University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#6 Duke
Vols Fall at No. 6 Duke, 5-2
February 06, 2015 | Men's Tennis
DURHAM, N.C. -- The 20th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers won the doubles point but could not keep the momentum in singles in a 5-2 loss to sixth-ranked Duke on Friday at Sheffield Tennis Center.
Senior Mikelis Libietis provided another consistent performance for the Vols (4-3) at the top of the lineup, winning doubles with Hunter Reese and then defeating Jason Tahir for the third time this season.
After the Vols won the doubles point via a close 6-4 victory by Andrew Dromsky and Jack Schipanski on court 3, Duke seized momentum on most courts early in singles play, winning 5 of 6 first sets.
The Vols' three seniors were off the court first in singles, with two taking losses. Reese lost to 18th-ranked Nicolas Alvarez 6-3, 6-2 on court 2, and Brandon Fickey, seeing his first action since retiring in a match against Elon on Jan. 19, lost to Chris Mengel 6-3, 6-1.
Libietis momentarily tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 36th-ranked Tahir. With the win, the Vol senior has won 10 consecutive matches, tying a career best. He is now 12-2 this season.
Duke took the lead for good on court 3 when Rafael Hemmeler rallied in the second set to beat Jack Schipanski 6-2, 6-3.
The match came down to Vol freshmen Luis Valero on court 4 and Jess Jones on court 6. Valero fought back to tie the second set at 4-4 against Bruno Semenzato but had his serve broken at 5-5. Semenzato served out a 6-4, 7-5 victory to clinch the match at 4-2.
The last match on court 6 was played out after the clinch. Jones pushed the match to a third-set super tiebreaker but lost 6-4, 4-6, [10-7].
The Vols look to rebound Sunday at 18th-ranked Wake Forest at 1 p.m.
#6 DUKE 5, #20 TENNESSEE 2
Singles
1. #16 Mikelis Libietis, UT, def. #36 Jason Tahir, Duke, 6-4, 6-3
2. #18 Nicolas Alvarez, Duke, def. Hunter Reese, UT, 6-3, 6-2
3. #103 Rafael Hemmeler, Duke, def. Jack Schipanski, UT, 6-2, 6-3
4. #112 Bruno Semenzato, Duke, def. Luis Valero, UT, 6-4, 7-5
5. Chris Mengel, Duke, def. Brandon Fickey, UT, 6-3, 6-1
6. Jason Levine, UT, def. Jess Jones, UT, 6-4, 4-6, [10-7]
Doubles
1. #2 Libietis/Reese, UT, def. Hemmeler/Alvarez, Duke, 6-1
2. Tahir/Levine, Duke, def. Fickey/Valero, UT, 6-4
3. Dromsky/Schipanski, UT, def. Mengel/Semenzato, Duke, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles ().
