The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team lost 29-9 at Virginia on Friday but trailed only 10-9 after six matches – with winning decisions for 23rd-ranked 149-pounder Tanner Smith (7-3), 165-pounder Drew Nicholson (4-1) and No. 21 184-pounder Matthew Waddell (7-2), all sophomores. Another Mocs sophomore, Hunter Fortner, lost 3-1 in overtime to No. 22 Victor Marcelli.
Track & Field
* Five UTC runners set personal records Friday in women’s indoor track and field at Samford’s meet in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Mocs’ Abby Bateman finished third in the 800-meter run with a PR of 2:17.26.
Tennis
* The UTC men’s tennis team begins a promising 2020 season Saturday night at Alabama and hosts Appalachian State and NAIA member Union College on Sunday at McCallie’s Strang-Voges indoor center, with those matches set for 3 and 7 p.m. The UTC women open Sunday at 2 p.m. against Union at Baylor School’s Guerry center. UTC’s Chuck Merzbacher was the Southern Conference men’s coach of the year in 2019, when his Mocs were 14-11 overall and 4-3 in the league, and their deep roster has added graduate transfer Turner Voges from the University of Memphis to 2019 No. 1 Niklas Gerdes and four other returning starters. Chad Camper’s female Mocs return four starters, including 14-match singles winners Polina Goloputova and Emma Van Hee.