Before 2014, the last time a Tennessee doubles team hoisted a national championship trophy was 1980.
But doubles partners Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese made sure the doubles national championship drought didn’t last any longer.
Reese, a senior from Kennesaw, Georgia, was recruited to Tennessee after receiving a ranking as the No. 2 player in his home state in addition to a listing as the No. 21 player in the country.
He was a sought after recruit after a successful career at North Cobb High School. He had several different schools looking to bring him in when he broke his wrist his junior year.
“I started emailing a lot of coaches,” Reese said. “I emailed most of the schools in the SEC, most of the PAC 12 schools, a couple of big 12 schools, and Sam (Winterbotham) was the only one to respond out of about 15 schools.
Following this response, Reese had many interactions with Vols head coach Sam Winterbotham and assistant coach Chris Woodruff.
“In July of your senior year, you can start receiving calls, and he called me on the first day,” Reese said. “From then on it was either every week either him or Chris called me. That hit home for me and I really felt like I belonged here.”
Libietis, originally from Sigulda, Latvia, also had a strong doubles career in juniors and in other circuits, and was ranked a career best combined with junior ranking of No. 82.
The tennis player also played in several junior events, most notably in 2011, and this past year made several appearances for Latvia in the Davis Cup.
Unlike Reese, Libietis came to the university in 2011 with the goal to enter professional tennis.
“They had a really good history of tennis players going pro afterwards and that was my goal, to improve my game and then go pro after,” Libietis said. “For me, it was a really easy decision when I saw that Tennessee wanted me to come over here. The coaches are great, and the team was good.”
Once on the same team, the pair was placed on opposing doubles teams, practicing against each other, but without any intention of placing them together.
“Brandon (Fickey) was actually playing with Mikelis and I was playing with Ed Jones at the time,” Reese said. “We were practicing doubles against one another and Brandon got hit with an overhead on his finger and we had to stop practice. They didn’t know if he was going to play so we switched him and put Mikelis and I together.
“We were top ten our freshmen year and it just so happened it all worked out.”
The duo was created after that point. They were together for the rest of their freshman year, where in the spring they made their way into the national spotlight after being ranked No. 7 in the country, becoming the only all freshman team in school history to receive a top ten national ranking.
The team continued with this momentum into regionals, a tournament the duo won. They had hit their stride and stayed that way for the rest of their freshman seasons.
However, during their sophomore season, they were split up for a period of time. This is the only time other than the start of freshman year that the two didn’t play together.
“They don’t always like that at first, and they definitely questioned ‘Do we like playing with each other?,’”Winterbotham said. “But they certainly persevered through that and the results made it clear to everyone that this was a good team.”
The two joined backed together for their sophomore spring season where they broke through the top rankings again, gaining the No. 1 spot.
As the fourth team in school history to reach the top ranking, the spot was one they held for the reminder of that season and most of the next two seasons.
“I’d say the first time, I didn’t really know if we deserved it,” Reese said. “I was super excited, but a little bit nervous, and I think that the biggest change from then to now, or even from then to the beginning of last year, (was) when I kind of felt like Mikelis and I were the best and we kind of deserved the ranking.”
Their sophomore season ended after they lost in the second round of the NCAA doubles tournament.
The following season, things remained the same as the Vols pair held the No. 1 spot. They held a 36-5 doubles record, which inevitably lead to the payoff the pair had strived for.
After defeating Ohio State’s duo Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in the NCAA Championship in Athens, Georgia, the pair snatched the first national championship in doubles UT had won in 34 years.
“During the match, I felt zero pressure,” Libietis said. “I was so locked in, and I was so confident. The emotions and everything was just unbelievable. I even remember the point we won. I didn’t know what I was going to do when we win but it just happened and you look back at those videos and pictures and you’re like ‘Oh my God.’ It was crazy.”
The jubilation of the players reverberated throughout the team. Many players took the trip to the individual NCAA championships in order to watch them compete for the ultimate prize.
“We played a good point, end up winning, and then it’s just sheer happiness, or I don’t know what the word is, excitement,” Reese said. “It was just such a rush of emotion. To be able to share that with Mikelis, our coaches, and our team that was down there. It was just something you can’t describe.”
As their senior seasons wind down, they prepare to be in prime position to make another deep run into the NCAA tournament — a repeat that could catapult them into UT history.
While this is the ultimate goal for the team, it is not necessarily what the duo is focusing on.
“We have to have the mentality of just, what Woody (Chris Woodruff) calls ‘blue collar work’” Reese said. “You just put your head down and work.”
Regardless of the season’s turnout, the pair’s impact on the program’s progress cannot be overlooked.
With Libietis at 98 career singles wins, Reese at 89, or combined at 92 career doubles victories, both players have excelled in their chosen sport.
But for Winterbotham, both athletes have succeeded not only on the court, but in life as well.
“Mikelis and Hunter have a bright future in tennis and after tennis,” Winterbotham said. “I’m hopeful and excited for their future and I’m very proud of them. I’m really proud that they have represented Tennessee and will continue to represent Tennessee as they go out and play and become successful in the court, and in a profession after tennis is over.”
