Tennessee men's tennis team tops Wake Forest

The No. 14 Tennessee men's tennis team bounced back from their first loss of the season to win a closely contested matchup, 4-3, at Wake Forest on Sunday.

Sophomore Brandon Fickey clinched the victory for the Vols (11-1) after rallying from being down a break in the third set of his singles match against Jon Ho of the Demon Deacons. After dropping the first set, Fickey clawed back in the second set to force a third. Fickey double faulted twice to fall to 3-5 in the final set of his match before winning four games in a row to secure the individual and team win.

A match like this showed Fickey how much he's grown between his freshman and sophomore campaigns.

"Last year, I don't know if I even would have come back in the second set," Fickey said. "When I'd lose the first, I'd get really wound up, angry and frustrated, and I'd fold. The thing was, I came back and believed in myself."

The Vols started competition strong and shot out to a 3-0 lead. Tennessee won all three of their doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Then, the Vols took the first two singles contests when sophomore Hunter Reese won against Amogh Prabhakar 7-5, 6-2 and fellow sophomore Mikelis Libietis defeated David Hopkins 6-4, 7-6 (5).

That's when Wake Forest mounted their comeback as Danny Kreyman defeated Tennessee junior Jarryd Chaplin 7-5, 7-6 (4); Adam Lee beat senior John Collins 1-6, 6-1, 6-2; and Sam Bloom took down senior Edward Jones 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6).

Softball: The Lady Vols (5-0) were set to conclude their opening weekend at the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah, on Sunday with a game against Oklahoma State, but below freezing temperatures led to the game's cancellation.