JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's tennis jumps into its challenging non-conference schedule right away as it travels to No. 2 Wake Forest on Saturday before trekking over to SEC foe Tennessee on Monday.
MATCH DAY CENTRAL
WHAT: North Florida (0-0) at No. 2 Wake Forest (0-0)
WHERE: Wake Forest Tennis Complez
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 14 - 10 a.m.
THE SERIES: Wake Forest leads 1-0
LAST TIME: The No. 11 Demon Deacs got the best of UNF last season 8-1 in both team's opening match of the year ... then-junior Jack-Findel Hawkins grabbed a singles win against No. 26 Skander Mansouri, while also winning his doubles match with Yannick Zuern.
NOTEABLES
- Senior Jack Findel-Hawkins is ranked 51st in singles play after compiling two wins against top 30 players.
- Findel-Hawkins and Lasse Mushceites are ranked No. 12 in doubles play after making it to the ITA All-American Doubles Championship match.
- Muscheites is also ranked with Jefta Kecic at No. 58. The duo won the Bedford Cup, the in-state tournament for Florida universities.
- Sophomore Sahil Deshmukh had a strong fall with a team-best 13 singles wins.
- UNF is back to full strength as Yannick Zuern and Alberto De Meo return to the courts after being out with injuries.
- Wake Forest was a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
- UT was 44th when facing the Ospreys last season where the Vols won, 4-1.
- Findel-Hawkins and Muscheites took down Tennessee's Jack Schipanski and Luis Valero, who were ranked No. 5, and defeated them 6-3, 6-2 at the ITA All-Acmerican Championships.
- Jonathan Deautriell also had a successful fall with a runner-up finish in the singles bracket at the Duke Invitational and pairing with Findel-Hawkins for a championship in doubles.
- Senior Zach Goldberg, who missed the beginning of the fall due to injury, returned to full strength with a doubles championship alongside Deshmukh at the Georgia Southern tournament to close out the fall.
OPPONENT NOTES
WAKE FOREST
- Wake Forest is coming off its first-ever ACC Tournament title, beating Virginia in the championship match and earned its highest ranking at No. 2.
- Sophomore Petros Chrysochos, the 2016 ACC Freshman of the Year, enters the spring as the top-rated singles player in the nation.
- Junior Skander Mansouri, who enters the spring ranked fourth in the country in singles, became the third Demon Deacon to be an All-American in both singles and doubles play. He went 33-11 a season ago, including a 14-7 record in Wake Forest's top lineup slot.
- Christian Seraphim enters the singles rankings the first time in his career, leaping into the No. 21 spot, while redshirt freshman Alan Gadjiev rounds out the rankings at No. 122.
- In doubles, Seraphim and Mansouri enter the spring as the top-ranked duo in the nation after winning the doubles title at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
TENNESSEE
- The Vols finished 2016 with a 12-17 mark and a last place finish in the SEC
- Junior Luis Valero was named an All-SEC second team performer and ranked as high as No. 76 in the ITA rankings.
- Returning for his final season, Jack Schipanski will headline the team as he reached the second round of the NCAA singles tournament last May.
- Schipanski and Valero are ranked No. 26 in the latest ITA rankings, while Scott Jones and Timo Stodder garnered No. 47.
- The Volunteers are made up of five underclassmen and four upperclassmen.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Ospreys head south to play St. John's at the University of Miami on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. They have a quick turnaround to face the Hurricane on Sunday.
