ZooTennis

NCAA Individual Recap; My Notes and Observations from 12 Days in Athens

2012-06-01T18:17:00.000-04:00

My recap of the NCAA Division I men's and women's individual tournament is available today at the Tennis Recruiting Network, where you can also find my recap of the team tournament from last week. In addition to those recaps, I'm including some other thoughts on the 2012 tournament below.

So much happens during the 12 days of the NCAA Division I tournament it’s impossible to work it all into any daily update, and most of the notes and observations below wouldn’t fit properly into the match reports anyway. But before the college season ends, with next week’s final individual rankings and the announcement of the ITA Players of the Year, it’s a good time to address some of the highlights, and a few lowlights, of this year's tournament.

As he won one match after another, the question arose: is Steve Johnson the best college player ever? Like any Greatest of All Time (GOAT) debate, there’s no right answer. The recency effect, which gives more weight to what we’ve just seen, has to be considered, but there’s no question that he’s in the conversation. I heard a few nominations for Mikael Pernfors, the two-time NCAA champion from Georgia who reached the final of the French Open in 1986, just one year removed from his second NCAA championship. Of course Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe had great college careers, but it’s important not to let professional success color the accomplishments while in college. None of the players mentioned above won four straight team titles or fashioned a 72-match winning streak, so Kentucky coach Dennis Emery, who has coached the Wildcats for 30 years, sidestepped the GOAT question and went on to give Johnson another title.

“I’m not so sure he’s the greatest college player of all time, but he’s almost for sure the most productive player in college tennis ever, when you look at the four team championships, the two singles championships,” Emery said. “The greatest, that’s kind of a gray area, but it’s going to be awfully hard to go against him being the most productive player of all time, and to me, that’s a much bigger accolade. It’s the biggest compliment you can give somebody is to talk about their character and their productivity.”

Just as last year at Stanford, there were problems reported from those who were watching the live video from home. Unlike last year, when the scoreboard was not functioning in the Stanford stadium, I did not have any difficulties keeping track of what was going on at the McWhorter courts, because the live scoring worked perfectly on my iPhone4S. I was even able to inform Stella Sampras Webster that Florida would be UCLA’s opponent in the final while monitoring my phone during the news conference, held in a building some distance away from the courts. My understanding is that the company supplying the collegiate live scoring system has an NCAA-granted monopoly (if I’m wrong, please correct me) so some improvements may need to be made on their end, but Georgia needs to consider new cameras on the main courts should they host again. As of now, the only future site known is for 2013, which will be at the University of Illinois.

The heat and humidity, which really didn’t ramp up until the end of the team tournament, wasn’t any surprise, and all credit to champions Steve Johnson and Nicole Gibbs, Californians who don’t train in anything like those kind of conditions, for surviving and thriving. The rain was, of course, more disruptive, and having four courts on site, just steps from the outdoor courts, proved to be a mixed blessing. Their proximity led to quick decisions to move indoors, when on several occasions, just waiting another half hour would have allowed outdoor tennis, which is what the NCAA championships are supposed to be. Where there are no convenient indoor courts, such as Texas A&M, necessity is the mother of alternate scheduling, but the committee seemed to value finishing the team event on time as more important than what was actually best for the sport. And, as long as I’m spending the University of Georgia’s money for new cameras, I’ll also spring for two more indoor courts that eliminate the awkward situation of the team semifinals and finals. A facility as excellent as the Dan Magill Tennis Complex shouldn’t be two courts shy of a match indoors.

Never underestimate the value of feeding the media, and well. I find it difficult to criticize anything about Georgia when they provide the press corps lunch and dinner, with variety and quality, every day. Would that every tournament I attend were half as generous.

The battle of the bands at the Sweet 16 has begun, with the University of Virginia picking up the gauntlet thrown down by the University of Southern California last year in Stanford by bringing their pep band to the finals days of the NCAA team tournament. It certainly added to the sense of excitement to have live music, even if the restrictions on when they could play made for a lot of downtime for the musicians.

