Men's Tennis: Fall Recap

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With the fall men's tennis season in the books, here's a look back at the first semester of the Chris Woodruff coaching era.

BACK ON THE NATIONAL STAGE: Junior Timo Stodder, who played No. 1 in the singles and doubles lineups for the Vols last season, made his career main draw debuts at two more national tournaments: the ITA All-American Championships in October and the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships to end the semester. He reached the second round of the ITA All-American and played into the third round — a career-best result at a major — to end his collegiate fall schedule. He compiled a team-leading 12-4 record during the semester with four victories over nationally ranked opponents and will be ranked No. 36 in the Oracle/ITA Rankings to start the spring.

TOULIATOS RETURNS: After missing last season with shoulder surgery, redshirt junior Preston Touliatos is back. The Birmingham, Alabama, native put together a 7-2 fall in singles that memorably included a run to the quarterfinals of the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships. He scored his first win over a nationally ranked opponent in the fourth round, beating No. 74 Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff of Louisville 6-4, 6-3. He also teamed up with freshman Adam Walton to win a doubles title at the Ivy Plus Invitational in Princeton to start the fall.

REGIONAL TRIO: Stodder, Touliatos and sophomore Scott Jones all reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships in Knoxville. Stodder won six consecutive matches to play his way into the final match, including ranked victories over Antonio Cembellin (#89, Indiana) in the quarterfinals and Ryotaro Matsumura (#42, Kentucky) in the semifinals.

FRESHMAN DEBUTS: Three Vols played their first collegiate matches for the Orange and White: Andrew Rogers (Brentwood, Tenn.), Adam Walton (Home Hill, Australia) and Ryan Smith (Toowoomba, Australia). Walton led the way among newcomers with an 8-5 fall record that included two wins over nationally ranked opponents (def. #100 Broom of Dartmouth; def. #68 Jimmy Bendeck of Baylor). He also led the team in doubles with a combined 8-3 record with three teammates, which included a doubles titles with Touliatos at the Ivy Plus Invitational to start the fall. Rogers picked up seven victories with two to end the season.

WIN PCT.: Six Vols finished the fall semester with a winning percentage of .500 or better: Timo Stodder (12-4), Scott Jones (10-5), Andrew Rogers (7-7), Preston Touliatos (7-2), Adam Walton (8-5) and Luca Wiedenmann (8-6). Wiedenmann ended the semester on a high not for the Vols, winning four of his last five matches and playing into the singles final of the CCB Invitational in Birmingham. Jones earned three wins against nationally ranked opponents, including two in the top 100.

TEAM ADDITIONS: The Vols added two newcomers during the early signing period: Nicaise Muamba (Laval, Quebec) and Sean Presson (Knoxville, Tenn.). Muamba will join the team in January following an extensive junior playing career where he was a U18 Canadian national champion and a representative on the country's Junior Davis Cup team. He scored a victory over Florida State's No. 3 returner, Lucas Poullain, at an ITF Futures event earlier this month. Presson is the top recruit in the state of Tennessee by TennisRecruiting.net. He has rapidly climbed the national recruiting rankings in the last year, going from 213 in 2016 to a career-best 114 this week. He closed out October winning the Icy Hot Southern L2 Championships, beating four top-100 players.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Scott Jones

Andrew Rogers

Timo Stodder

Preston Touliatos

Adam Walton

Luca Wiedenmann

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