Men’s Tennis Central: #6 Tennessee vs. #7 Virginia

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fresh off a 4-3 win over Baylor, the No. 6 Tennessee men's tennis team returns to action Saturday at 2 p.m. ET to take on seventh-ranked Virginia in the NCAA semifinal round.

It marks the eighth all-time appearance in the NCAA semifinals for Tennessee, having advanced to the championship match in 1990, 2001 and 2010.

Tickets for the 2022 Championship can be purchased here.

A complete Championship Central page can be accessed here and live stats will be available here. All video streams for the event will be carried on the TennisONE App and can also be viewed here. TennisONE will produce a broadcast with announcers for the semifinal and final rounds of team, singles and doubles competition. All other matches will consist of each court's scoreboard video feed.

LAST TIME OUT
Tennessee toppled third-ranked Baylor Thursday in the NCAA semifinals, 4-3, to advance to its eighth NCAA semifinal in program history.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA
Tennessee (26-7) is tied in the all-time series with Virginia, 6-6 dating to 1969. The most recent meeting between the programs was won by the Cavaliers in 2013, 4-0. Tennessee took the first six matches of the series and Virginia (26-5) took the following six. A win for the Vols would send them to the program's fourth-ever NCAA team national championship appearance

After enduring a five-match losing streak early in the year, Virginia has won 21 consecutive matches, last suffering a loss at the ITA Indoor National Championships. In the NCAA Tournament, the Cavaliers defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-0 in the first round, took down VCU, 4-0 and swept South Carolina, 4-0 in the Super Regionals, before taking a 4-1 decision over Florida Thursday night.

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#3 – Adam Walton
#10 – Johannus Monday
#74 – Emile Hudd

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

CAVALIERS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#30 – Chris Rodesch
#39 – Inaki Montes de la Torre
#45 – Jeffrey von der Schulenburg
#96 – Ryan Goetz

Doubles
#12 - Chris Rodesch/Ryan Goetz
#61 – Bar Botzer/Chris Rodesch
#81 – Chris Rodesch/William Woodall
#84 – Inaki Montes de la Torre/Jeffrey von der Schulenburg

TOP-FIVE STATUS
Adam Walton's win over fifth-ranked Adrian Boitan of Baylor Thursday marked Walton's 120^th career singles victory, tying him with Mark Parsons (1997-2001) for the fifth-most singles victories in program history. This season, Walton is ranked third in the ITA singles rankings and holds a 17-6 record at the No. 1 singles spot this dual season.

MILESTONE FOR HUDD
On Thursday, Tennessee senior Emile Hudd earned his 30th overall singles win of the season, becoming the second Vol to reach the 30-win mark. Freshman Shunsuke Mitsui is the other Vol to surpass the 30-win mark in singles this year, logging 34 thus far.

RELIABLE DOUBLES
Johannus Monday and Mark Wallner entered the year having not played in a doubles match together, but are 14-1 at the No. 3 doubles spot this season. The duo clinched the doubles point in Tennessee's quarterfinal win over Baylor Thursday. As a team, Tennessee is 21-2 when winning the doubles point this season.

HE CAN CLINCH TOO
This season, freshman Shunsuke Mitsui leads Tennessee with eight match clinches, earning his latest Thursday to advance the Vols to a second consecutive NCAA semifinal.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
This dual season, the Vols hold a 18-0 record when winning at the No. 3 singles spot. Emile Hudd has manned that position for much of the spring, posting at 13-4 mark there in dual matches. The Vols have also seen great success when winning at No. 2 doubles, a spot Hudd has also manned with Mitsui, going 18-2 when winning at this spot.

SEC ANNUAL AWARDS
Tennessee had four individuals earn postseason recognition from the Southeastern Conference head coaches. Graduate student Walton earned first-team All-SEC acclaim for the third time in his Tennessee career, having also done so in 2019 and 2021. Monday, a sophomore, was named a first-team All-SEC member for the second time in as many seasons, while senior Emile Hudd garnered second-team All-SEC honors in his first season with the Vols. Freshman Shunsuke Mitsui joined Hudd as a second-team All-SEC selection and became the ninth Vol in program history to make the SEC All-Freshman Team. It marks Tennessee's second year in a row placing a Vol on the All-Freshman Team, with Monday doing so in 2021. Tennessee's four recipients of SEC first and second team honors mark the program's most in a single season since also having four in 2011.

QUICK HITTERS
• The Vols own 11 top-25 triumphs this dual season, including four top-10 victories and a 7-1 mark against teams ranked No. 11-25.
• Tennessee has won the doubles point 23 times this season, holding a 21-2 record when taking this 1-0 advantage.
• The Vols reached the championship match at the ITA Indoor National Championships in Seattle earlier this dual season, logging a 3-1 record in the Emerald City.
• In a March 25 road comeback victory over then-25th-ranked Texas A&M, UT head coach Chris Woodruff became the fifth UT men's tennis coach to reach 100 career coaching victories with the program. Along with this, he became the second-fastest of those five to reach the century mark, doing so in 128 matches.

UP NEXT
With a win, Tennessee would advance to the NCAA Final, which will take place Sunday at 4 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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pat Harper

Emile Hudd

Shunsuke Mitsui

Johannus Monday

Mark Wallner

Adam Walton

University of Tennessee Athletics