Men’s Tennis Central: ITA Kickoff Weekend

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 11th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team retakes the courts this weekend as Louisiana, Oklahoma and Charlotte visit Rocky Top for the Tennessee Regional of the 2023 ITA Kickoff Weekend, running Friday-Saturday, Jan. 27-28. This year marks the 14th annual ITA Kickoff Weekend.

All matches throughout the weekend will be held inside the Goodfriend Tennis Center. Live stats will be provided by UTsports.com and can be found here. Live streaming is available for free through Playsight here.

Tennessee (4-2) looks to get back in the win column and secure a spot at the ITA National Indoor Championships for a third consecutive season.

Admission is free and complimentary tennis parking is located in SC40 at the Kingston Pike Building. Additional parking information can be found here. The first 100 fans in attendance at Goodfriend Tennis Center Friday will be treated to pizza and popcorn. Free t-shirts will also be available. On Saturday, the first 50 fans in attendance will receive complimentary Moe's Southwest Grill.

FULL KICKOFF WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 27
Match 1: Oklahoma vs. Charlotte, 10 a.m. ET
Match 2: Tennessee vs. Louisiana, 1 p.m. ET

Saturday, Jan. 28
Match 3: Loser of Match 1 vs. Loser of Match 2, 10 a.m. ET
Match 4: Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2, 1 p.m. ET

LAST TIME OUT
Tennessee dropped matches to then-fifth-ranked Michigan, 4-1, and then-14th-ranked Wake Forest, 4-3, in a weekend road trip.

SCOUTING LOUISIANA
Friday marks the first-ever meeting between Tennessee (4-2) and Louisiana (1-2). A win for the Vols would advance them to Saturday's final at the Tennessee Regional of the ITA Kickoff Weekend to face the winner of Friday's Oklahoma vs. Charlotte matchup. The Ragin' Cajuns were dealt a 6-1 season-opening defeat at the hands of Texas Tech, prior to a 4-3 win over Portland and a 5-2 loss to Washington in Seattle.

Louisiana junior Oriol Fillat Gimenez led the Ragin' Cajuns in dual singles win percentage in 2022, logging a 16-4 (.800) mark in the spring with 15 of those wins coming at the No. 3 singles position. As a team in 2022, Louisiana finished the year at 17-6 (4-2 Sun Belt) and suffered a 4-2 loss to The University of Texas at Arlington in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA
A potential meeting between the Vols and Sooners (2-0) Saturday would mark the fifth all-time between the two squads. Tennessee has won three of the previous four matchups, with those victories coming in 2021, 2020 and 1974.

In 2021, Tennessee opened its 28-4 campaign with a 5-2 home triumph over Oklahoma on Jan. 16, the first of eight consecutive wins for the Vols to open the year. 2020 saw No. 18 Tennessee go on the road to defeat the 22nd-ranked Sooners in Norman, 4-3 on Jan. 12. Luca Wiedenmann's 6-4 third-set win on court three pushed UT to the win.

The Sooners are among seven teams receiving votes in the latest ITA top-25 poll.

SCOUTING CHARLOTTE
Tennessee's potential matchup with Charlotte (2-2) Saturday would serve as the fourth meeting between the programs in the last three seasons. The Vols are a perfect 8-0 all time against the 49ers, with the first meeting coming in the 2017 dual season.

Charlotte is making its second trip to Knoxville in the past three weeks, having dropped its season-opener to Tennessee, 6-1 on Jan. 8. Since then, the Niners have picked wins over Texas Tech, 4-3, and The Citadel, 7-0, along with a 7-0 loss at then-ninth-ranked South Carolina.

GRADUATE STUDENT PAT HARPER ON ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND…
"It was a tough road trip last weekend, but now it's time for us to bounce back as a team," Harper said. "We have a huge weekend of tennis coming up and we are now focused on doing everything we can do to get ready to play Louisiana on Friday."

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#59 – Shunsuke Mitsui
#81 – Emile Hudd
#86 – Blaise Bicknell

Doubles
#25 – Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui

RAGIN' CAJUNS IN THE RANKINGS
Doubles
T-#30 – Karlo Kajin/Alejandro Sanchez Gonzalez

SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#50 – Nathan Han
#57 – Alex Martinez
#62 – Justin Schlageter

Doubles
#57 – Jordan Hasson/Mark Mandlik

CHI-TOWN ON THE LINE
• A 2-0 mark this weekend would send Tennessee to the ITA National Indoor Championships for a third consecutive season.
• The 2023 ITA Indoor Championships are set to be held in Chicago, Illinois, and run Feb. 17-20.
• The last time Tennessee made three consecutive ITA Indoor Championship appearances was during a six-year stretch of qualifying for the event from 2009-14.

MEET US IN KNOXVILLE
• Since start of 2020 dual season, Tennessee is 45-4 in home matches, including a 4-0 start at home in 2023.
• In that same span, Tennessee leads the SEC in home victories with 33.

MILESTONE TRACKER
• Angel Diaz, a UT senior, earned his 30th career dual singles win Sunday at Wake Forest, with exactly half (15) of those wins coming in just over one complete season at Tennessee. He logged a 15-7 dual singles mark while at the University of Texas at Arlington, including a 12-5 record at No. 1 singles.
• Tennessee senior Blaise Bicknell currently stands at 59 career overall singles wins. He is 33-2 in career dual singles matches.
• UT graduate student Pat Harper earned his 80th overall doubles victory Sunday at Wake Forest. Eight Vols have reached 100+ career doubles wins in program history, including Harper's fellow 2021 NCAA Doubles National Champion Adam Walton, who finished his collegiate career at 101 doubles wins last May.
• Sophomore standout Shunsuke Mitsui is two singles wins shy from 50 in his career. With a 48-12 overall singles mark, Mitsui owns a 28-5 career record in dual singles action.
• Martim Prata, a graduate student, stands at 49 career overall doubles wins.

RELIABILITY AT THE BOTTOM
• Through just six matches thus far, Tennessee is 4-0 when winning at the No. 5 singles position and 4-1 when a Vol wins at the No. 6 singles spot.

UP NEXT
Following the ITA Kickoff Weekend, Tennessee plays host to third-ranked TCU at Goodfriend Tennis Center on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. ET. Admission for that match and all regular season matches this season is free.

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

Blaise Bicknell

Angel Diaz

Pat Harper

Emile Hudd

Shunsuke Mitsui

Martim Prata

Adam Walton

University of Tennessee | Official Athletics Site