Mikelis Libietis
| School: |
University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
| Year: |
Sophomore |
| Home Town: |
Priekuli |
| Home State: |
|
| Home Country: |
Latvia |
| High School: |
Murijanu Sprota Gimnazija |
| Height: |
6-2 |
| Weight: |
199 lbs. |
| Birth Date: |
|
| Dominant Hand: |
Right |
| Major: |
|
| Singles Record: |
9-1 |
| Doubles Record: |
9-3 |
Awards
2012 All-SEC (First Team)
2012 SEC All-Freshman Team
2012 SEC Freshman of the Week (3 times: 2/1; 2/29; 3/7)
2012 ITA Ohio Valley Region Rookie of the Year
Singles Titles
2012 Tennessee Fall Invitational (Flight 1)
2011 Tennessee Fall Invitational (Flight 1)
Doubles Titles
2012 USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships (with John Collins)
2011 USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships (with Hunter Reese)
2011 Tennessee Fall Invitational (Flight 1) (with Jarryd Chaplin)
2012-13 (Sophomore)
Singles Record: 14-3
Doubles Record: 9-3
Notes: Opened the season at the ITA All-American Championships, reaching the third round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles with Jarryd Chaplin. Picked up three ranked wins between singles and doubles ... Defended his top-flight singles title at the Tennessee Fall Invitational, beating teammate Brandon Fickey 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a rematch of last year's final. Also reached the doubles final in the second flight with Chaplin, but had to withdraw because of Chaplin's ankle injury ... Defending doubles title at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships, winning with John Collins despite the two facing match points in the first round. Also reached the singles final, losing to Vanderbilt's Ryan Lipman 6-3, 6-4 ... Reached first national singles quarterfinal, earning two ranked wins on his way to the third round of the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. Lost in first round of doubles with Collins.
2011-12 (Freshman)
Singles Record: 20-14 (4-7 SEC)
Doubles Record: 26-12 (7-4 SEC)
Notes: Played No. 1 singles and doubles in every match for the Vols this year, only freshman in the conference tasked with playing at the top of both lineups ... Became first Vol to start at No. 1 singles as a freshman since John-Patrick Smith in 2008. Only one of seven freshman to play No. 1 singles as a freshman for UT. Four of those past top freshmen (Andy Kohlberg, Mike DePalmer Jr., Chris Woodruff, Smith) later went on to be ranked No. 1 nationally ... Picked up SEC Freshman of the Week honors after going undefeated at No. 1 singles and doubles against Memphis and Eastern Kentucky ... Earned a three-set victory against Ole Miss freshman Nik Scholtz, a former ITF top 10 ... Collected first top-40 wins of his career at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, beating No. 33 Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech and No. 34 James Meredith of Boise State in straight sets ... Started SEC career with 2-0 start in both singles and doubles at the No. 1 position. Against Florida, he and Hunter Reese collected their first top-10 win, beating eighth-ranked Nassim Slilam and Billy Federhofer 8-4 ... Cracked the national top-10 in doubles, coming in at No. 7 with Reese. Believed to be the first all-freshman UT pair to reach top 10 in program history ... Snapped 4-match losing streak to go 2-0 in singles at the SEC Championships. He picked up his first top-10 singles win, beating No. 10 Artem Illyushin 7-6 (6), 6-2 ... Lost in the first round of singles and doubles at the NCAA Championships. FALL: Wrapped up his first collegiate season by posting 8-1 singles and 9-2 doubles records ... Won both singles and doubles titles in his first collegiate tournament, sweeping the top spots at the Tennessee Fall Invitational, beating teammate Brandon Fickey 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the final. His doubles title came with sophomore Jarryd Chaplin ... Missed several tournaments because of injury but returned to the court in time for the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships ... Reached the round of 16 in singles at the home regional, but his most notable performance came in doubles. He and fellow freshmen Hunter Reese teamed up to win the championship, knocking off the top two seeds in the tournament. They beat 25th-ranked Josh MacTaggart and Stephen Vogl of Indiana 8-5 in the semifinals, then defeated 19th-ranked Eric Quigley and Alex Musialek of Kentucky in the championship ... Traveled with Reese to the 20-team field at the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, where they lost in the opening round.
Prior to Tennessee
Joined the Vols after a notable doubles career, both in the junior and Futures circuits ... Achieved a career-best ATP doubles ranking of No. 624 after winning one title and reaching the finals of three other events ... Had a career-best singles ranking of No. 1357 ... Represented Latvia in a 2011 Davis Cup singles match against Greece, making him the ninth Vol to participate in the international team event and the first to take the court since Simon Rea did so for New Zealand in 2007 ... Had a career-best combined junior ranking of No. 82 ... Reached the doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open Juniors and the semifinals of the Eddie Herr Internationals ... In singles, made it to the round of 32 at Wimbledon Juniors.
Personal
Parents: Valdis Libietis and Evita Libiete ... Born July 9, 1992 in Sigulda, Latvia ... Older brother, Matiss, played for Hawaii Pacific ... Father, Valdis, coached both Mikelis and Matiss growing up.
