Men’s Tennis Central: #20 Tennessee vs. #9 Columbia

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 20th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team opens a four-match homestand this weekend, facing No. 9 Columbia Friday at 4 p.m. ET and Texas A&M Sunday at 1 p.m.

Tennessee hits the courts to face the Lions in a brief break from non-conference action before capping the regular season against seven consecutive SEC foes.

Friday's match will be streamed live online via SEC Network+ and the ESPN app, with Cracked Racquets providing whiparound coverage. Live stats will be provided by UTsports.com and can be found here. Live streaming is available for free through Playsight here.

Admission is free and complimentary tennis parking is located in SC40 at the Kingston Pike Building. Additional parking information can be found here.

For outdoor matches at Barksdale Stadium this season, concessions and alcoholic beverages will be sold on the concourse, at the top of the grandstand behind court two. More information on Tennessee's enhanced fan experience efforts can be found here.

LAST TIME OUT
Tennessee dropped a hard-fought road match at No. 10 Georgia Saturday, 4-3.

SCOUTING COLUMBIA
Despite only three all-time meetings, Tennessee's (12-6) history with Columbia (11-1) has been notable. The Lions hold a 2-1 advantage in the series, with wins in 2015 and 2020. Each of those victories for the Lions came at the ITA Kickoff Weekend.

Tennessee was victorious in last season's matchup with the Lions, with the second-ranked Vols holding on for a 4-3 victory behind Angel Diaz's court-three clinch.

This season, Columbia opened the dual slate with a 4-2 loss to No. 13 Harvard at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, before rattling off 11 consecutive wins. Columbia knocked off a pair of SEC teams on the road in early February, defeating Ole Miss, 6-1, and Alabama, 7-0.

The Vols and Lions were scheduled to face off in New York City on Feb. 11, but that match was canceled and rescheduled.

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#2 – Johannus Monday
#57 – Emile Hudd
#122 – Shunsuke Mitsui

Doubles
#2 – Pat Harper/Johannus Monday
#60 – Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui

LIONS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#13 – Michael Zheng
#87 – Max Westphal
#89 – Roko Horvat

Doubles
#34 – Max Westphal/Theo Winegar

WOODRUFF CLIMBING
• A win Friday would vault Tennessee head coach Chris Woodruff—in his sixth season as the head coach at his alma mater—to 124 career head coaching victories, making him the third-winningest head coach in Tennessee men's tennis history. Woodruff is tied with Michael Fancutt (1998-2004) for third on Tennessee's all-time coaching wins list, holding a record of 123-37 (.769) since taking the reins of the program 2017.

JO MOMENTUM
• Johannus Monday, a two-time ITA Singles All-American, was named SEC Co-Player of the Week on Wednesday after a 3-1 weekend that improved his combined record in dual singles and doubles matches to 25-3 this spring. At 13-1 in singles and 12-2 on the doubles courts, 19 of those 25 total victories are at the No. 1 lineup spot (10-1 at No. 1 singles and 9-2 at No. 1 doubles). Monday is the nation's lone player to be ranked inside the ITA's top two in both singles (2) and doubles (2).

HUDD EYES THE CENTURY MARK
• With his doubles win with Shunsuke Mitsui at Georgia last week, Emile Hudd collected the 91st overall doubles win of his career. Over half of those wins (48-of-91) have come in Tennessee orange. Hudd earned 43 doubles victories while playing at Oklahoma State.

HIGHLY-RANKED VOLS
• With the ITA's March 21 update of its singles and doubles rankings, Tennessee has had either a top-10 singles acclaim or a top-10 doubles pair in 20 of the past 21 dual-season rankings updates, dating to March 24, 2021. The Vols not only have each this week, but a pair of top-three rankings with Monday coming in at a career-best No. 2 singles ranking and the duo of Monday and Pat Harper earning a career-high doubles ranking as a pairing, at No. 2.

HISTORY IN SIGHT
• Harper, with 88 career overall doubles wins at Tennessee, is seven wins away from cracking the top 10 on the program's all-time doubles wins list. Should he reach 100 career doubles wins by season's end, he would become just the ninth Vol to ever do so in a career.

QUICK HITTERS
• Tennessee has racked up 10 top-10 wins since 2019, with the last such win coming over third-ranked Baylor, 4-3, in the 2022 NCAA quarterfinals.
• Monday's dual singles win percentage of .929 is the top mark in the SEC this year (min. four matches played). Of SEC players with double-digit singles wins this dual season, Monday is the only one to also have fewer than two losses.
• Seven different Vols on UT's nine-man roster have clinched Tennessee's 12 wins this season, with Diaz and Blaise Bicknell leading the team with three each. Hudd has clinched a pair of wins this spring, with Monday, Martim Prata, Mitsui and Boris Kozlov each clinching once this season.
• Tennessee boasts a 50-5 (.909) record at home since the beginning of the 2020 dual season, including a 9-1 home mark in 2023.
• Mitsui and Hudd have played 50 doubles matches together since arriving on Rocky Top fall of 2021. The tandem holds an overall record of 37-13 (.740), with a 10-1 mark together this season.

MILESTONE TRACKER
• Diaz is one win away from 40 career dual singles victories.
• Monday stands one victory shy of 50 career dual doubles wins.
• Last Saturday at Georgia, Prata captured his 50th career overall doubles win, clinching the doubles point with Diaz.

UP NEXT
Tennessee returns to SEC play Sunday, playing host to 29th-ranked Texas A&M at Barksdale Stadium. Admission is free and first serve is slated for 1 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

Blaise Bicknell

Angel Diaz

Pat Harper

Emile Hudd

Boris Kozlov

Shunsuke Mitsui

Johannus Monday

Martim Prata

University of Tennessee | Official Athletics Site