University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#16 Columbia
Vols Drop Tight 4-3 Match vs. #16 Columbia
January 24, 2015 | Men's Tennis
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- In a match that came down to the wire, the 17th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers could not pick up the fourth point they needed in a 4-3 loss to 16th-ranked Columbia to open the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
The Vols won the doubles point and surged to a 3-1 lead on a straight-set win by freshman Jess Jones and Mikelis Libietis' first top-25 win of the year, but Columbia won the three remaining matches.
With the team match tied 3-3, Drogos Ignat defeated Hunter Reese 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on court 2 to decide the match.
"Columbia played great in singles," Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "They went out and had six matches where they were really committed to getting their point. We were looking around thinking that someone else was going to win for us.
"If we can learn from this, we're going to be fine. But if we're willing to go out and allow our opponents to be the aggressor, be more committed, then no team's going to be good that way. It's just an adjustment. We're experienced. We'll know what to do."
With the loss, the Vols (4-1) missed the field at the ITA National Indoor Championships for the first time since 2008. The kick-off tournament is a two-day qualifier to the 16-team field.
The Vols will face either Notre Dame or Oklahoma State on Sunday at 10 a.m.
Doubles started out well for the Vols, who got up breaks early on all three courts. Libietis and Reese extended their winning streak to 18 matches with a 6-1 win over 10th-ranked Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana 6-1.
Andrew Dromsky and Jack Schipanski ran their winning streak to five matches with a 6-4 victory over court 3.
In singles, the Lions took control early, winning five of six first sets.
Jones was the only Vol to win a first set and he was the first off the court, beating Eric Rubin 6-2, 6-2.
Three of the Vols who lost first sets forced a third set. After Luis Valero lost on court 4, Libietis put the Vols up 3-1 with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 22 Winston Lin.
Columbia tied the match at 3-3 when freshman Igor Smelyanski lost in three sets on court 3 and Schipanski lost in two close sets on court 5.
Everything came down to Reese and Ignat on court 2. Ignat broke Reese's serve three times in the third set to pull away for the victory.
#16 Columbia 4, #17 Tennessee 3
Singles
1. #16 Mikelis Libietis (TENN) def. #22 Winston Lin (COL) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
2. Dragos Ignat (COL) def. Hunter Reese (TENN) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
3. Max Schnur (COL) def. Igor Smelyanski (TENN) 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
4. Ashok Narayana (COL) def. Luis Valero (TENN) 7-5, 6-2
5. #125 Mike Vermeer (COL) def. Jack Schipanski (TENN) 7-5, 6-4
6. Jess Jones (TENN) def. Eric Rubin (COL) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
1. #2 Mikelis Libietis/Hunter Reese (TENN) def. #10 Max Schnur/Ashok Narayana (COL) 6-1
2. Mike Vermeer/Winston Lin (COL) vs. #45 Igor Smelyanski/Luis Valero (TENN) 4-5, unfinished
3. Andrew Dromsky/Jack Schipanski (TENN) def. Bert Vancura/Richard Pham (COL) 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,4,1,3,5,2).
Players Mentioned
