University of Tennessee Athletics
M TENNIS CENTRAL: Ohio Valley Regional
October 15, 2014 | Men's Tennis
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Vols travel to Vanderbilt's courts this weekend for the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships.
Matches will be played indoors and outdoors starting Thursday. The later stages of the tournament are all scheduled to be played inside with the tournament concluding on Sunday.
Winners of the tournament automatically qualify for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in November. Senior Hunter Reese is the returning singles champion.
A live blog will be rolling on this page starting Thursday evening.
For more notes ...
About the USTA/ITA Regional Championships
- The next two weeks, regional tournaments will be held around the country.
- Singles and doubles winners at each site will advance to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York next month, in addition to top performers at the ITA All-American Championships and the winner of the small college championship.
- Tennessee has been a member of the Ohio Valley Region since 2009. In that time, the Vols have won three doubles titles (2009, 2011 and 2012) and one singles title (2013). The Vols have also had three singles finalists in that time.
- In two of the championships, it was a Vol vs. Vol final. Hunter Reese won last year's regional title when doubles partner Mikelis Libietis retired with injury midway through the match. Rhyne Williams and Boris Conkic won the 2009 doubles title over John-Patrick Smith and Davey Sandgren.
- For any Vols who do not advance to the national indoor tournament, this event marks the finale of the college fall season. Several Vols will play at next month's Knoxville Challenger at Goodfriend Tennis Center.
Back to Vanderbilt
- The Vols are back at Vanderbilt's courts for the fourth time in just over a calendar year.
- Vandy hosted the 2013 SEC Fall Classic and the 2014 SEC Championships, in addition to hosting the Vols for a dual match during SEC regular-season play.
- Matches in the tournament will be played both indoors and outdoors, with late rounds moving exclusively indoors.
Two-Time Champ
- Hunter Reese enters this weekend as the tournament's defending singles champion. He also won a doubles title in 2011 as a freshmen with Mikelis Libietis. It was their first tournament together.
- Reese is the only Vol making his return to the regional tournament. The other five Vols in the field are making their career debuts: senior Andrew Dromsky, junior Bartosz Sawicki and freshmen Igor Smelyanski, Jess Jones and Luis Valero.
A Return to Davis Cup
- Senior Mikelis Libietis will be returning to Europe to rejoin Latvia's Davis Cup team for an important tie on the road against Sweden.
- The winner of the match between Latvia and Sweden will remain in Europe/Africa Group I in 2015.
- This is Libietis' third time to represent Latvia during his Tennessee career. He has won two doubles matches the last two years and is already one of the most experienced Davis Cup players in program history.
