KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With Tennessee and Oklahoma tied at 3-apiece and Johannus Monday’s court-one singles match the lone court remaining, the junior from Hull, England, won a third-set tiebreaker to send the 11th-ranked Tennessee men’s tennis team to the ITA National Indoor Championship for a third consecutive season with a 4-3 win over Oklahoma at Goodfriend Tennis Center Saturday.
Monday’s 6-4 first-set win was followed by a narrow 6-7(4) defeat in set two, leading to the deciding third-set. Going down a break at 3-4 in the third, Monday promptly broke back to even it at 4-all, maintaining that energy en route to a a 7-2 third-set tiebreak triumph over #57 Alex Martinez. Tennessee (6-2) won the four-hour battle after trailing 3-2. Wins on courts three and one completed UT’s comeback effort.
In what was intense doubles play to begin the day, Tennessee won on courts one and two to take a 1-0 advantage into singles action.
Pat Harper and Monday, improving to 3-0 career record as a pair, were first off court with a 6-4 win over Martinez and Siphos Montsi on court one. The doubles clincher came at the No. 2 spot, as Emile Hudd and Angel Diaz overcame Oklahoma’s Nathan Han and Jordan Hasson in a tight tiebreaker, 7-6(7). Oklahoma (3-1) trailed Tennessee’s Shunsuke Mitsui and Tomas Rodriguez, 3-1 in a tiebreaker upon the clinch of doubles.
Oklahoma tied the match at 1-1 with a win on court five, before Diaz took a 7-6(10), 6-3 decision over Baptiste Anselmo at the No. 6 singles slot as the Vols regained the lead, 2-1. The match was deadlocked at 2-2 after a Sooner win on court two and Oklahoma garnered a 3-2 lead shortly after with a singles win on court four.
Needing to win each of the remaining two singles courts, Tennessee’s #86 Blaise Bicknell split a pair of tiebreaks in the opening two sets, before edging out #50 Han for a 6-7(7), 7-6(5), 6-3 win on court three.
Monday’s thrilling court-one affair put the Vols back in the win column and sent the program to its third consecutive ITA National Indoor Championship appearance.
Monday’s 6-4 first-set win was followed by a narrow 6-7(4) defeat in set two, leading to the deciding third-set. Going down a break at 3-4 in the third, Monday promptly broke back to even it at 4-all, maintaining that energy en route to a a 7-2 third-set tiebreak triumph over #57 Alex Martinez. Tennessee (6-2) won the four-hour battle after trailing 3-2. Wins on courts three and one completed UT’s comeback effort.
In what was intense doubles play to begin the day, Tennessee won on courts one and two to take a 1-0 advantage into singles action.
Pat Harper and Monday, improving to 3-0 career record as a pair, were first off court with a 6-4 win over Martinez and Siphos Montsi on court one. The doubles clincher came at the No. 2 spot, as Emile Hudd and Angel Diaz overcame Oklahoma’s Nathan Han and Jordan Hasson in a tight tiebreaker, 7-6(7). Oklahoma (3-1) trailed Tennessee’s Shunsuke Mitsui and Tomas Rodriguez, 3-1 in a tiebreaker upon the clinch of doubles.
Oklahoma tied the match at 1-1 with a win on court five, before Diaz took a 7-6(10), 6-3 decision over Baptiste Anselmo at the No. 6 singles slot as the Vols regained the lead, 2-1. The match was deadlocked at 2-2 after a Sooner win on court two and Oklahoma garnered a 3-2 lead shortly after with a singles win on court four.
Needing to win each of the remaining two singles courts, Tennessee’s #86 Blaise Bicknell split a pair of tiebreaks in the opening two sets, before edging out #50 Han for a 6-7(7), 7-6(5), 6-3 win on court three.
Monday’s thrilling court-one affair put the Vols back in the win column and sent the program to its third consecutive ITA National Indoor Championship appearance.
SEE YOU IN CHICAGO
The Vols are headed back to the ITA National Indoor Championships for a third consecutive season. The last time Tennessee advanced out of the ITA Kickoff Weekend three years in a row was during a six-year stretch of qualifying for the event from 2009-14. The 2023 ITA Indoor Championships are set to be held in Chicago, Illinois, and run Feb. 17-20.
THE LEGACY OF…
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