University of Tennessee Athletics
Notebook: ITA All-American Update
September 30, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 30, 2010
The ITA All-American Championships start Saturday, and senior Matteo Fago and sophomore Tennys Sandgren have moved up the entry lists for the national event.
Six Vols are traveling to Tulsa, Okla., for the All-American, including defending singles and doubles champion John-Patrick Smith. Good news for Tennessee is this: they will have two doubles teams in the field instead of just one.
Smith and sophomore Rhyne Williams, ranked seventh nationally, were automatically listed in the main draw. Fago and Sandgren are now in doubles qualifying.
Fago and Sandgren, who were originally listed as the fifth alternates for the doubles qualifying in early September, are officially listed in the ITA's qualifying draw because other doubles pairings have since withdrawn from the event. The Vols duo has a 2-1 record this season and was 5-1 during the early dual matches last spring, briefly reaching No. 42 in the national rankings.
In singles, Fago was also bumped up from the pre-qualifying draw and will join Sandgren in the qualifying draw. Both Vols need to win three matches each to reach the main draw of singles, which begins Oct. 7.
Smith and Fago are the only Vols making a return trip to the All-American. Smith has played in the event as both a sophomore and junior. Fago did not travel to Tulsa for the tournament last year, but was one win away from the main draw in doubles with Boris Conkic as a sophomore in 2008.
Sophomores Edward Jones and Max Stevens kick off the Vols' potential nine-day stay in Tulsa with the first two rounds of singles prequalifying Saturday. Jones and Stevens would have to win three matches to earn one of 16 positions in the qualifying draw.
Tennessee's ITA All-American Participants
Pre-Qualifying Singles (Oct. 2-3)
Edward Jones
Max Stevens
Qualifying Singles (Oct. 4-6)
Matteo Fago
Tennys Sandgren
Qualifying Doubles (Oct. 5-6)
Matteo Fago/Tennys Sandgren
Main Draw Singles (Oct. 7-10)
John-Patrick Smith (1)
Rhyne Williams
Main Draw Doubles (Oct. 7-10)
John-Patrick Smith/Rhyne Williams
Rare and Never
Last October, Smith became just the third player in tournament history and the first in 11 years to win the singles and doubles titles in the same year at the All-American. This season, he faces the tall task at defending his championships, something even rarer.
Former Georgia Bulldog Al Parker is the only player to ever win back-to-back singles titles at the All-American, doing so in 1989 and 1990. For the record, K.J. Hippensteel of Stanford is the only other player to capture the tournament title twice, winning in 1999 and again in 2001.
Current ATP pro and former Georgia star John Isner was the last player to appear in consecutive All-American finals. He won the title 2005 and lost to Tulsa's Arnau Brugues in 2006.
When it comes to the doubles championship, no school has ever won the title in consecutive years, let alone the same pairing. Smith has the opportunity to be the first to pull off the feat, but this time, it will be with a different partner.
Smith and Conkic teamed up to win the championship last year, but Conkic is taking the semester off before rejoining the team in January. Smith will instead be playing with Williams, and the two have a 2-1 record through one tournament this fall.
Now There are Four
Sophomore Taylor Patrick's six-match run to the Division III title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., last week was the first singles tournament title of his career and the first individual trophy for the Vols to start the fall season.
With the tournament win, Patrick joined three current Vols who have won singles titles: Conkic, Smith and Williams. Interestingly, all four players have at least doubles championship to their name as well. As a freshman last year, Patrick teamed up with Stevens to win the B Flight of the Louisville Fall Invitational.
All six of Smith's titles have come in pairs. When he has won the singles title at an event, he has picked up the doubles championship as well.
To break down the Vols' career individual tournament titles:
Boris Conkic
Singles Titles
2010 SEC Coaches Indoor Championships
2007 UNLV Fall Classic
Doubles Titles
2009 ITA All-American Championships
2009 ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships
Taylor Patrick
Singles Titles
2010 Southern Intercollegiate Championships (Division III)
Doubles Titles
2009 Louisville Fall Invitational (Flight B)
John-Patrick Smith
Singles Titles
2009 ITA All-American Championships
2009 UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational
2009 SEC Coaches Indoor Championships
Doubles Titles
2009 ITA All-American Championships
2009 UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational
2009 SEC Coaches Indoor Championships
Rhyne Williams
Singles Titles
2009 Georgia Tech Fall Invitational
Doubles
2009 ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships
Not to Forget Georgia Tech
The Vols' weekend destination is not just the All-American Championships in Tulsa. Several members of the team are headed south to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational, which starts Saturday and continues through the finals Monday.
Patrick, currently riding a team-leading eight-match winning streak dating back to January, headlines the small UT contingent to Georgia Tech. He will be playing doubles with junior Bryan Swartz, who is also entered in the singles draw.
This season's singles field has no ranked players.
Last season, the Georgia Tech Invitational featured an all-Vol final. Williams and Fago advanced to the championships, where Williams captured his first tournament title 6-4, 6-1.
Fall Season Notebook
Need to read up on the Vols' fall season? Look no further than the 2010 fall notebook . This 25-page, web-only notes package breaks down the fall tournament schedule and provides all the updated team and individual career statistics.
In addition, the notebook contains every dual match box score from the spring season and recaps the Vols' historic run to the SEC championship and the NCAA title match.
Players Mentioned
