#18 Vols Take Down Bama, 5-2

Thursday, March 16

Tuscaloosa, AL

5 PM

University of Tennessee

Alabama

March 16, 2023 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A 5-2 decision in favor of the 18th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team marked the squad's 12th win of the season as the Vols rolled to a 5-2 road victory Thursday evening over Alabama.

Tennessee (12-5, 3-1 SEC) opened the match by winning the doubles point for the 15th time in 17 matches this season, with wins on courts one and two.

UT's fourth-ranked pairing of Pat Harper and Johannus Monday rolled to a 6-3 win over Alabama's Enzo Aguiard and Filip Planinsek at No. 1 doubles. The Tennessee duo broke Alabama on a deuce point in the match's first game and remained up a break at 3-1 before earning the 6-3 win.

After Alabama (9-8, 1-3 SEC) took court three, the 50th-ranked duo of Emile Hudd and Shunsuke Mitsui clinched the doubles point at the No. 2 spot. The back-and-forth affair saw Hudd and Mitsui go up an early break and were later down a break at 2-4. Still trailing by a break at 4-5, the UT pair overcame two Alabama match points to even the match at 5-5. In the tiebreaker, it was tied at 3-all at the changeover and later deadlocked at 5-5 before the Vols took the final two points to win the doubles point.

"Any time you get a win in our conference, it's great," head coach Chris Woodruff said. "More importantly, we got our first SEC road win. That's important. With these wins, you take them and then you move on. It's tough and it's physical. I'm proud of our doubles. That's always important. That has continued to be a bright spot for our program over the last many years. We're going to enjoy this win and get ready for a tough match against Georgia."

In singles action, #120 Mitsui logged a straight-set victory on court four, 6-3, 6-3 over the Tide's German Samofalov. Mitsui improved to 3-1 in SEC singles play when slotted at the No. 4 spot this dual season.

"Shunsuke was resilient, because I thought he started kind of slow," Woodruff said." Down the stretch, he came up with some really good volleys and had a couple of really good returns. I really liked the way that he got off the court. He was the first point for us in singles, so that was really good. He works hard and had another good day for us."

Giving Tennessee a 3-1 lead was seventh-ranked Johannus Monday's 6-3, 7-6(3) win at the top of the singles lineup, taking down Filip Planinsek. For Monday, he improves to 12-1 in singles this dual season, including a 9-1 mark at No. 1 singles.

The Vols clinched the match at 4-1, as Angel Diaz overcame Alabama's Roan Jones, 6-4, 6-3 on court five. The match would be played out to completion and the final court to finish was court two, with 62nd-ranked Hudd taking a third-set, 10-point tiebreaker to cap off a 7-6(1), 4-6, 1-0(8) victory.

UP NEXT
Tennessee travels to Athens for a battle with No. 10 Georgia Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

RESULTS: Tennessee 5, Alabama 2
Doubles

1. #4 Pat Harper/Johannus Monday (UT) def. Enzo Aguiard/Filip Planinsek (UA) 6-3
2. #50 Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui (UT) def. German Samofalov/Yair Sarouk (UA) 7-6 (7-5)
3. Joao Ferreira/Matias Ponce De Leon (UA) def. Angel Diaz/Tomas Rodriguez (UT) 6-3

Order of Finish: (1,3,2)

Singles

1. #7 Johannus Monday (UT) def. Filip Planinsek (UA) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
2. #62 Emile Hudd (UT) def. #63 Enzo Aguiard (UA) 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)
3. Matias Ponce De Leon (UA) def. Blaise Bicknell (UT) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
4. #120 Shunsuke Mitsui (UT) def. German Samofalov (UA) 6-3, 6-3
5. Angel Diaz (UT) def. Roan Jones (UA) 6-4, 6-3
6. Zach Foster (UA) def. Tomas Rodriguez (UT) 6-2, 6-4

Order of Finish: (4,6,1,5,3,2)