WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State men's tennis team will continue its road trip this weekend as they head to Knoxville, Tenn. To face off with the Georgia State Panthers at noon on Saturday, and the No. 16 Tennessee Volunteers at 11 a.m. on Sunday at the Goodfriend Tennis Center.
 
Opening Serve

• This will be the fifth of 11 consecutive road matches for the Shockers.
• The Shockers have found their groove early on the road trip as they have won three matches in a row over Arkansas, Drake, and Charlotte.
• This will be the Shockers fourth meeting with the Panthers and second meeting with the Volunteers. WSU leads 2-1 in the all-time series versus Georgia State while Tennessee is 1-0 when facing the Shockers.
• WSU is coming off a dramatic 4-3 win over the Charlotte 49ers.

 
History in Fayetteville

• Wichita State made history at the Razorback Invite last weekend when Elio Lago sealed a 4-3 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks. This was only the third time since 1987 that WSU has defeated an SEC school.
• The last Shocker victory over an SEC team was in 2016 when they defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 4-2, at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Columbus, Ohio.

 
Seniors Stay Hot

• Marius Frosa, Murkel Dellien and Elio Lago have been killing it in singles to begin the season combining for an 11-4 record.
• Dellien has been solid at one going 4-2 for the Shockers with his most recent win coming over Benjamin Wayand of Charlotte, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), while his doubles partner Frosa has gone 1-1 at four and 2-0 at five.
• Lago has seen most of starts coming at three where has gone 3-1,bu the has also picked up a win at four.

 
Freshman Firsts

• Benjamin Niv has made an immediate impact in doubles in his semester as a Shocker going 3-0 with sophomore Stefan Latinovic and 1-0 with fellow freshman Alex Richards.
• Yi Jui Lo and Richards have also found early success on the courts as a doubles pairing securing their first collegiate doubles win against the Omaha Mavericks.
• Richards also picked up his first collegiate singles win against Alvaro Quintana of Omaha, 6-1, 6-0, while Lo found his first collegiate singles win over David Nyman of Drake, 6-1, 7-5.

 
Scouting the Panthers

• Overall record: 1-1
• Last two matches:

vs. No. 66 Old Dominion | 4-2 Win
vs. No. 4 North Carolina | 0-4 Loss

• Last week the Panthers reached the championship match of the ITA Kickoff after defeating Old Dominion 4-2 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Against Old Dominion, they picked up two ranked wins as Vazha Shubladze knocked off No. 93 Luca Maldoner in three sets and doubles pair Roberts Grinvalds and Andrei Duarte defeated the No. 47 duo of Francois Musitelli and Tomislav Podvinski.

 
Scouting the Volunteers

• Overall Record: 6-1
• Last three matches:

vs. The Citadel | 7-0 Win
vs. Arizona State | 4-0 Win
vs. Columbia | 2-4 Loss

• Tennessee will enter this weekend after suffering their first loss of the season to then No. 18 Columbia, 4-2. This was the third ranked opponent that the Volunteers had seen in their first seven matches.
• Senior Scott Jones has won 20 plus matches in each of his four seasons in Knoxville. His current record for the 2019-20 season is 10-5 overall and 4-2 in dual matches.