Men's Tennis Upsets Tennessee

Sunday, February 9

Knoxville, Tenn.

3:00 PM

University of Louisville

Tennessee

Conley upset No. 56-ranked Mark Dietrich in singles.

February 10, 2003 | Men's Tennis

Feb. 10, 2003

The University of Louisville No. 37-ranked men's tennis team handed No. 16-ranked Tennessee Volunteers their first loss of the 2003 season with a 4-2 win at UT's Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center.

"Beating Tennessee is like a dream day because so few teams come here and beat these guys at home because they are so good," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "We just caught them at a good year and at a good moment vbecause for us to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Tennessee is not justice. That's an elite program -- a top two or three program. We're just trying to get into the Top 25. This is big to us and I hope we can enjoy this for a while.

Tennessee has been in the final four in tennis for the last three years and made it to the finals in 2001. The Volunteers have only lost once at home in three years.

The Cardinals began the day by losing all three doubles contests. At the No. 1 slot, the nationally ranked Cardinal duo of Paulo Carvalho and Cody Conley were upset by Mark Henderson and Simon Rea with the 8-4 win. However, Tennessee's only other point came at No.1 where Rea edged Carvalho.

Down 2-0, the Cardinals grabbed the momentum by rallying to win at No. 3 and 4 singles. Octavian Nicodim beat UT's Wade Orr 6-2, 7-5 and UL's Matt Mayer beat Henderson 6-3, 6-3. Jhonny Berrido clinched the win for the Cardinals by defeating freshman Vincent Perna in the No. 5 singles slot.

Tennessee head coach Michael Fancutt gave credit to the Cardinals (6-1), acknowledging the improvement Ecarma's team has shown in recent years. Fancutt stressed the importance of winning the doubles point in dual match competition and his team's success in doubles. The Vols have not dropped a doubles match thus far in 2003.

"It is absolutely huge to defeat a program that is arguably one of the best in the last three years on their own home court and come out with a victory," said Ecarma.

No. 37 Louisville 4, No. 16 Tennessee No .2Singles1.) No. 27 Simon Rea (UT) def. No. 111 Paulo Carvalho 6-4, 6-12.) Cody Conley (UL) def. No. 55 Mark Dietrich 6-4, 2-6, 6-33.) Octavian Nicodim (UL) def. Wade Orr 6-2, 7-54.) Matt Mayer (UL) def. Mark Henderson 6-3, 6-35.) Jhonny Berrido (UL) def. Vincent Perna 6-4,6-46.) Rawl Martin (UT) vs. Harry Walsh (UL) suspended
Doubles1.) Henderson/Rea (UT) def. No. 22 Conley/Nicodim 8-42.) Dietrich/Orr (UT) def. Mayer/Walsh 8-63.) Martin/Perna (UT) def. Carvalho/Kirts 8-3