University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#58 Arkansas
Vols Shut Out Arkansas on Road Courts
April 05, 2015 | Men's Tennis
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Tennessee Volunteers withstood a late rally by Arkansas to secure a 4-0 shutout Saturday at the Billingsley Tennis Center.
The Vols (12-10, 4-6 SEC) won the doubles point and got quick straight-set victories from Mikelis Libietis on court 1 and Jack Schipanski on court 2, but the four remaining singles matches went three sets.
With the Vols' three freshmen midway through their final sets, senior Andrew Dromsky served out a 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 victory over Juan Marino on court 6.
"What makes me proud is none of our guys backed down when the swing and momentum of the match changed," Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "Everybody dug in and went with it and rose to the occasion, which is the beauty of college tennis. The great matches have multiple swings of momentum, and you have to ride it."
Senior Hunter Reese did not play because of illness, which caused a change in both the singles and doubles lineup. Libietis, Reese's doubles partner of four years, moved down to No. 2 in the lineup with freshman Jess Jones, who was making his doubles lineup debut.
Libietis and Jones led the way in doubles with a 6-1 win on court 2. Dromsky and freshman Igor Smelyanski wrapped up their first victory on court No. 1, beating Santiago Munoz and Branch Terrell 6-2 to secure the doubles point.
Tennessee took momentum early in singles, winning five of six first sets. Schipanski beat William Albanese 6-3, 6-1 on court 2, and Libietis followed with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at the top of the lineup against Giammarco Micolani.
The singles win was the 100th in Libietis' career. With the milestone win, he became the fifth player in UT history with 100 wins in both singles and doubles. He has 114 doubles wins.
"I can talk about Mikelis' accomplishments at length another time, but what he did today was step up for this team," Winterbotham said. "He went out with a new partner at No. 2 doubles and he led. He got off the court first and led in singles against a guy who had beaten him twice two years ago. Going out and putting the team on your back, that is leadership. To see Mikelis do that is special."
With the Vols up 3-0, the match tightened up considerably. Both Smelyanski and Luis Valero had chances to serve out the match in the second sets but lost their second sets on courts 3 and 4. Dromsky was ahead in a second-set tiebreaker but lost 8-6 on court 6.
Though Arkansas was gaining momentum on its senior day, Dromsky broke Marino's serve early in the third set and held on, fighting off break points in his last three service games. The Vol senior fired an ace down the T on match point to clinch the 4-0 win.
Jones, who lost his first set, came from a break down to force a third set on court 5. He was on serve at 3-2 when the match ended.
"Jess saw today as a great opportunity to come in to the lineup and show us that he can play doubles. What a great story," Winterbotham said. "He played his heart out in singles, came from a set down and turned it into the third. He had a great match on Thursday at Ole Miss. He's really growing up. What I love to see with Jess is that he's doing the things he's practicing, not just going back to what is most comfortable."
