Men's Tennis Central: #5 Tennessee vs. #12 South Carolina

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Following a resounding, 4-1, victory in Wednesday's quarterfinal round, the fifth-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team takes on No. 12 South Carolina in the first semifinal of the 2021 SEC Tournament on Thursday afternoon. First serve from the Billingsley Tennis Center is slated for 1 p.m. ET.

Live stats will be provided through statbroadcast and live video can be seen through Playsight, both of which can be found through the tournament central page which can be found here.

Attendance for every match of the 2021 SEC Men's Tennis Championship is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

LAST TIME OUT
Last time out, the Vols rolled by No. 13 Ole Miss, 4-1 in the SEC quarters. After dominating through the doubles point, Tennessee earned a pair of straight-set victories from graduate student Giles Hussey and graduate student Luca Wiedenmann, before senior Adam Walton won a come-from-behind three-set match to clinch match point.

The win was the Vols third victory over Ole Miss in the 2021 dual season, doing so at ITA Kickoff Weekend, early on in SEC play and again on Wednesday afternoon.

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina arrives at Thursday's match following an emotional 4-2 victory over third-seeded Georgia on Wednesday morning.

Carolina's Toby Samuel clinched match point through a third-set tiebreak in come-from-behind fashion just before Georgia's Tyler Zink was able to knot the morning's score at 3-3.

This too is South Carolina's second consecutive trip to the SEC semifinals after having done so in 2019 in Gainesville, before falling to eventual tournament champions, Mississippi State.

In the latest ITA rankings, the Gamecocks feature four ranked singles players (No. 2 Daniel Rodrigues, No. 24 Connor Thomson, No. 52 Raphael Lambling, No. 114 Toby Samuel) and two ranked doubles pairs (No. 16 Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson and No. 76 Raphael Lambling and Philip Jordan).

A win would be the Vols fourth straight in the all-time series between the programs and their 14th win over Carolina in the teams' last 16 meetings.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT WALTS
Senior Adam Walton's match clinching singles victory on Wednesday was his 92nd career singles victory, placing him in a tie for 14th with VFL Brice Kash and is just five wins away from moving into a tie for 12th with VFL's Timo Stodder and Earl Grainger.

Walton is also just eight wins away from becoming just the 11th-ever Vol to reach 100 career singles victories.

RANKED WINS BECOMING EXPECTED
A win over Carolina would give UT 15 ranked victories and a 15-3 record over top-50 foes. A triumph over the Gamecocks would also be the Vols 12th victory over a squad ranked inside the top-25.

THE OLD HEADS KEEP GETTING IT DONE
The graduate student tandem of Luca Wiedenmann and Giles Hussey are a combined 36-5 in dual play, with each dominating all season long near the bottom of the UT lineup. The last match that saw both Wiedenmann and Hussey fall was the Vols tight, 5-2, loss at Florida on March 7.

UP NEXT
Following a win on Thursday the Vols advance to Friday's championship match against the winner of Florida and Texas A&M in Thursday's second semifinal contest.

Men's Tennis Central: #5 Tennessee vs. #12 South Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Giles Hussey

Timo Stodder

Adam Walton

Luca Wiedenmann

University of Tennessee Athletics