Fall Recap: Royals Bid Farewell to Senior Kaden Buchanan
KNOXVILLE, Tn- The Royals men's tennis program have officially wrapped up their fall season and now will eagerly await the start of the spring season on February 9th. The fall was capped off with a 6-3 win over cross-town rival Maryville College where senior Kaden Buchanan finished up his Royal career.
The Royals competed in 5 team matches throughout the fall playing a range of NCAA and NAIA opponents. As a team, the Royals were able to see their team effort come together in their final contest against Maryville College where they used strong doubles performances from the teams of Pedro Ozelim and Camden Jones as well as Ignacio Gamarra and Benjamin Barrios. Taking a 2-1 lead into singles, the Royals were able to put away the match with follow up singles wins by Gamarra, Ozelim, Barrios, and junior Noah Brown.
Throughout the fall, the Royals used a combination of returning players and freshmen to see success. The doubles courts saw victories from Senior Jacob Keeling and Sophomore Mason Wrisley, along with Ozelim, Jones, Gamarra, and Barrios. The singles court was headlined by the sophomore Gamarra and freshman Barrio who saw the most fall singles victories at the top two singles positions.
The Royals also bid farewell to senior Kaden Buchanan from Robinson, Illinois as he will graduate in December. When Buchanan joined the Royals in the fall of 2020, he was a fixture at the number 1 position in both singles and doubles and remained that way throughout his Sophomore year as the Royals transitioned to the NAIA. Playing with the combo of his big serve and forehand, Buchanan leaves the Royals ranked in the Top 3 in all time doubles wins and overall wins in Royals men's tennis history. Coach Hale had this to say about Kaden, "I love to challenge players to leave the program better than they found it, and Kaden definitely did that. He came in as we were trying to build something, with the challenges of COVID protocols, and he consistently led by example. He's shown so much growth these last 3 and a half years. Despite coming in during COVID protocols, despite battling a handful of injuries, and despite having to often face the opponent's best player every match, Kaden persevered and we are so much better for that. We'll miss him."
Regarding the season, Coach Hale said, "We intentionally played a tough schedule to prepare us for the AAC conference and we definitely saw growth from beginning to end. We saw the freshmen get a little more comfortable and we were looking pretty good at the end. We dealt with some injuries and other obstacles that left us a bit short-handed for some matches but we responded well and I think we are really prepped for the spring."
The Royals kick off the spring season at home with nationally ranked Tennessee Wesleyan on February 9th.