University of Tennessee Athletics
A New Beginning
January 17, 2015 | Men's Tennis
By Brian Rice UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Few teams have ever looked a forward to the start of a new season as the Tennessee men's tennis did for this one.
An offseason that should have been a joyous for a team that returned NCAA doubles champions Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese saw the Volunteers deal with the loss of teammate Sean Karl to cancer.
Karl lost his battle just seven days after Libietis and Reese played their final match of the fall season. And though the Volunteers play in Karl's honor, the start of the new season brings a new focus to the team and the program, the next step in the healing process and the first step in another year filled with high aspirations.
"Getting back on the horse, thinking about the reasons we're here," head coach Sam Winterbotham said of the opener's importance. "I'm a hugely competitive person, so every time I'm ready to go, pacing up and down the halls in the early morning on the first day of the season. But this is as important of a start for us as any other."
The reminders of Karl are all over, most prominently the patch bearing his initials on the sleeves of the Tennessee uniforms. There is also the sign over center court, which was re-christened Sean Karl Court in winning fashion.
Libietis and Reese picked up the first win on the court with a 6-4 victory over North Florida's Jack Findel-Hawkins and Norbert Nemcsek in doubles. Libietis earned the first singles victory with a 6-4, 7-6 (6) decision over Findel-Hawkins.
"It's tough, but when you're out there, everything is all right," Libietis said. "I loved that they named the court after him and hopefully that's where I play the whole year. Before I step on the court, I think about him, I see the sign and it gets me really pumped up."
For Libietis, it was the last opening match of his Tennessee career, and his head coach was impressed with the way he handled all of the emotions of stepping onto the court.
"I'm proud of Mikelis and how far he's come emotionally and physically," Winterbotham said. "I think he was very nervous, it had a little more meaning than even he would let on. For him to come back and get that victory and finish it the way he did was excellent."
Libietis hopes the win start to his senior year sets the tone for the rest of his spring season.
"I feel like I just came to college," he said. "Now, it's your time, this is it. For me, it's fun, I'm looking forward to what the future brings, but I just want to enjoy this with my teammates because it's never going to be like this anymore."