It’s time for my annual bow to the tennis SIDs, the ones who are there at the beginning and stay until the end, answering one dumb question after another from those of us less familiar with their teams than they are. They do video interviews, write releases, keep score, update stats and somehow manage to stay cheerful and accommodating through it all, win or lose.

Speaking of stats, it’s been very discouraging how little is done in that area in college tennis. My knowledge of college tennis barely extends back seven years, and I would love to enhance it, but there is no repository or archive available for that. Part of the reason centers around the fact that the NCAA championships are not connected with the ITA, the governing body of college tennis, but it is still sad when there is nowhere to go to verify if Steve Johnson’s 72-match winning streak is a Division I college tennis record. That’s a significant record, not an on-base-percentage-against-lefthanded-relievers-at-night-on-the-road type of baseball statistic, and yet it’s not available. Not to toot my own horn, but the Ohio State doubles team of Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola’s Triple Crown may have gone unnoticed had I not been there to research and mention it. It would help immensely if the ITA had a job description that included compiling and updating important college records. Short of that, most of the records will be tracked on a school-by-school basis and will lack the big-picture view required.

It’s important to get ESPNU back into the mix, and I urge the NCAA to do whatever it takes to make that happen. The NCAA.com streaming was better than nothing, and really done in by the rain this year, but there is no reason that a major sport like tennis can’t find 10 hours of air time on a network dedicated to college sports. The NCAA should not allow ESPN and its affiliates to pick and choose what non-revenue sports it airs; if women’s softball is really so attractive to the network, the NCAA should use that leverage to provide exposure for every sport that is sponsored by at least 100 schools.

I’ve heard that format changes are being considered in order to make the sport more television-friendly. I love the current format, and I don’t want to see it changed, especially without any thought to what it might do to college tennis as a developing stage for professional tennis, but it does demonstrate how important many coaches feel national television exposure is to their programs.

Even with the rain and the heat and the indoor court situation, I love it when the NCAAs are at Georgia. The sense of history runs deep, the fans are passionate and numerous, and the sports information department is well-staffed, helpful and supremely organized. Emery called it the greatest amateur tennis site in the country, and while I would claim that Kalamazoo holds that distinction, even I can understand why Athens would be someone else's top choice.

It’s difficult to overstate how emotional players get when they’ve played their last college dual match. Tears were frequently shed—by coaches and players, men and women—when they were asked about their thoughts on their final match. Being part of a team is so rare in tennis, and the experiences shared so intense, that going back to individual tennis, or on to another unrelated career, is plainly accompanied by a sense of loss.

Johnson Signs with Lagardere; Pate Leaves Alabama for Princeton; Vickery into Semis at Grade 1 in Belgium

2012-05-31T21:42:00.000-04:00

I spoke with two-time NCAA champion Steve Johnson this evening and can confirm that he's signed with Lagardere and will be represented by Sam Duvall.

"I had a few different options--IMG, Octagon and Lagardere," Johnson said. "I met with all of them a few times and it kind of came down to who I felt most comfortable with. Sam was the best fit for me, and I definitely think I made a great decision."

Johnson is nursing several injuries from the intense two-week marathon that constitutes the NCAA championships, but he said with rest, he hopes to be back playing in three weeks or so.

"I can't run or do anything impact-wise, but I can bike and swim, pretty much everything but running for the next two weeks." Johnson said.

Johnson is planning to train at the USTA Player Development Center West in Carson, California, where he has already spent time hitting with Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey and others based in Southern California.

"I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think I'll be at Carson, that's my plan," said Johnson. "It's a full time deal, and Bradley (Klahn) is planning on being there as well. I think (USTA National Coach) David Nainkin will be there to help us as much as we want, and he's able to, and I think he might be one of our primary coaches at Carson, which would be really nice."

As one of the most successful college players ever, with a major agency's backing, Johnson will not lack for opportunities to play big events this summer.

"I'm thinking of starting at Rhode Island at the Hall of Fame Tournament, then I can see a possible scenario of working my way back west, Atlanta, LA," said Johnson, who is now ranked 375. "Then potentially DC, a couple more tournaments there, and then hopefully the Open. That's my immediate plans for the next three, four months, then after that we need to look at schedule and see what's going to suit me best."

