University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Set to Host USTA/ITA Regional
October 19, 2011 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 19, 2011
Tournament Central
Main Draw Singles & Doubles
Eight Vols start competition Thursday as Tennessee plays host to the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships for the first time in the renovated Goodfriend Tennis Center.
The individual regional tournament, which features schools from Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana, runs Thursday through the finals on Monday.
Matches start Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Goodfriend Tennis Center on campus and across town at the Knoxville Racquet Club. The tournament will take place at both sites the first three days of the tournament before exclusively located to Goodfriend on Sunday and Monday.
THE DRAW
The singles draw features 128 players from the region, and the doubles draw is 61 teams strong. The singles champion must win seven consecutive matches in five days to hoist the trophy.
For first-round losers, there will be a full 64-player singles backdraw.
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
The singles and doubles main draw winners from each ITA region advance to the exclusive 32-player singles and 16-team doubles fields at the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Flushing, N.Y. Former Vol Rhyne Williams won the event in 2010.
THE VOLS
Freshman Mikelis Libietis returns to tournament action for the first time since September and is seeded eighth in the singles draw, the highest on the team. He is 5-0 in his only tournament of the season, the Tennessee Fall Invitational, and is ranked eighth in the ITA freshman/newcomer poll.
Libietis and redshirt freshman Hunter Reese also clock in as the highest seeded doubles team for UT, coming in at No. 6. While they haven't played together in a match this season, Libietis and Reese both went unbeaten at the Tennessee Fall Invitational.
Reese and junior Edward Jones are listed as 17-32 seeds in the singles draw.
Other Vols in the draw include senior Bryan Swartz, junior Taylor Patrick, sophomore Jarryd Chaplin and freshmen Brandon Fickey and Peter Nagovnak. Swartz, who won his first career singles title this season, leads the team with a 9-2 fall record.
LAST SEASON
In his final regional appearance, John-Patrick Smith played his way into the singles championship in Lexington, Ky. He lost to Kentucky's Eric Quigley, who is the top seed this year and the two-time defending champion.
The Vols' had a pair of doubles teams reach the semifinals, despite having never played together before. Smith and Tennys Sandgren, as well as Williams and Jones, made it into the final four.
FOLLOW ONLINE
Attached are the full tournament draws with times. A tournament central page, which will be updated throughout the day, is located here: http://www.utsports.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/2011-ita-ohio-valley.html
An interactive live blog will run every day at UTSports.com. All scores will be reported as they end on Twitter @voltennis_event
USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships
Tennessee Participants
Thursday's Matches
Singles
Goodfriend Tennis Center
Jarryd Chaplin, UT, vs, [17-32] Aaron Dujovne, Purdue, 8:30 a.m.
[8] Mikelis Libietis, UT, vs. Aidan Koross, Dayton, 11:30 a.m.
Bryan Swartz, UT, vs. Austin Sansone, Ball State, 1 p.m.
Knoxville Racquet Club
Brandon Fickey, UT, vs. [9-16] Mark Kovacs, Purdue, 8:30 a.m.
[17-32] Hunter Reese, UT, vs. Lauri Makikalli, 9:30 a.m.
Peter Nagovnak, UT, vs. Manuel Barroetavena, Chattanooga, 10:30 a.m.
Taylor Patrick, UT, vs. Diego Acosta, Purdue, 12:30 p.m.
Doubles
Goodfriend Tennis Center
Taylor Patrick/Bryan Swartz, UT, vs. Derek Carpenter/Zane Smith, Ball State, 3 p.m.
Jarryd Chaplin/Peter Nagovnak, UT, vs. [7] Phil Diaz/Brandon MacDonald, 3:30 p.m.
Knoxville Racquet Club
[6] Mikelis Libietis/Hunter Reese, UT, vs. Ankit Chopra/Roberto Vieira, Chattanooga, 2:30 p.m.
Brandon Fickey/Edward Jones, UT, vs. Pulok Bhattachorya/Tommy Marx, Butler, 3:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
