Mitsui Tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee men's tennis freshman Shunsuke Mitsui has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week for a second time this season, the conference announced Wednesday.

Mitsui continues to impress in his debut season on Rocky Top and logged a perfect 3-0 record this past weekend, including a ranked singles win at No. 12 Kentucky and a match-clinching victory Sunday at Vanderbilt.

"I think all of us who know Shunsuke see how hard and consistently resilient he is on a day-to-day basis," head coach Chris Woodruff said. "He certainly takes his craft seriously and purposefully. I'm extremely proud of him."

This season, Mitsui is 18-3 (8-1 SEC) in dual singles matches, including a 5-1 mark at the No. 4 position and is 28-7 overall in singles action. He has won nine of his previous 10 completed singles matches. In doubles, a 6-4 win with Emile Hudd Sunday at Vanderbilt puts him at 26-9 in doubles this season, dating back to fall action. He is 8-3 (3-1 SEC) at No. 2 doubles this dual season.

In singles action at Kentucky Friday, Mitsui earned a top-100 win on court four, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) over Kentucky's #95 Musitelli. Mitsui came up clutch by coming back from down 2-4 in the third-set tiebreak to win the match, taking five of the final six points.

Sunday in Nashville, Mitsui secured another clutch singles win to break a 3-3 tie and give the Vols a 4-3 road win over the Commodores with his 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(1) victory over Max Freeman on court four. At 2-4 in the second set, Mitsui was down a set and a break before winning his next service game and then earning a much-needed break that tied the second set at 4-4. Later in the set, two consecutive aces from the freshman helped him take a 6-5 lead. That effort preceded a set-winning break as Mitsui won the set's final eight points to send it to a third.

Over a three-game span from the end of set two to the start of set three, Mitsui won 12 of 13 points. The match entered a match-deciding third-set tiebreak scenario at 6-6, in which Mitsui closed the door on Vandy with a 7-1 triumph.

Mitsui and the Vols are back in this action at home this Friday at 4 p.m. ET against Alabama. Senior Day for the Vols will be Sunday at 1 p.m. ET against Auburn. Both matches will take place at Barksdale Stadium.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Emile Hudd

Shunsuke Mitsui

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