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Princeton announced today that University of Alabama men's head coach Billy Pate has accepted the same position there, replacing Glenn Michibata, who resigned last month. Pate, who had been head coach at Alabama for ten seasons, is the second SEC coach to resign in the past week, following Florida's Andy Jackson. The received wisdom in Division I men's tennis says that it's difficult to get a major head coaching position, because so few good jobs open up, but that's obviously not the case this year.

There is also a vacancy in the SEC on the women's side, with LSU announcing it would not renew the contract of head coach Tony Minnis, who had been with the Tigers for 21 years.

Two other resignations at smaller institutions are also noteworthy. Both Jason Suscha of Butler and Sachin Kirtane of Northern Iowa were prominent members of the NCAA Division I Tournament Committee.

At the ITF Grade 1 in Belgium, American Sachia Vickery has reached the singles semifinals and the doubles final. Vickery, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 7 seed Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 and will play unseeded Kimberley Zimmerman of Belgium in the semifinals. Zimmerman is one of five semifinalists in the boys and girls draws from the home country. Vickery and Francoise Abanda of Canada, the No. 2 seeds, are into the doubles final with only two wins (due to a bye and a walkover), and will play top seeds Maria Ines Deheza of Bolivia and Elke Lemmens of Belgium.

French Open Junior Qualifying Begins Thursday; Davis vs. McHale in Women's Second Round in Paris; UC-Riverside Men's Tennis Reprieve; Early USO National Playoffs Results

2012-05-30T20:05:00.001-04:00

The qualifying for the French Open junior championships begins Thursday, with only two Americans, both boys, in Paris attempting to make the main draw. Thai Kwiatkowski and Stefan Kozlov are hoping to join the five US boys already in the main draw: Alexios Halebian, Spencer Papa, Mitchell Krueger, Mackenzie McDonald and Noah Rubin. Krueger and McDonald will be seeded, Rubin probably will be as well.

Taylor Townsend of the US will be the No. 1 seed in the girls draw. Other Americans who received direct entry are Chalena Scholl, Allie Kiick, Sachia Vickery, Kyle McPhillips, Krista Hardebeck, Jennifer Brady and Christina Makarova. Scholl and Vickery will join Townsend as seeds, but Kiick, with her ranking at 17, may not, as there are at least 3 from the WTA's Top 300 who would move into the seeding category over her.

To see the qualifying draws, go to the ITA junior website.

Only a few years removed from the juniors themselves, Americans Lauren Davis and Christina McHale will play in the second round of the women's draw at Roland Garros on Thursday. Now ranked 162, Davis, who won three qualifying matches and defeated No. 30 seed Mona Barthel of Germany 6-1, 6-1 in the first round, will be the underdog against McHale, ranked 36th. But Davis is very comfortable on the clay now, having also qualified in the WTA event in Strasbourg, so I'm expecting a very competitive match. The winner will probably get defending champion Na Li of China in the next round.

Sloane Stephens today made her way into the third round, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US 6-1, 6-1. She will play Mathilde Johansson of France next.

For complete draws, see the Roland Garros website.

The men's tennis program at the University of California-Riverside isbeing considered for elimination, and on May 18th, this request for comments was published on the university's athletic website. Women's sand volleyball would be added if men's tennis is cut. Over at the website TennisInsiders, which is based in Southern California, Steve Bellamy has provided additional information and a forum for support. According to those familiar with a university meeting today, the program has been extended for another year, but not beyond. For more on the decision today, see this article.

The US Open National Playoffs began earlier this month, with the Southwest section and the Florida section winners now in the books. As in the past two years, the sectional winners in men's and women's singles receive an opportunity to compete in the National Playoff in August for a US Open qualifying wild card. The mixed doubles winners on the sectional level compete for a US Open main draw wild card.

The winners in USTA Southwest are: Brian Battistone, men's singles, Stephanie Vlad, an Arizona State recruit, women's singles, and Battistone and Nicole Melichar, mixed doubles.

