CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel tennis team will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee on Monday, Jan. 20 to face off against their second ranked opponent of the season, the University of Tennessee. The match with the 18^th-ranked Volunteers is slated to get underway at 3 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Citadel men's tennis team kicked off the 2020 season on Jan. 10 with a pair of hard-fought matches against a strong, nationally-ranked South Carolina team. The 16^th-ranked Gamecocks took both matches by scores of 7-0, but the Bulldogs managed to take key sets and didn't give up any easy points.

STRONG RETURNERNING NUCLEUS
The Bulldogs return 10 players from last year's roster with a lot of balance to set them up for success. The group includes seniors Noah Nawabi, Jack Pyritz and Willem van Zyl, as well as juniors Will Graham, Garrett Sebold and Gavin Stewart. The sophomore class includes Brett Folsom, Luke Meetze, Phillip Quinn and Josiah Schainblatt. Last season, Stewart and Quinn led the team with 15 wins each in singles action. Nawabi and van Zyl each added double-digit wins as well.

NEW FACES IN THE PROGRAM
The Citadel added seven freshmen to the ranks in the offseason. The freshman class includes the likes of Everett Barkley, Zvonko Bencedic, John Cahill, III, Joseph Desser, Leo du Plooy, Tripoom Jala and Josh Wallen.

SCOUTING THE VOLUNTEERS
Tennessee is already 3-0 on the year with victories over Abilene Christian (7-0), Oklahoma (4-3) and New Mexico (7-0). The Volunteers' roster features a heavy dose of experience with one graduate player, two seniors, three juniors and three sophomores. Junior Adam Walton is currently ranked 23^rd in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), while freshman Finn Stodder is ranked 112^th. Scott Jones and Luca Wiedenmann are ranked 49^th in the country as a doubles tandem with Jordan Chrysostom and Jones ranked 59^th.

UP NEXT
Following the lone match in Knoxville, The Citadel will remain on the road to close out the month of January, traveling to Clemson to take on the Tigers and Georgia Southern on Sunday, Jan. 26. The Bulldogs and Eagles will tangle at 9 a.m. with the match versus the Tigers set to get underway at 6 p.m.

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For more information on The Citadel tennis team, please visit CitadelSports.com or follow @CitadelMTEN and @CitadelSports on Twitter, and  @Citadel_MTEN and @CitadelSports on Instagram.