Men’s Tennis Central: #5 Tennessee vs. #52 Arkansas

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 5 Tennessee men's tennis team is back on Rocky Top as it plays host to Arkansas Friday at Barksdale Stadium. First serve is slated for 4 p.m. ET.

The Vols are coming off a pair of road wins over No. 25 Texas A&M last Friday, 4-3, and No. 40 LSU Sunday, 4-1. The win over the Aggies gave head coach Chris Woodruff his 100^th career head coaching victory.

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

Admission is free and complimentary tennis parking is located in SC40 at the Kingston Pike Building. Additional parking information can be found here.

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
Tennessee is coming off a perfect 2-0 weekend road trip, with victories over then-25^th-ranked Texas A&M, 4-3, and then-40^th-ranked LSU, 4-1.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS
The Vols and Razorbacks are set to meet for the 44^th time in series history, dating to 1973. Tennessee holds a 27-16 advantage in the all-time series. With a win Friday, Tennessee (16-5, 4-3 SEC) would earn its ninth home triumph of the year and improve to 5-3 in SEC action this dual season. Arkansas (10-10, 1-6 SEC) has dropped four consecutive matches, with all four coming to top-12 opponents. Recent series history saw UT win 10 straight over the Hogs from 2007-15, and six of those Big Orange wins were sweeps.

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#8 – Johannus Monday
#21 – Adam Walton
#40 – Emile Hudd

Doubles
#20 – Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui
#72 – Pat Harper/Adam Walton

RAZORBACKS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#67 – Aleksa Bucan
#107 – Alexandre Reco

Doubles
N/A

CLINCHED (x5)
With five clinches this season, senior Emile Hudd leads the Vols in that category and clinched both of Tennessee's road victories this past weekend on court two. He clinched Tennessee's 4-3 win over No. 25 Texas A&M with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Raphael Perot. In singles action against LSU, Hudd dominated in a second-set tiebreak to grab a 6-4, 7-6(1) win over Vlad Lobak That singles win also moved to Hudd to 22-7 in overall singles play this season, including a 13-5 mark in dual matches (5-2 SEC). Hudd's current singles ranking of No. 40 is a career-high.

SHUN ON A ROLL
Freshman standout Shunsuke Mitsui logged a pair of singles wins last weekend, helping the Vols earn the road victories over Texas A&M and LSU. In Tennessee's 4-3 come-from-behind victory Friday in College Station, Mitsui gave Tennessee its first point of the match, defeating Guido Marson on court three in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. It marked the first time Mitsui had played at No. 3 singles in his collegiate career and that win propelled Mitsui to the 25-win milestone (25-7) in overall singles play this season.

Singles play in Baton Rouge Sunday saw Mitsui battle back from an 0-4 deficit in the first set against Kent Hunter, before roaring back to take the first-set tiebreak (7-2) and win 11 of the ensuing 16 games, before going unfinished, 7-6(2), 4-3, unf., as the match was not played out. Mitsui is now 15-3 (5-1 SEC) in singles dual matches this season. Mitsui has won six of his previous seven completed singles matches.

CHASING HISTORY
In October, graduate student Adam Walton earned his 100th career singles win to become the 11th-ever Vol to reach the century mark in career singles triumphs. At 93 career doubles wins, Walton now stands seven doubles victories away from 100. Reaching this feat would make him just the sixth Vol in program history to accrue 100 career doubles and 100 career singles wins.

TOPPLING THE RANKED
Of Tennessee's 16 overall wins on the season, which are tied for the second-most among SEC teams, eight have come over top-25 competition.

UP NEXT
The Vols have a week off, with no Sunday match this week. Tennessee's next action comes on the road at Kentucky on Friday, April 8, with first serve currently slated for 5 p.m. ET.

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

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Players Mentioned

Pat Harper

Emile Hudd

Shunsuke Mitsui

Johannus Monday

Adam Walton

University of Tennessee Athletics