The USTA Florida winners are: Eric Hechtman, men's singles, Sandra Roma, women's singles, and Ryler DeHeart and Megan Fudge, mixed doubles. DeHeart and Fudge, both former players at Illinois, are married. Roma, of Sweden, beat 15-year-old Jessica Ho in the final; Hechtman, a former Miami University player, beat DeHeart in the final. For more on the Florida finals, see the USTA Florida website. The number of entries in the women's draws have been disappointing, with only eight entries in the Southwest and nine entries in Florida. With college tennis over now, there should be more collegians in the draws, and there are many sectional tournaments still accepting entries. For a complete list of the remaining sectional playoffs, with entry closing dates, click here.

USC, Florida Top ITA Final Rankings; Virginia Men and Georgia Tech Women Voted No. 1 Recruiting Classes; Ward-Hibbert to Texas A&M; Title IX Not to Blame?

2012-05-29T22:35:00.000-04:00

I'm confessing I'm really tired after those 12 exceedingly long days at the NCAAs in Athens and nothing sounds better to me right now than 10 hours of sleep followed by sitting in front of the television watching the French Open and not writing about it.

I know I've got a lot of junior and pro circuit news to catch up on, and an NCAA recap, notebook and the slideshow/videos to work on, but tonight I am just going to pass along several brief college items.

The ITA's final rankings are out, with the NCAA champion USC men and Florida women at the top.

The Top 10s:

MEN:

1. USC
2. Virginia
3. UCLA
4. Ohio State
5. Georgia
6. Pepperdine
7. Kentucky
8. Duke
9. Stanford
10. Oklahoma

WOMEN:
1. Florida
2. UCLA
3. Duke
4. USC
5. Stanford
6. Georgia
7. California
8. North Carolina
9. Miami
10. Texas

Complete final team rankings can be found at the ITA website. The final individual rankings will be released next week.

The Tennis Recruiting Network released their spring recruiting class ranking polls recently, with the Georgia Tech women and the Virginia men claiming the top spots.

Virginia is followed by Stanford, Duke, Texas A&M and Texas in the men's rankings. Georgia Tech is followed by Virginia, North Carolina, Vanderbilt and Stanford in the women's rankings.

I'm fairly certain Texas A&M would have finished higher had their newly announced recruit been considered. On Monday, the Aggies announced they had signed Joshua Ward-Hibbert of Great Britain. Ward-Hibbert just reached the ITF Top 10, winning the Grade A Italian Open with Liam Broady, and there's no question his best junior results have been in doubles. But he has a huge serve, a strength A&M coach Steve Denton knows well, and he is certainly one of the most sought-after recruits of his 1994 birth year. The complete release is here.

And finally, last week ESPN W published this column laying the death of many non-revenue college sports not on Title IX, which is the usual suspect, but on the NCAA itself for deciding how many scholarships can go to which sports rather than letting the individual schools decide. It's a long article, but it explains clearly, with charts, just how much the revenue sports influence the decision the NCAA makes for less popular sports. With all its marketing of the student-athlete experience, regardless of sport, the NCAA seems to want it both ways. It caters to the sports that generate revenue, but then tells the schools that are able to do that how they should spend that money on sports that don't.

USC's Johnson Ends Career with Second Straight Title; Stanford's Gibbs Claims Singles and Doubles Crowns at NCAA Division I Championships

2012-05-28T23:53:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Joy is not the only emotion 2012 NCAA champions Steve Johnson of the University of Southern California and Nicole Gibbs of Stanford felt after Monday afternoon's finals.

Johnson also felt relief, not only because he had accomplished the goal that brought him back to college tennis--a fourth consecutive national team championship--but because the Trojan senior could finally give his aching body a rest after 12 days of relentless, high pressure tennis. His 6-4, 6-4 victory over Eric Quigley on a warm and humid Memorial Day afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex gave him a second consecutive NCAA singles title, and he leaves college tennis as the only player to have ever won the team and individual championships in consecutive years.

