KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s tennis team fell to nationally-ranked Tennessee Friday evening by a count of 6-1. It was the opening match of the 2012 indoor season for the Colonels.

Senior Philip Janz (No. 3) tallied the lone point for EKU as he outlasted Tennessee’s Hunter Reese in a super tie-breaker, 10-7. Fellow senior Niklas Schroeder (No. 1) split sets with the Volunteers’ top player before falling in his super tie-breaker, 10-3.

Eastern Kentucky had a chance to win the doubles point, but dropped the No. 1 and No. 3 matches by a single break of serve.

“I have to tip my hat to their players,” Eastern Kentucky head coach Rob Oertel said. “Their conditioning must be pretty good because they gutted out a tough win after a tight [4-3] loss to Memphis earlier in the day. If we want to be a ranked team, we have to capitalize on chances like this.”

The Colonels square off against another nationally-ranked team on Tuesday, Jan. 24 when EKU takes on No. 7 Kentucky in Lexington.

No. 13 Tennessee 6, Eastern Kentucky 1

Singles
1. Mikelis Libietis (UT) def. Niklas Schroeder (EKU) 6-3, 5-7, (10-3)
2. Brandon Fickey (UT) def. Hugo Klientovsky (EKU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Philip Janz (EKU) def. Hunter Reese (UT) 6-4, 2-6, (10-7)
4. Ed Jones (UT) def. Parul Verma (EKU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Taylor Patrick (UT) def. Joao Maio (EKU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Bryan Swartz (UT) def. Carles Pons (EKU) 7-5, 6-2

Doubles
1. Libietis/Reese (UT) def. Klientovsky/Schroeder (EKU) 8-6
2. Fickey/Jones (UT) def. Janz/Pons (EKU) 8-4
3. Chaplin/Nagovnak (UT) def. Maio/Verma (EKU) 9-7

Match Notes: Eastern Kentucky (0-1); No. 13 Tennessee (1-1)
Order of Finish: Doubles (2, 3, 1); Singles (5, 2, 4*, 1, 6, 3)