Knoxville, Tenn. – The Furman men's tennis team began its 2024 season on Friday afternoon falling 7-0 to the 6^th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in non-conference action inside the Goodfriend Tennis Center.

Furman drops to 0-1 on the season while Tennessee improves to 1-0 overall.

The Volunteers, ranked preseason number six by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), captured all three doubles matches to jump out to an early 1-0 lead over the Paladins. Younes Lalami and Johannus Monday teamed up to defeat Cole Burnam and Leonardo Dal Boni, 6-1, at number three, and Shunsuke Mitsui and Filip Pieczonka followed at number one by defeating Thomas Kennedy and Elijah Poritzky, 6-4. The number two match went unfinished with Angel Diaz and Chris Li leading Ben Cahill and Emil Westling, 5-4.

Tennessee followed by winning all six singles matches to claim the 7-0 triumph. Filip Apltauer, playing at No. 6, topped Walker Allen 6-3, 6-0, and Pieczonka added a 6-2, 6-0 win versus John Rado at No. 5. In the No. 4 match, Li won 6-0, 6-2 over Westling. Monday recorded a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Poritzky in the No. 1 contest, and Mitsui won 7-5, 6-2 over Dal Boni at No. 3.

In the No. 2 singles match, Kennedy took his opening set against Lalami to a tiebreaker before falling 6-7 (6-8). Lalami followed with a 6-4 victory in the second set.

The Paladins return to action on Sunday morning when they face Penn at 9 a.m. from Tennessee's Goodfriend Tennis Center. Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats and live streaming. Updates will also be posted on the Furman men's tennis Twitter page (@FurmanMTennis).