Tennessee Volunteers tennis
The Tennessee Volunteer tennis teams represent the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, TN. The men's tennis team has appeared in 29 NCAA Tournaments. The Tennessee women's team has qualified for 28 NCAA Tournaments, including 20 straight from 1995 to 2014. Tennys Sandgren, a breakout player on the ATP World Tour, helped lead Tennessee to the NCAA finals in 2010. Men’s Program. Sam Winterbotham Era. Sam Winterbotham was formerly the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes men's tennis team from 2002–2006. After the 2006 season Colorado cut the men's tennis team due to  budget constrains. Winterbotham was then hired by UT in the summer of 2006. From 2007-2015 Winterbotham led Tennessee to nine consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including six appearances in the NCAA round of 16, three appearances in the NCAA Quarterfinals, and one national championship appearance where they lost in a close match to USC 4-2. Winterbotham became the first head coach at Tennessee to win consecutive SEC regular season championships in 2010 and 2011. Winterbotham also led UT to a SEC tournament title in 2010. In 2014 Winterbotham coached doubles pair Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese all the way  to the 2014 NCAA doubles title. After 11 years of coaching UT, as well as a 217-104 match record, Sam Winterbotham was fired on May 4, 2017 at the conclusion of the 2017 season. The Vols had struggled and missed the NCAA Tournament for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017. In Winterbothams last two years at Tennessee he had a combined 25-31 record and the Vols were 3-21 in SEC play. Chris Woodruff Era. Winterbotham was replaced by long term assistant and former NCAA Singles Champion at Tennessee Chris Woodruff. In Woodruff's first season as  head coach he led the Vols to a 21-9 record and 4th place in the SEC regular season standings with an 8-4 conference record. Tennessee made the semifinals of the SEC tournament losing to Texas A&M 4-0. The Vols returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015 beating UNC Wilmington 4-0 in the first round before losing to North Carolina 4-0 in the NCAA round of 32. In the 2019 season, Woodruff led Tennessee to the SEC title game, where they fell to #6 ranked Mississippi State. As the NCAA Tournament’s  #14 seed, Tennessee fell in NCAA round of 16 to #3 seed Florida. They ended the season with a 22-8 overall record, and an 8-4 record in-conference. Tennessee was ranked #19, with a 14-2 record, when the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2021 season, Tennessee defeated #1 ranked Florida to win their first SEC Tournament since 2010, and entered the NCAA tournament as the #3 overall seed with a 24-3 record, and a 10-2 SEC record. In the NCAA round of 64 and round of 32, which were  hosted at home, Tennessee beat Alabama A&M 5-0 and Memphis 4-0. Tennessee went on to defeat Arizona 4-3 in the NCAA round of 16 hosted at the USTA National Campus in Orlando to reach their first NCAA Quarterfinal since 2013. Women’s Program. Mike Patrick Era. Mike Patrick led the Lady Volunteer Tennis program for 30 years before he resigned on November 16, 2016. Patrick was the winningest coach in Lady Vol program history compiling a 473-310 all-time record. Of Patrick's 30 seasons, 23 teams finished the year ranked in the top 25. Patrick ’s best finish in the NCAA tournament came with a semifinal appearance in 2002. Patrick's assistant coach Alison Ojeda, a former All-American at Tennessee, took over the program in 2017. Alison Ojeda Era. In Ojeda's first five seasons as head coach, she has guided the Lady Vols to the NCAA Tournament every season but 2020 when the tournament was cancelled. The 2017 season saw Tennessee finish with their most wins since 2011, posting a 19-12 record, and finishing the season ranked #24 in the ITA rankings. The season ended in the NCAA round of 32 with  a 4-1 loss to #15 seed Duke. The 2018 season began with a 12-0 record, the programs best start in program a history; however, the team struggled in SEC play finishing with a 3-10 conference record. The season ended with a 18-12 mark, and a 4-2 loss to Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In Ojeda’s third season (2019), Tennessee reached new heights by finishing with their most wins since 2003, and making their third consecutive NCAA tournament. The team finished 4th in the SEC with a 9-4 record, and  was ranked #20 in the ITA rankings with a 20-8 record. The season ended with a loss in the NCAA second round to #12 seed NC State. The 2021 season saw Tennessee finish 5th in the SEC with an 8-5 mark in SEC play. They entered the NCAA Tournament with a 16-8 record after a loss in the SEC tournament semifinal to #3 ranked Georgia. Despite being ranked 15th in the ITA rankings, the Lady Vols were not awarded one of the NCAA Tournament’s top 16 seeds, who host the first and second rounds of the  tournament. Thus, they travelled to the Charlottesville regional, where the beat James Madison 4-0 in the round of 64, then fell to #14 seed Virginia, in a close match, 4-2. This concluded the 2021 season, and the team’s 17-9 campaign. NCAA Tournament Notes. Until 1988 the Men's NCAA Tournament only included 16 teams. From 1988 to 1994 the NCAA men's and women's tournament was a 20 team field with 12 teams receiving byes to the round of 16. For the 1994 and 1995 NCAA tournaments the field again consisted of just 16 teams . In 1996 the field for both genders was expanded to 48 teams. In 1999 the field expanded to the current format of 64 teams for both genders. For example, when the Lady Vols reached the NCAA tournament in 1990 they competed in the round of 16 without competing in the round of 32.