Men’s Tennis Central: #14 Tennessee vs. #12 Mississippi State

Friday, March 31

Knoxville, TN

4 PM

University of Tennessee

Mississippi State

Men’s Tennis Central: #14 Tennessee vs. #12 Mississippi State

March 30, 2023 | Men's Tennis

Live Stats Watch (SECN+)Watch (Playsight)Season Stats

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 14th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team gears up for a top-15 home matchup Friday, playing host to No. 12 Mississippi State at Barksdale Stadium. First serve is slated for 4 p.m. ET.

The 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 also 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.

The first 100 fans in attendance Friday will receive an $8 concession voucher.

LAST TIME OUT
Tennessee posted a 2-0 weekend last week, logging a 4-1 victory over No. 9 Columbia for its first top-10 win of the season before defeating Texas A&M Sunday, 6-1.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
Tennessee (14-6, 4-2 SEC) and Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3 SEC) meet Friday for the 67th time in series history, dating to 1933. Winners of three straight against the Bulldogs, the Vols hold a 39-27 lead in the all-time series. From 1971 to 1988, Tennessee won 16 consecutive matches over Mississippi State. Of note recently for Mississippi State was its 5-2 road win over then-second-ranked South Carolina on March 19. In their most recent action, the Bulldogs fell on the road at then-sixth-ranked Kentucky, 4-3.

Last season, 24th-ranked Mississippi State served as No. 2 Tennessee's season opener, a match in Starkville that the Vols won convincingly, 5-2.

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

BULLDOGS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#108 – Carles Hernandez
#123 – Nemanja Malesevic

Doubles
#44 – Carles Hernandez/Nemanja Malesevic
#74 – Petar Jovanovic/Ewen Lumsden

DUBS DUBS
• Tennessee's dual doubles record over the past three seasons is 146-59 (.712). In 20 matches this year, UT has won the doubles point 18 times and in its 86 matches since the start of the 2021 dual season, Tennessee has won the doubles point 67 times, for a .779 clip in that span.

JO MOMENTUM
• Johannus Monday, a two-time ITA Singles All-American, is a combined 28-3 in dual singles and doubles matches this spring. At 14-1 in singles and 14-2 on the doubles courts, 22 of those 28 total victories are at the No. 1 lineup spot (11-1 at No. 1 singles and 11-2 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 vs. Texas A&M Sunday, Emile Hudd collected the 93rd overall doubles win of his career. Over half of those wins (50-of-93) have come in Tennessee orange. Hudd earned 43 doubles victories while playing at Oklahoma State.

LIVING IN THE RANKINGS
• 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 90 career overall doubles wins at Tennessee, is five 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 boasts a 52-5 (.912) record at home since the beginning of the 2020 dual season, including an 11-1 home mark in 2023.
• Hudd picked up his 50th doubles win since arriving on Rocky Top during Tennessee's win over Texas A&M Sunday. In singles play, Hudd stands one win away from 60 career dual singles victories.
• Seven different Vols on UT's nine-man roster have clinched Tennessee's 14 wins this season, with Angel Diaz, Blaise Bicknell and Mitsui leading the team with three each. Hudd has clinched a pair of wins this spring, while Monday, Martim Prata and Boris Kozlov each account for one clinch this season.

UP NEXT
Tennessee plays host to No. 4 Kentucky Sunday at Barksdale Stadium. First serve is set for 1 p.m. ET, with Senior Day presentations beginning at 12:25 p.m.

For the most up-to-date information about the program, follow Tennessee men's tennis on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.