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, two-time reigning SEC Player of the Week 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…