playing at home and we have a great record at home. It's why we've worked so hard, to have this home-court advantage.''

The Vols beat ETSU 6-1 early in the season. The Bucs won the Big South Conference's automatic bid.

"Their guys grew up on slow courts and our tennis facility has slow courts,'' Woodruff said, "so I told our guys we've got to be ready.

"It's an in-state match. It's basically their Super Bowl and they're going to come after us.''

Duke has won its first-round match for 18 consecutive years.

ETSU's women are coached by Steve Brooks, a former assistant at UT under Mike and Sonia Hahn-Patrick. The Lady Vols and Bucs have not played since 2002.

Tennessee has beaten South Carolina twice this year, most recently 4-2 in the SEC tournament.

"We've seen South Carolina a lot,'' Patrick said. "Hopefully, they'll have a really good match with Wake Forest before we get to play them.''

Notes: General admission is $5 and $3 for students with ID. . . . UT men's head coach Sam Winterbotham missed the bracket announcement because he was in England recruiting. . . . Virginia is the top men's seed; Northwestern is No. 1 on the women's side.

Track Honors: UT senior Sarah Bowman is the SEC female runner of the week. Chanelle Price is the SEC freshman of the week.

Both ran on three victorious relays over the weekend at the Penn Relays.