KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 20th-ranked Tennessee men’s tennis team used an all-around effort Sunday to earn its fifth consecutive home win with an impressive, 6-1, victory over Texas A&M at Barksdale Stadium.
The Vols used strong doubles play to earn a 1-0 advantage for the 18th time in 20 matches this year. Five straight-set singles victories eventually pushed Tennessee (14-6, 4-2 SEC) to the dominant win Sunday. Sophomore standout and 122nd-ranked Shunsuke Mitsui clinched Tennessee’s win for the second time this weekend, defeating Giulio Perego on court four, 6-4, 6-2.
Mitsui trailed by a break at 2-4 in the first set, before rallying and winning four consecutive games for the 6-4 first-set win. Mitsui won both of his break points in set two to earn his third clinch of the spring, which ties him for the team high.
“Once again, we relied on playing solid doubles,” head coach Chris Woodruff said. “That’s been a good spot for us all year. When that goes well, it kind of takes momentum into the singles. I think for me, as a coach, it’s nice to see that we’re seemingly trending in a very positive direction. I feel that we’re starting to play better as a group. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on being positive, so things are starting to go in the right direction.”
The first win of the day came on court one of doubles, as the second-ranked duo of Pat Harper and Johannus Monday defeated #39 Noah Schachter and Trey Hilderbrand, 6-4. The UT pairing broke the Aggies on a decider to go up a break at 3-2.
The clinch came at the No. 2 spot, with Tennessee’s 60th-ranked pairing of Emile Hudd and Shunsuke Mitsui taking down Texas A&M’s (11-8, 4-3 SEC) Pierce Rollins and Kenner Taylor in 6-4 fashion. Down a break at 1-3, Hudd and Mitsui got back on serve at 3-4 and later used a deuce-point break to take a 5-4 lead before serving out the doubles clinch.
Tennessee’s Angel Diaz was the first court to finish in singles play, blanking the Aggies’ Guido Marson in the first set for a 6-0, 6-4 decision. Diaz won 69 percent of the total points in set one en route to giving UT a 2-0 lead.
Tomas Rodriguez was soon to follow on court six, taking down Matthis Ross of Texas A&M, 6-1, 6-1. The final game of the first set and five of the first six games in set two were decided by a deuce point, with Rodriguez winning each of those games.
The Vols used strong doubles play to earn a 1-0 advantage for the 18th time in 20 matches this year. Five straight-set singles victories eventually pushed Tennessee (14-6, 4-2 SEC) to the dominant win Sunday. Sophomore standout and 122nd-ranked Shunsuke Mitsui clinched Tennessee’s win for the second time this weekend, defeating Giulio Perego on court four, 6-4, 6-2.
Mitsui trailed by a break at 2-4 in the first set, before rallying and winning four consecutive games for the 6-4 first-set win. Mitsui won both of his break points in set two to earn his third clinch of the spring, which ties him for the team high.
“Once again, we relied on playing solid doubles,” head coach Chris Woodruff said. “That’s been a good spot for us all year. When that goes well, it kind of takes momentum into the singles. I think for me, as a coach, it’s nice to see that we’re seemingly trending in a very positive direction. I feel that we’re starting to play better as a group. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on being positive, so things are starting to go in the right direction.”
The first win of the day came on court one of doubles, as the second-ranked duo of Pat Harper and Johannus Monday defeated #39 Noah Schachter and Trey Hilderbrand, 6-4. The UT pairing broke the Aggies on a decider to go up a break at 3-2.
The clinch came at the No. 2 spot, with Tennessee’s 60th-ranked pairing of Emile Hudd and Shunsuke Mitsui taking down Texas A&M’s (11-8, 4-3 SEC) Pierce Rollins and Kenner Taylor in 6-4 fashion. Down a break at 1-3, Hudd and Mitsui got back on serve at 3-4 and later used a deuce-point break to take a 5-4 lead before serving out the doubles clinch.
Tennessee’s Angel Diaz was the first court to finish in singles play, blanking the Aggies’ Guido Marson in the first set for a 6-0, 6-4 decision. Diaz won 69 percent of the total points in set one en route to giving UT a 2-0 lead.
Tomas Rodriguez was soon to follow on court six, taking down Matthis Ross of Texas A&M, 6-1, 6-1. The final game of the first set and five of the first six games in set two were decided by a deuce point, with Rodriguez winning each of those games.
“Overall, you want good depth down there at the bottom of the lineup,” Woodruff said. “We were able…
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