After taking home the gold at Wake Forest over the weekend, the Tennessee Volunteers men’s tennis team prepares for the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships on Thursday.
Last weekend in the Wake Forest Invitational, Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis continued their dominance in doubles as they stayed undefeated, wining their second straight tournament. Libietis wasn’t done as he also went on to win in singles competition.
“I didn’t play well at all the first two matches, but as the tournament went on I started to play better,” Libietis said. “It was good to win both singles and doubles. We just need to do our homework, watch film, and just hopefully we can keep this streak going all the time.”
Head coach Sam Winterbotham was happy with his team’s performance in the invitational over the weekend. He said he felt good with how they played, especially Reese and Libietis, and felt they put in some solid work and played a great tournament.
“They needed the matches, especially in singles,” Winterbotham said. “I think both guys feel good with where they are in their singles game. As a doubles team, those two are on a roll.
“We sat down prior to the tournament and just said, ‘Hey lets continue to just play great doubles, work on doubles, and I think it’s important to prove that you are one of the best doubles teams in the history of Tennessee.'”
The team has had a lot of success this fall. When it comes to doubles, they have dominated their opponents and last weekend was an indicator of how far this team can go.
This weekend they head Nashville, Tennessee for the Ohio Valley Regionals. They look to have another strong outing as for many of their players, this will be their last outing of the fall.
“I feel like as a team we’re just getting better,” Winterbotham said. “I think nobody anymore than Bart quite honestly. He’s playing really well and that’s what we want to see going into the regionals.”
Junior Bartosz Sawicki has also had a strong fall season. A few weeks ago he captured his first singles title at the UTC/Steve Baras Fall Classic.
“I’m just playing match after match trying to get better,” Sawicki said. “I mean, I’m not thinking about winning or anything I’m just trying to work on the things we work on in practice.
“I’m trying to have fun on the court. There are still some things I still have to work on but yeah, just taking it one match at a time.”
The Vols are looking forward to this weekend to try to continue with their recent successes. They are trying to finish the season strong so they can head into the spring with a full head of steam.
“You need to get better from week to week,” Winterbotham said. “What we saw at Wake from Bart Sawicki and Andrew Dromsky, who’s playing at a higher level. I thought Luis’ (Valero) first match he played really well.
“We want the six guys that are going to play it to be playing their best tennis of the fall.”
