Men’s Tennis Central: No. 41 Mississippi State

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 19th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team hosts No. 41 Mississippi State Friday at the Goodfriend Tennis Center in a rematch of last season's SEC Championship final. First serve is set for 6 p.m. ET.

Admission is free to all regular-season matches and parking is available in Lot N-12 which is located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard. A live stream as well as live results will be available for the match by visiting the men's tennis schedule page on utsports.com or on Twitter (@vol_tennis).

Tennessee's clear bag policy will be in effect.

The Vols (11-2, 0-1 SEC) are looking to bounce back against Mississippi State after suffering just their second loss of the season last Friday at Georgia.

RANKED VOLS

Junior Adam Walton is 10-1 this season and checks in at No. 31 nationally. Walton has played five ranked opponents this spring, winning three of those match ups.

In doubles, Giles Hussey and Andrew Rogers enter the weekend at No. 50, moving up two spots from 52nd.

HARPER ON A ROLL

Sophomore Pat Harper has been rolling since entering the singles lineup on Feb. 7 at Duke. The Brisbane, Australia native is 3-0 in singles play at the No. 6 position, including a win against Georgia's Robert Loeb 6-3, 6-1 last Friday.

Adding to his hot streak, Harper is 2-1 in doubles play since Feb. 7, making him a combined 5-1 in the month of February.

WIEDENMANN KNOCKING ON HISTORY'S DOOR

Senior Luca Wiedenmann is sitting on 80 career singles wins, which is just four shy of placing him among the top 20 in program history. The Munich, Germany native could potentially earn three wins this weekend as UT hosts Mississippi State on Friday and No. 11 Ole Miss and Austin Peay on Sunday.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

Mississippi State comes to Knoxville sporting a 9-4 record overall and a 1-0 mark in league play. The two-time defending SEC Champions opened SEC play at home last Friday with a 5-2 victory over Arkansas. The Vols and Bulldogs have two common opponents – Oklahoma and Georgia – and faired similarly as UT and MSU defeated Oklahoma, but fell to Georgia.

Mississippi State and Georgia met in the ITA Kick-Off, which does not count towards either teams SEC record.

Two Bulldogs rank in the top 125 of the ITA singles poll with Giovanni Oradini ranked No. 43 nationally and Florian Broska at 89th. In doubles, Broska and Nicolas Ocana are 43rd while Alberto Colas and Gregor Ramskogler sit 75th in the nation.

SERIES HISTORY

Friday will be the 60th meeting all-time between Tennessee and Mississippi State with the Vols leading the series 34-25. UT and MSU met twice last season with the Bulldogs coming away winners in both matches.

In the regular season, UT fell 4-3 in a hard-fought decision but used the loss to springboard into a nine-match win streak that saw them reach the SEC Tournament final. Tennessee ran into Mississippi State again in the championship match, falling 4-1 as the Bulldogs won their second-straight SEC title.

UP NEXT

Tennessee will play a doubleheader on Sunday against No. 11 Ole Miss and Austin Peay. The Vols and Rebels are scheduled for a 1 p.m. start, while UT's match against the Governors will begin at 4 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Pat Harper

Giles Hussey

Andrew Rogers

Adam Walton

Luca Wiedenmann

University of Tennessee Athletics