Gibbs, like Johnson, is known for her competitive fire, and that was on display throughout her 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over teammate Mallory Burdette. But even after Gibbs squirmed her way out of a 6-2, 4-1 deficit, escaped a 4-5, 0-30 hole later that set and was down 5-2 in its tiebreaker, the Cardinal sophomore was subdued she won the final point of her nearly three-hour comeback. She had the feelings of her doubles partner to consider, after all.

"I got to look that kind of pain in the eye," said Gibbs, 19. "In the second set, just being down 4-1, 5-4, 5-2 in the breaker, I saw it multiple times, that feeling of putting that much into a match and coming out the loser. So I know how tough it is, and obviously I wouldn't wish that on my teammate in any other situation. I'm happy that I won, but I'm sad for her as well."

Burdette started out as she had all tournament, hitting big and keeping her opponent on defense. She used her power to keep Gibbs running from side to side and tossed in a few deft drop shots and volleys just for good measure. In the second set, she broke Gibbs in the fourth game and held to make it 4-1, but Gibbs got her first break of the match with Burdette serving at 4-2, and the door opened.

"Gibbsy is very good at stepping it up when her opponent is about to close things out," said Burdette, a junior. "That's kind of her specialty. She definitely made it tough out there for me in the end and I didn't have the guts to finish it today."

Burdette was two points from the match with Gibbs serving at 4-5, 0-30, but Gibbs won four straight points to make it 5-5. Burdette was again two points from the match at 5-2 in the tiebreaker, and again Gibbs seized control, taking the final five points to force a third set.

In contrast to No. 5 seed Burdette, who hadn't lost more than three games in a set in her previous five matches, Gibbs, the No. 3 seed, was pushed to three sets twice and was on the court many more hours than Burdette. Rather than seeing that as a negative, however, Gibbs focused on what she had gained from those tests.

"I think it provided me with every advantage," Gibbs said. "A lot of people were asking me how I felt about that scenario leading into this match because they thought she would have the advantage going into the final physically at least, but I was thinking to myself that I was very mentally conditioned, if not physically. I had been through every possible scenario this week--I saw a loss right around the corner in my second round against Joanna Mather and I was able to fight my way back into that one, so I knew I had it in me today, and it proved to be crucial."

In the third set, Gibbs got the only break with Burdette serving at 2-3, and began to play more aggressively, while Burdette's unforced errors, so rare this week, began to multiply. As dark clouds began gathering in the east, Gibbs served for the championship, and predictably, it wasn't all smooth sailing. She fell behind 15-30 with Burdette hitting two winners, saved a break point at 30-40 with an overhead, and after an error by Burdette, got to match point with an ace. Another good first serve, that Burdette returned long gave Gibbs the NCAA championship, the 13th for a Stanford woman.

While Gibbs and Burdette were nearing the end of their second set, No. 1 seed Johnson and No. 3 seed Quigley were, a court away, at that same stage. Johnson had used a break at 4-4, assisted by two double faults by Quigley, to move in front in the first set, and he served it out, punching the air and jumping energetically after securing the set point. The second set followed a similar pattern: the points were short, with first serves dominating, and Quigley blinked first. At 3-3, Quigley double faulted at 30-30, and then netted a forehand to make it 4-3 Johnson. Two quick holds and Johnson was serving for his second consecutive NCAA singles title.

Three big first serves later, Johnson was at match point. He didn't convert the first, sending a forehand long, and on the second, he missed his first serve, which resulted in one of the longest points of the match. Johnson parried several big forehands from Quigley, who eventually netted one. Johnson's reaction--falling to his knees and letting out a primal scream--demonstrated just how much he had kept inside during the week and during his 72-match winning streak.

Although suffering from an abdominal pull sustained in his quarterfinal win over Alex Domijan of Virginia and playing with a shin problem that might be a stress fracture, Johnson still performed several improbable adrenaline-fueled physical feats. He hoisted himself over the chain link fence separating the bleachers from the courts and ran up the steps, seeking his mother and father, who had started in the opposite direction to make their way courtside. Johnson then picked up USC athletic trainer Sandy Olsen and carried her from her position on the far side of the court to the changeover area.

