CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Citadel tennis team received quality outings from the bottom three singles matchups as senior Jack Pyritz, sophomore Phillip Quinn and freshman Zvonko Bencedic all pushed their matches to three sets, but Chattanooga proved to be a stronger team Friday afternoon as the Mocs defeated the Bulldogs 7-0.

Match Information
Location: Chattanooga, Tenn. (UTC Tennis Center)
Final Score: Chattanooga 7, The Citadel 0
Records: UTC (10-2, 1-0 SoCon), The Citadel (2-9, 0-1 SoCon)

Match Rundown

• The Mocs swept through doubles action with matching 6-1 results in all three matchups to claim the doubles point and go up 1-0.
• In singles action, the Mocs claimed the match behind straight-set victories at No. 2, No. 1 and No. 3.
• At No. 5 singles, Bencedic went up 6-4 in the first set over Simon Bustamante, but the Moc bounced back with a 7-5 victory in the second set. Bustamante was then able to pull away in the final set, claiming a 6-0 victory.
• Quinn also started off strong in his No. 4 matchup, taking the first set 6-2 over Jeffrey Dewald. Dewald responded to take the second set 6-3 before finishing the match out with a 6-4 win in the third.
• Pyritz and Turner Voges were the final duo on the court. Voges took the first set of the No. 6 matchup from Pyritz, 6-1, but the Bulldog responded well with a 6-2 victory in the second set. Voges was able to complete the sweep for the Mocs with a 6-2 win in the final set.
• At No. 3 singles, Noah Nawabi took six games from Kerim Hyatt, and Will Graham won four games over Tomas Rodriguez at No. 2.

Match Results
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2)
1. Simon Brustamante / Kerim Hyatt (UTC) def. Gavin Stewart / Zvonko Bencedic (The Citadel) 6-1
2. Niklas Gerdes / Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) def. Will Graham / Willem van Zyl (The Citadel) 6-1
3. Jeffrey Dewald / Turner Voges (UTC) def. Noah Nawabi / Phillip Quinn (The Citadel) 6-1

Singles (Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3, 5, 4, 6)
1. Gerdes (UTC) def. Stewart (The Citadel) 6-2, 6-0
2. Rodriguez (UTC) def. Graham (The Citadel) 6-2, 6-2
3. Hyatt (UTC) def. Nawabi (The Citadel) 6-2, 6-4
4. Dewald (UTC) def. Quinn (The Citadel) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Bustamante (UTC) def. Bencedic (The Citadel) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0
6. Turner Voges (UTC) def. Jack Pyritz (The Citadel) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2

QUOTABLES FROM COACH KRIESE
"We played a team today that has been on a roll. They have been playing great tennis recently, and they played with a lot of confidence today. Chattanooga is a good team, well coached, and they capitalized at threshold moments. We started out very slow. It took us about an hour to get up to the tempo we needed to compete today. I was proud of the effort at the three, four, five and six singles, but it was too little too late. We had chances to win all four of those matches, we just didn't cash in when we needed to."

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will return to the state of South Carolina for their second Southern Conference match of the weekend on Sunday, Feb. 23. The 'Dogs will tangle with Furman in a 3 p.m. match.

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