Men’s Tennis Central: SEC Tournament

ATHENS, Ga. – Winning six of its final seven regular-season matches, the No. 5 Tennessee men's tennis team began play at the SEC Tournament Thursday with a 4-0 win over Alabama to advance to the quarterfinal round. The fifth-seeded Vols face No. 4 seed Georgia Friday at 3 p.m. ET at Georgia's Feild Courts.

Tennessee brought the SEC Tournament title back to Knoxville last year, defeating Florida 4-3 in the championship match and is aiming to defend its crown this season. Live streaming and stats for Friday can be found here.

SCOUTING GEORGIA
While UT trails the all-time series to Georgia, 34-66-1, Tennessee (21-6) has won three of the past five meetings. Friday marks the fourth match between Tennessee and Georgia since last season, with two of those four meetings coming in the postseason. The Vols knocked off the Bulldogs in the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2021. Georgia has won each of its previous five home matches, finishing the year 9-1 in Athens and 9-3 in SEC action.

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#7 – Adam Walton
#12 – Johannus Monday
#72 – Emile Hudd

Doubles
#21 – Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui
#25 - Pat Harper/Adam Walton

BULLDOGS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#13 – Hamish Stewart
#46 – Philip Henning
#74 – Tristan McCormick
#109 – Trent Bryde

Doubles
#44 – Trent Bryde/Philip Henning
#62 - Tristan McCormick/Hamish Stewart
#87 - Philip Henning/Hamish Stewart

POSTSEASON SUCCESS
Tennessee has made it to the semifinal round or further in each of the previous three SEC Tournaments, reaching the semifinals in 2018, the finals in 2019 and winning the title in 2021. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 global pandemic.

RANKED VOLS
Tennessee enters postseason action having been ranked inside the ITA top 5 for a nation-leading 27 weeks in a row, coming in at fifth in Wednesday's updated rankings.

EYES ON THE CENTURY MARK
After earning his 98th career doubles triumph Sunday against Auburn, Walton now stands two 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. Walton and Pat Harper have won their last 10 completed doubles matches together, finishing the regular season with a perfect 9-0 doubles record in SEC play.

HE'S STILL A FRESHMAN
Tennessee freshman phenom Shunsuke Mitsui has won back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week honors. His singles win Thursday over Alabama's Raul Dobai marked his 21st dual singles win this season. He was the second player in the SEC this year to reach the 20-win milestone in dual singles action and the first SEC freshman to reach the feat.

UP NEXT
With a win, Tennessee would move on to play the winner of the match between top-seeded Florida and No. 9 seed LSU Saturday at 2 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