Men’s Tennis Central: #1 Tennessee vs. #7 South Carolina

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Claiming the top spot in the ITA top 25 for the fifth time in seven weeks, the No. 1 Tennessee men's tennis team plays host to seventh-ranked South Carolina Friday, in the Vols' first home SEC action of the season. First serve is set for 4 p.m. ET from Barksdale Stadium.

The Vols are in the top-five of the ITA rankings for a 21^st consecutive week, which is the second-longest active top-five streak in the nation behind only Baylor by a single week.

Live stats will be provided by UTsports.com and can be found here. Live streaming is available for free through Playsight and can be found here.

Admission is free and free tennis parking for spectators is located in SC40 at the Kingston Pike Building. A shuttle service will be provided from SC40 to Barksdale Stadium. Additional parking information can be found here.

The first 100 fans in attendance Friday will receive Gus's Chicken, and t-shirt giveaway will also be provided for the first 100 fans.

For outdoor matches at Barksdale Stadium this season, concessions and alcoholic beverages will be sold on the concourse, at the top of the grandstand behind court two. Concessions will only be sold during outdoor matches at Barksdale Stadium and not at matches that are moved indoors to Goodfriend Tennis Center.

More information on Tennessee's enhanced fan experience efforts can be found here.

LAST TIME OUT
In a road trip to The Magnolia State last weekend, Tennessee toppled then-24^th-ranked Mississippi State, 5-2 on Friday, before trouncing then-14^th-ranked Ole Miss, 6-1 Sunday.

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
Friday marks the 59^th chapter in the all-time series and will be the second meeting between the teams in the past 21 days. Tennessee (14-2, 2-0 SEC) holds a 38-20 all-time advantage over the Gamecocks (12-3, 1-1 SEC).

It is also the second meeting between the two programs this season, with Tennessee taking a 4-2 decision over the then-13^th-ranked Gamecocks at the ITA Indoor National Championships quarterfinals in Seattle. The Gamecocks have opened SEC play with an 0-7 loss to then-fifth-ranked Florida on the road and a narrow, 4-3 home victory over then-42^nd-ranked Texas A&M Sunday.

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#4 – Johannus Monday
#18 – Adam Walton
#55 – Emile Hudd

Doubles
#16 – Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui
#45 – Pat Harper/Adam Walton
#77 – Johannus Monday/Mark Wallner

GAMECOCKS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#16 – Daniel Rodrigues
#86 – Toby Samuel

Doubles
#30 – Daniel Rodrigues/Connor Thomson

MILESTONE IN SIGHT FOR WOODRUFF
A win Friday would give Tennessee head coach Chris Woodruff career coaching win No. 100 since taking the helm at his alma mater prior the start of the 2017-18 season. Along with becoming the fifth UT men's tennis coach to reach 100 career coaching victories with the program, Woodruff would also become the second-fastest of those five to reach the century mark, doing so in 125 matches, should the Vols defeat South Carolina. Sam Winterbotham (2007-17) reached 100 coaching victories in 121 matches.

BATTLE-TESTED
With the seventh-ranked Gamecocks making a visit to Knoxville, it serves as the seventh time Tennessee will face a top-25 opponent in the last eight matches. The Vols are 7-2 against ranked competition this season, winning five of their last six versus top-25 teams.

NO. 1 ONCE AGAIN
For the fifth time in seven weeks, the Vols land at the top spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Top 25. Following the ITA Indoor National Championships in February, the ranking system made its annual transition to computerized rankings. Tennessee's average score in those rankings is 88.365, with second-ranked Ohio State sitting at 81.373.

WALTS VERSUS THE RANKED
With his win 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5) singles win at Ole Miss over #18 Nikola Slavic, Walton picked up the 30^th ranked singles win of his career. With 108 all-time singles triumphs, over a quarter (.278) of his singles wins have been over ranked competition.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Vols are riding a 30-match home winning streak, which stands as the second-longest such streak in the nation. That streak dates to Jan. 31, 2020.

UP NEXT
Tennessee faces fourth-ranked Florida Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Knoxville, in a rematch of the 2021 SEC Tournament Championship match, which Tennessee took, 4-3.

For the most up-to-date information about the program, follow Tennessee men's tennis on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.

Men’s Tennis Central: #1 Tennessee vs. #7 South Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Pat Harper

Emile Hudd

Shunsuke Mitsui

Johannus Monday

Mark Wallner

Adam Walton

University of Tennessee Athletics