Smith setting his sights on a championship

Photo by Elizabeth Olivier/UTSports.com

J.P. Smith of Tennessee prepares to hit back a shot. The sophomore from Australia lost in the finals of the NCAA singles tournament last season.

There's only one way for J.P. Smith to mentally approach his sophomore season.

He wants more.

What that means is a national championship for the University of Tennessee sophomore tennis sensation.

He came so close as a freshman. The Australia native shocked the field this past spring by making a charge to the NCAA singles title match before finishing runner-up.

"It was a great run, especially towards the end of the season," Smith said. "Once I got through my first few matches I was kind of on a roll until I got to the final.

"It showed that I could compete with the best players in the country."

Smith and the Vols opened the fall season Friday in Charlottesville, Va., at the University of Virginia Ranked 1-1 Tournament.

There's no doubt the goals for Smith and UT have gone up a notch.

"First things first, and that's the team," Smith said. "We want to take care of business for Tennessee. After that, I'll concentrate on singles and doubles.

"I'm going to be expecting to win it. Hopefully the experience of getting there last year will pull me through the final."

Smith is ranked No. 10 nationally in singles. Fellow sophomores Boris Conkic of Serbia and Matteo Fago of Italy are ranked No. 55 and No. 117 respectively.

That trio was the cornerstone of one of the best freshman classes to ever play at UT.

"They certainly exceeded expectations and that's great for the program," third-year head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "As soon as you raise the bar a little bit that becomes the norm.

"These guys seem to be embracing that and they seem very confident and driven that this year is going to be even better than last year."

The Vols lost Kaden Hensel - an All-American who played No. 1 last season - to graduation, but Winterbotham has brought in two more freshmen he thinks can make significant contributions.

Christian Hansen of Germany and Bryan Swartz of Sarasota, Fla., step in to fill the void left by Hensel.

"They're both great guys, extremely conscientious and hard working," Winterbotham said. "I'm really excited to see what Christian can do this season.

"He comes in with a little bit of a pedigree behind him. Being ranked No. 70 in Germany is an extremely high level and he has just been playing great. He's proving he can be one of our better players."

The Vols finished 23-4 and ranked No. 8 as a team after falling to Baylor in the Sweet 16.

The big group of freshmen talent may have surprised a few people then, but there's more of a bull's eye on the group this time around. They won't sneak up on anybody.

"We had a national indoor draw, kind of like a draft where schools get to choose wherever they want to play," Smith said. "Amazingly, none of the top 30 schools wanted to come to Knoxville.

"We definitely sent a message out last year with the depth of our team. We're really in this to win it and we're looked at as one of the favorites now. That's going to be good."

Smith and Conkic are ranked No. 13 in doubles, but Winterbotham said he will likely split that pair up to create more doubles depth.

Smith partnered with Hensel to make the NCAA tournament in the spring, but has been paired with Davey Sandgren in most of the preseason. Conkic will team with Fago.

Winterbotham just wants to see what he has this weekend in Virginia.

"It's an individual tournament so it's a great opportunity for guys to try and establish themselves where they want to be nationally," he said. "What I'm looking for is an overall strong team performance.

"We want to see a good representation of where our program is against a very strong field and I think we'll see a couple of surprises from guys stepping up and doing something special throughout this fall."