On the doubles courts, Tennessee (23-7) won the doubles point for the 26th time in its 30 matches, picking up wins on courts three and one. UT’s Angel Diaz and Martim Prata earned a second doubles victory in as many days, taking down Wake Forest’s Melios Efstathiou and Juan Lopez de Azcona, 6-2, at the No. 3 spot.
The doubles clinch came from Tennessee’s fourth-ranked doubles pairing of Pat Harper and Johannus Monday, picking up a ranked triumph over 27th-ranked Filippo Moroni and Matthew Thomson, 6-4, on court one. Down an early break at 0-2, Monday and Harper broke back in the third game to get back on serve before putting the Vols on the board, 1-0.
The Vols’ 59th-ranked duo of Emile Hudd and Shunsuke Mitsui were on match point, leading No. 38 Jurabek Karimov and Luciano Tacchi on court two, 5-3, before going unfinished.
“We have a good team and good players,” Tennessee head coach Chris Woodruff said. “Where we started back in February to where we are now, we’re just trying to peak at the right time. In these sports like basketball, baseball and our sport, you just try to get rolling at the right time. We’ve got an experienced group of guys and so far we are doing well.”
In singles action, Tennessee won five first sets over Wake Forest (26-12). Its three singles wins came at each of the top-three lineup spots. Tennessee increased its lead to 2-0 behind a dominant, 6-3, 6-0, singles win by Blaise Bicknell on court three over Matthew Thomson.
At No. 1 singles, fifth-ranked SEC Player of the Year Johannus Monday dominated from start to finish in a 6-1, 6-1, triumph over the nation’s fourth-ranked Melios Efstathiou, the ACC Player of the Year. Monday won 66 percent of the match’s total points, including 26-of-37 in the first set. To start the second set, Monday held serve on a deuce point to take a 1-0 set lead, before rolling to the win.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Monday said. “He beat me earlier in the season, so I wanted to get revenge. As a team, I think we were extra motivated for today because we lost to them earlier in the season.”
The match clinch came on court two, as No. 31 Hudd roared past Filippo Moroni, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. After dropping the opening set, Hudd…
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