Men’s Tennis Central: Tennessee vs. Ole Miss

AUBURN, Ala. – The ninth-ranked and No. 2 seed Tennessee men's tennis team is set to begin postseason action Friday in Auburn, Alabama, facing No. 7 seed Ole Miss at 1 p.m. ET in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.

Ole Miss defeated No. 10 seed LSU Thursday, 4-3. Tennessee (20-6, 10-2 SEC) won eight consecutive matches to close the regular season, including six wins over top-25 foes in that span.

Live stats for the match can be accessed here. A live stream of the action, provided by Auburn, can be found here.

LAST TIME OUT
Tennessee closed the regular season with a 4-0 road sweep of Arkansas Sunday.

SCOUTING OLE MISS
Tennessee and Ole Miss face off Friday in the teams' 64th all-time meeting. The Vols lead the series, which dates to 1940, 35-28. Tennessee has won nine straight over the Rebels. Prior to Thursday, the Rebels had lost four of their last five matches away from home.

Just eight days prior to Friday's match, on April 13, Tennessee defeated Ole Miss, 6-1, in Knoxville.

VOLS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#2 – Johannus Monday
#32 – Emile Hudd

Doubles
#5 – Pat Harper/Johannus Monday
#46 – Emile Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui

REBELS IN THE RANKINGS
Singles
#67 – Nikola Slavic

Doubles
#40 – Nikola Slavic/Lukas Engelhardt

JO MOMENTUM
• Johannus Monday, a two-time ITA Singles All-American, is a combined 34-5 in dual singles and doubles matches this spring. At 17-2 in singles and 17-3 on the doubles courts, 28 of those 34 total victories are at the No. 1 lineup spot (14-2 at No. 1 singles and 14-3 at No. 1 doubles).
• Monday enters the postseason with the best singles winning percentage (.895) in the SEC this season with a 17-2 record. In his career, he holds a .875 mark (21-3) at No. 1 singles.

LIVING IN THE RANKINGS
• With the ITA's April 18 update of its singles and doubles rankings, Tennessee has had either a top-10 singles acclaim or a top-10 doubles pair in 23 of the past 24 dual-season rankings updates, dating to March 24, 2021. The Vols not only have each this week, but a pair of top-five rankings with Monday standing at the No. 2 singles ranking and the duo of Monday and Pat Harper coming in at No. 5 in the doubles rankings.

HUDD AN ALL-AROUND FORCE
• This dual season, Emile Hudd is a combined 29-6 at the No. 2 singles and doubles lineup positions. When combining Hudd's record in SEC matches across the singles and doubles courts, he is 20-4 this season.

DUBS DUBS
• In 26 matches this year, UT has won the doubles point 23 times. In its 92 matches since the start of the 2021 dual season, Tennessee has won the doubles point 72 times for a .783 clip in that span.

HISTORY IN SIGHT
• Harper, with 93 career overall doubles wins at Tennessee, is two 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.

POETRY IN MOSHUN
• Tennessee sophomore Shunsuke Mitsui finished the regular season with a stellar 10-1 SEC singles mark, mirroring his 10-1 SEC singles effort from a year ago, a 2022 All-SEC Second Team-worthy campaign.
• Mitsui was 10-1 (9-1 SEC) at the No. 4 singles lineup position during the regular season and 16-6 (10-1 SEC) in dual singles matches this spring. His other SEC victory came at the No. 3 slot.
• He entered the postseason at 26-9 in overall singles matches during the 2022-23 season. In doubles play, Mitsui more than doubled his SEC win total from a year ago, going 11-1 in SEC doubles matches. Each of those 11 wins came with Hudd at the No. 2 doubles lineup position.

QUICK HITTERS
• Tennessee's win over Arkansas Sunday gives UT a third consecutive 20-win regular season. In 2021, the Vols logged 21 wins in the regular season. This season and in 2022, the team's 20th win of the year came in the regular-season finale.
• Having logged 24 overall singles wins a season ago, Diaz entered the postseason with 27 total singles victories during the 2022-23 campaign.
• Tennessee senior Blaise Bicknell ended the regular season on a hot streak, winning five of his final seven singles matches entering the postseason.
• The 2022-23 season marks the 36th consecutive season in which Tennessee has had at least one Australian on the roster, dating to the 1987-88 season.

AUBURN FACTS
• 2023 marks The Plains' first time hosting the SEC Men's Tennis Tournament since 2009.
• With a 2023 population of 83,015, Auburn is the seventh-largest city in Alabama.

UP NEXT
With a win Friday, Tennessee advances to the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday at approximately 1 p.m. ET on SECN+.

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

Blaise Bicknell

Pat Harper

Emile Hudd

Shunsuke Mitsui

Johannus Monday

University of Tennessee Athletics