It’s been a challenging offseason for the men’s tennis team since their last match in October 2014. The death of sophomore Sean Karl in November shook the program to the core.
However, with the spring season beginning on Saturday against North Florida at the Tennessee Spring Invitational, the team’s mindset now must move to competing tenaciously all year and punching its ticket to the NCAA Tournament in May.
Tennessee starts the season ranked 17th in the country and is the fourth-highest ranked team in the SEC behind No. 8 Georgia, No. 10 Texas A&M, and the No. 13 ranked Florida Gators.
“We’re not used to being ranked outside the top-10,” head coach Sam Winterbotham said. “As a coach, you do an evaluation of everybody else at the start of the year, and the last I counted there were about 25 or 30 top-10 teams, so someone’s gonna be out of the top-10 at the end of the year.”
The Vols will enter the spring season boasting one of the best doubles teams in the nation.
The fall season was one for the record books for Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis. The dynamic duo became the first doubles team in the history of the ITA All-American Championship to win back-to-back titles. The second-ranked doubles team in the nation is closing in on Shelby Cannon and Byron Talbot’s all-time leading doubles wins record of 102. Reese and Libietis are currently at 81 wins and need only 22 more to break the record.
“I just want to get back out there, and, if we play like we did last year, the record will come closer and closer,” senior Libietis said. “If we stick together the plan is there, and if we play well enough the record is there.”
North Florida is coming into Knoxville with three matches already under its belt. The Ospreys are 2-1 so far this season with wins against Louisiana-Lafayette and St. John’s in the Seminole Invitational.
“They’re a very energized team,” senior Brandon Fickey said. “They’re coming in prepared, and they’ll certainly look to win. … We have to stay focused, especially in our first match.”
The Ospreys also have one of the most potent doubles teams in the nation right now in senior Norbert Nemcsek and sophomore Jack Findel-Hawkins. The two are the 28th ranked doubles team in the nation, and the Vols know they will have to play well to beat the duo.
“Their doubles team last year beat the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA’s,” redshirt senior Reese noted.
The Tennessee Spring Invitational will also involve ETSU, Southern Illinois, Elon and Mercer. The Vols are set to take on the Ospreys on Saturday at 10 a.m., followed by a matchup against Southern Illinois at 2:30 p.m. on the same day. Tennessee will have Sunday off before taking on Elon at 9:30 a.m. and Mercer at 2:30 p.m. on Monday. All matchups will take place inside the Goodfriend Tennis Center. Students are admitted free to all regular season men’s tennis matches.
