University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
ITA Regional Championship
Schipanski, Valero Win ITA Ohio Valley Regional
October 24, 2016 | Men's Tennis
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Riding a surge of momentum late in the title match, Tennessee’s Luis Valero and Jack Schipanski defeated Kentucky’s Beck Pennington and Enzo Wallart 3-6, 6-4, [10-4] to win the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships on Monday.
Schipanski and Valero made good on their top seeding in the tournament, winning five matches en route to the championship at Goodfriend Tennis Center, becoming the fourth Tennessee team to win the tournament since 2009.
With the tournament win, the Vol duo qualifies for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York City, which will be held Nov. 3-6 at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. It will be the first trip to the event for both players.
“They executed really well, and by the end of the match, they were playing as well as they played the whole match,” Tennessee associate head coach Chris Woodruff said. “That’s something as a coach you like to see. You’re ending the match playing the best you can.”
After losing serve on two sudden-death deciding points in the first set, Schipanski and Valero did not count themselves out of the match. Pennington and Wallart made few errors the throughout the match, hitting their spots on serves and angles at the net.
“We just had to hang in there when they were hitting tapes, getting lines, serving and playing everything perfect,” Valero said. “Then I think we raised the level, and Jack played unbelievable.”
Schipanski and Valero capitalized on their fifth break point of the match, breaking Wallart’s serve to go up 5-4 in the second set. Valero served out the second set to send the match into a deciding 10-point tiebreaker.
The Vols made their move midway through the tiebreaker on Kentucky’s serve, winning both points to go up 6-3 behind a pair of key crosscourt backhands from Schipanski in the ad court.
“In 10-point tiebreakers, there’s not much room for errors,” Schipanski said. “You have to go out with a lot of energy. That was our main focus from the start, to play high intensity doubles. You give yourself your best chance when you do that. We came out and returned well and served really well.”
Valero won his next two points on serve to put the Vols up 8-3. Kentucky ended the Vols’ four-point streak, but Tennessee won the final two points. Schipanski hit a service winner to seal the title for the Vols.
Memphis’ Ryan Peniston of Memphis won the singles championship on Monday, defeating Trey Yates of Kentucky 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.
NOTES
- Jack Schipanski and Luis Valero are now the fourth Tennessee team to win the doubles title at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships, joining Mikelis Libietis and John Collins (2012), Libietis and Hunter Reese (2011), and Boris Conkic and Rhyne Williams (2009).
- Tennessee has hosted this event three of the last four years.
- Schipanski and Valero will be the Vols’ first participants at National Indoors since 2013 when Libietis and Reese made the doubles finals. Libietis and Reese also qualified for the 2014 tournament but did not play, opting instead to play — and win — the Knoxville Challenger.
- Reese remains UT’s only singles champion at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional, winning in 2013.
- Monday marked the second title for Schipanski and Valero. They won the SEC Fall Classic last season.
