Men sweep opener in tennis

The eighth-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team dominated in-state foes East Tennessee State and Tennessee Wesleyan on Saturday at the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center to win its first two matches of the season.

The Vols opened the day with a 6-1 win over ETSU. In singles, John-Patrick Smith celebrated his 20th birthday in style as he dominated the nation's ninth-ranked player, Enrique Olivares, at the No. 1 position.

In the 5-0 win over Tennssee Wesleyan, Matt Brewer won at the No. 1 position, 6-0, 6-3 and Christopher Williams, playing in his first match with the Vols after two years at Wofford, clinched the victory with a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 3.

Women's Tennis: Paced by a trio of strong doubles performances, the No. 24 Lady Vols opened the dual-match portion of the 2009 schedule with a 4-3 victory over 37th-ranked Illinois at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill.

The Lady Vols lost at No. 1 and No. 2 singles but the match had been decided with victories in singles by Natalie Pluskota, Samantha Orlin and Jennifer Meredith.

Women's Track: The fourth-ranked Lady Vols won eight events to No. 1 Texas A&M's seven, but the Aggies outscored the Lady Vols, 83-69, to win a dual meet at the Gilliam Indoor Track & Field Stadium at McFerrin Athletic Center in College Station, Texas.

UT senior Sarah Bowman won the mile with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4 minutes, 35.35 seconds, just one-tenth of a second off the school record.

"Sarah looked good, and she looked very comfortable out there," said Lady Vols coach J.J. Clark said. "She wanted to hit an auto mark and run right under 4:40, and she hit 4:35."

Alicia Essex won the pole vault (13 feet, 0 3/4 inches), Annie Alexander won the shot put (54-6 3/4) and the weight throw (54-7 1/2), freshman Ellen Wortham won the high jump (5-6 1/2) and Phoebe Wrightwon the 800 (2:05.71), Katie Van Horn won the 5,000 (17:12.17).

The Lady Vols also won the distance medley relay in 11:47.40 with Jackie Areson, Chanelle Price, Bowman and Brittany Sheffey.

Men's Track: The Vols won six events at the Wesley A. Brown Invite hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Kyle Stevenson won the 60-meter dash in 6.85 seconds and Evander Wells won the 200 in a facility record 21.17. Joseph Franklin also posted a facility record to win the 800 in 1:53.25.

In the field events, Nick Panezich won the shot put with a throw of 57 feet, 9.5 inches, Akeem Hardnett won the triple jump with a facility record of 50, 2.5 and Joe Berry won the pole vault by clearing 15-9.

Berry and teammate Brad Holtz were forced to compete with borrowed poles due to a luggage mix up during travel.