Jarryd Chaplin clinches Vols' 4-3 tennis win over LSU

It's a small world after all.

There they were Friday, Jarryd Chaplin of Tennessee and LSU's Stefan Szacinski, every eye in Goodfriend Tennis Center locked in on their every move.

With the team score tied 3-3, the other five courts empty, the fate of an SEC tennis match hung in the balance on their third set.

"This is what I'm telling the team," UT coach Sam Winterbotham would say later. "We've got to be tough. We've got to be tougher than everybody else.

"Because that's going to the difference in these matches. Jarryd was a perfect example of that."

Chaplin won the day, and toughness did in fact have something to do with the outcome.

In a marathon game, he hung in and broke Szacinski's serve to go up 5-3. Then he held serve to finish a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win that clinched the match, 4-3.

"A lot of the time I'm just very happy I could get the win," said Chaplin, a sophomore new to being an every-match member of the lineup, "but today I was very proud of the way I handled the situation.

"It reflects my time in college, the few situations that I've had to play like that, and I think I was a better player in that situation today."

Chaplin and Szacinski have danced this dance before, literally on the other side of the world.

The match that improved the 24th-ranked Vols to 10-9, 2-3 SEC and dropped No. 26 LSU to 11-6, 2-3 SEC, came down to Aussie vs. Aussie.

It came down to Sydney (Chaplin) vs. Adelaide (Szacinski).

"I remember playing Stepan when I was 11," Chaplin said. "One instance, we played in the 16 finals in Australia.

"He's beaten me, I've beaten him in juniors, so I knew it was going to be a dogfight."

Every match Tennessee plays is going to be a dogfight. This was the third consecutive 4-3 outcome.

Having lost the top five players from last year's SEC co-champion squad, Winterbotham and associate head coach Chris Woodruff are scrambling to find four points every time out.

Freshman Mikelis Libietis won at No. 1 singles and teamed with Hunter Reese for a ninth consecutive win at No. 1 doubles.

Ed Jones won at No. 5 for their eighth time in the past nine matches and paired with Chaplin to clinch the all-important doubles point.

In SEC play, the Vols have yet to win at No. 2 or No. 6 singles.

"We had four guys win us the match again today," said Winterbotham.

"We're fighting. We're doing better than everybody thought we would when you lose your top five.

"If we get six guys out there for the rest of the year we might actually be able to do some damage."

The next dogfight is Sunday at Arkansas.