John Frierson

For The Knoxville News Sentinel;

ATHENS, Ga. – Moments after Ohio State’s Peter Kobelt hit a backhand into the net, Tennessee’s Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis jumped into each other’s arms and started a Big Orange celebration.

The second-ranked Tennessee doubles team won perhaps the match of the entire 12-day NCAA championships Monday — a three-setter with three tiebreakers — and claimed the second NCAA men’s doubles title in Vols history.

Reese and Libietis joined the 1980 UT team of Mel Prucell and Rodney Harmon as national champions with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6) win over Ohio State’s fourth-seeded Kobelt and Kevin Metka at Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

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