Men's Tennis Central: ITA Indoor National Championships

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Off to its best start since 2013, the 10th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team returns to action this weekend at the 2021 ITA Indoor National Championships. The Vols will begin their run at an indoor national title with a 1 p.m. first serve against No. 2 North Carolina on Friday afternoon from the Atkins Tennis Center.

The tournament features an eight-team field in which each program will play three matches in three days.

Live scoring will be provided by Illinois, and live streaming of every match with live commentary can all be found here.

LAST TIME OUT
Last time out, UT rolled past NC State, 4-0, on Sunday at the Goodfriend Tennis Center, recording its fifth shutout of the dual season.

The Vols swept doubles play for the first time this season, before gathering straight-set victories from junior Pat Harper, graduate student Giles Hussey and freshman Johannus Monday in singles to maintain an unblemished 8-0 record.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA
The Vols first opponent in Champaign is ranked second in the latest ITA team rankings, feature four student-athletes ranked inside the ITA top-125 singles rankings and two top-10 doubles tandems.

The Tar Heels are 3-0 in dual matches and arrive in Illinois on the back of a tight 4-3 victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday Jan. 31.

This will be the 21st meeting between the programs in a series dating to 1930. UNC owns a 12-8 series lead and knocked off UT, 4-0, in the series' most recent encounter in 2018 in the second round of the NCAA Championships.

SCOUTING THE FIELD
The remainder of the ITA Indoor field consists of the top-ranked USC Trojans, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Baylor, No. 5 Texas, No. 7 Virginia and hosts Illinois.

Seven of the eight participating teams are ranked inside the top-10 of the ITA's most recent team rankings.

The field also features 30 top-125 singles players and 12 of the top-60 doubles teams in the country.

VOLS MAKE SEC HONORS A ROUTINE
Hussey and Monday earned Co-SEC honors this week, with Hussey winning a share of Player of the Week with Mississippi State's Florian Broska and Monday grabbing his third consecutive Freshman of the Week honor, sharing the award with South Carolina's Toby Samuel.

This week's awards marked the fourth and fifth honors the Vols have brought home this season, earning at least a share of all but one weekly honor thus far.

LUCA ON THE BRINK
Graduate student Luca Wiedenmann is just one singles victory away from becoming the 10th-ever Vol to reach 100 career singles victories.

Of his 99 wins, 58 have come in dual matches, with 18 of those dual match victories clinching match point for UT, for an eye-popping clinch percentage of .310.

NEW EXPERIENCE FOR CURRENT VOLS
This will be UT's first appearance at ITA Indoors since 2014 and a victory on Friday will advance the Vols to the semifinals for the first time since 2011, when VFL's JP Smith and Tennys Sandgren donned the Orange & White.

UP NEXT
Upon returning from Champaign, Tennessee will take on Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon in its final tune-up match before the beginning of SEC play. First serve from Barksdale Stadium is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET.

Men's Tennis Central: ITA Indoor National Championships

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Players Mentioned

Pat Harper

Giles Hussey

Johannus Monday

Luca Wiedenmann

University of Tennessee Athletics