University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Kentucky
Dromsky Clinches 4-3 Thriller at Kentucky
March 08, 2015 | Men's Tennis
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Senior Andrew Dromsky provided the final heroics in the bottom of the Tennessee lineup Sunday, rallying from a set down to clinch the Vols' 4-3 victory over Kentucky inside the Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center.
Playing in the singles lineup for the second time all season, Dromsky was the last Vol on court for the final hour of competition and managed his game in a battle of two big servers. After no breaks of serve in the first two sets, Dromsky broke Nils Ellefsen twice in the third set in a 6-7 (0), 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory at the No. 6 position.
Senior Mikelis Libietis and freshman Luis Valero provided long three-set victories in the Vols' victory. Tennessee also won the doubles point.
In Tennessee's last five games on the road, the Vols (9-6, 1-2 SEC) have won three of them in 4-3 fashion.
"That was a real team effort today," Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "We've been asking for it, and we've been trying so hard. Everyone gave everything they had. They were together all the way. It's really something we can build on moving forward."
Kentucky's indoor tennis center has only four courts, so the top four positions started first. The Wildcats eventually took a 2-1 lead in the team score with straight-set wins on courts 2 and 3. Tennessee crept to the brink of victory, eventually taking a 3-2 lead.
Valero had multiple chances to close out his match on court 4, running out to a 5-1 lead in the third set before losing the next three games to fellow freshman Trey Yates. He refocused and broke Yates in the next game to win 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
"Luis handling this environment and staying calm how he did it, as a coach seeing that composure, it's exciting," Winterbotham said.
Libietis had one of his longest matches of the season at the top of the lineup against Beck Pennington.
The Vol senior won the first set 6-4 but Pennington saved one match point in a tiebreaker to take the second set 7-6 (6). Libietis stayed ahead the entire third set and finally broke Pennington in the last game for a 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-5 victory to extend his winning streak 14 matches and put the Vols up 3-2.
Kentucky tied the match 3-3 when Kevin Lai defeated Igor Smelyanski 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5, leaving Dromsky the lone Vol on court.
Dromsky lost the first set in a 7-0 tiebreaker to Ellefsen, but he buckled down the rest of the way, getting better reads on his opponent's serve.
"I just started to be able to read his serve well," Dromsky said. He covers really well. Toward the end of the second, I could get a good idea of where to be to get in a position. He has a great serve, so it was never easy."
Dromsky connected on a few returns in the second set tiebreaker to send the match to the third set. The senior from Martinez, Ga., jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third set. He broke Ellefsen in the final game after a long backhand-to-backhand rally to clinch the team victory with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 win.
"When the match comes down to the end like that, it's what college tennis is about," Dromsky said. "That was a lot of fun, the most fun I've had on court in a while."
"It's really good for the guys to get a win. We've been right there with a lot fo good teams. To get home with a W feels great. All the guys are working really hard. That's why today happened. It was a team effort."
The Vols won the doubles point in strong fashion with a new-look lineup.
The only usual part of the doubles lineup -- Libietis and Hunter Reese -- performed as usual on court 1. The defending NCAA champions won 6-3 over Pennington and Lai, their first SEC win of the season. Valero and Jack Schipanski clinched the doubles point minutes later with a 6-3 win against Ellefsen and Yates at No. 3.
"Igor and Andrew played really well," Winterbotham said. "They executed at a high level the whole day. Jack and Luis are a team we think can be very good too. They showed it today. We needed to change things up. We've been thinking of resurrecting Dromsky and Smelyanski for a while."
Tennessee 4, Kentucky 3
Singles
1. #15 Mikelis Libietis, UT, def. #85 Beck Pennington, UK, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-5
2. Jerry Lopez, UK, def. Hunter Reese, UT, 6-3, 6-4
3. #122 William Bushamuka, UK, def. Jack Schipanski, UT, 6-3, 6-2
4. Luis Valero, UT, def. Trey Yates, UK, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
5. Kevin Lai, UK, def. Igor Smelyanski, UT, 6-3, 6-1
6. Andrew Dromsky, UT, def. Nils Ellefsen, UK, 6-7 (0), 7-6 (4), 6-2
Doubles
1. #3 Libietis/Reese, UT, def. Pennington/Lai, UK, 6-3
2. Smelyanski/Dromsky, UT, vs. Lopez/Bushamuka, UK, 6-5 dnf.
3. Schipanski/Valero, UT, def. Ellefsen/Yates, UK, 6-3
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,2,4,1,5,6)