"She's a lifesaver," Johnson said. "She spent more hours with me this week than she'll ever spend with another person in her life."

Johnson said he didn't consider retiring in singles, although he did retire from his quarterfinal doubles match on Saturday.

"I really feel like I kind of let Roberto down," Johnson said of his partner Quiroz. "But after that singles against Domijan, I was full body cramping and they told me not to go out there and play doubles, but I did. But I didn't physically have it in me, and at that point, I hit an overhead in that last game that just completely ripped my stomach apart, I feel like, and I couldn't hit any more balls."

Although Johnson was obviously wincing in pain on numerous occasions throughout the match, Quigley said he didn't detect any physical problems.

"I wasn't aware of that, and I don't think his serve was showing any signs of fatigue or anything," Quigley said.

Johnson admitted that his first serve wasn't affected much by his stomach injury.

"It was getting me more on my second serves," Johnson said. "A lot more double faults, I think, in my last few matches than normal. The second serve, where I would be bending back, would be the hardest motion for me, on the second kick serve. But the first serve, it felt okay, and I knew going into yesterday that I had a maximum of six sets in me, and then I was done, so I really just went out there and gave it my all, hoped for the best, and everything stayed intact."

"No one will ever know how hurt he was," said USC coach Peter Smith. "He had food poisoning last week, and he's probably not going to play for four to six weeks...but I knew if he could see the finish line, he'd get through it, because that's the type of kid he is."

While Quigley would have preferred to win, he was already savoring the memory of his final college match.

"It's unbelievable for me to finish my career like this," said Quigley, Kentucky's all-time leader in singles wins. "I'm a little disappointed, but I can't complain whatsoever. To play my last match in a national championship, I'm really lucky and happy that I got to go out at a place like Dan Magill Tennis Complex, in front of him. It was really special to me."

Johnson will now rest and prepare for a full-time commitment to the professional tour, and can be expected to receive a US Open wild card, as he did last year, losing in five sets to Alex Bogomolov in the first round.

"If the wild card comes, I'll be very happy to go back and give it my best again," Johnson said.

While Johnson was collecting his second consecutive singles title, Burdette was able to put the singles final loss behind her and take her second consecutive women's doubles title.

Burdette and Gibbs, the No. 2 seeds, had already made history by reaching the singles final against each other and playing in the doubles final, as no two competitors from the same school had accomplished that.

With the courts wet from a brief rain shower, the NCAA committee decided to move both doubles matches indoors: the men's final, which was underway, and the women's final, which had not yet begun.

Burdette and Gibbs were facing the unseeded team of Nadja Gilchrist and Chelsey Gullickson, and although the rain had kept the crowd smaller than it might have been, the Bulldogs had a definite home court advantage.

Burdette and Gibbs, obviously warmed up and ready after their singles encounter, got off to a good start, which helped offset Gilchrist and Gullickson's advantage. After taking the first set 6-2, Burdette and Gibbs led 3-0 in the second, but the Georgia team fought back to 3-3. The crowd had hope, but even after Burdette was unable to close it out, serving for the match at 5-3, it was dashed in the next game. Down 15-40 with Gilchrist serving, Gibbs pounded a return winner to claim her second NCAA national championship of the day, by a 6-2, 6-3 score.

"We had no real nerves in the final, we had already been out on the stage earlier," said Gibbs, who is the first woman since Keri Phebus of UCLA in 1995 to capture both singles and doubles titles.

Burdette was happy to play indoors, despite little experience on them in the Pac-12.

"I thought it was great. I love fast courts," said Burdette, who won the doubles title last year with Hilary Barte, and now has one more NCAA doubles championship than her older sisters Erin and Lindsay. "I like people who hit hard, take their pace and make something out of it, so I loved it in there."

Stanford coach Lele Forood suggested Monday was one of the best days in the Cardinal program's formidable history.

"It's probably one of the biggest days in our program's history today," said Forood. "It's very exciting, especially because no one's graduating. It's quite an amazing day, and the fact that it's hard to play your teammate in such a big moment, and then to come back and double with them and win a title is a testament to how mature they both are, and could do what they had to do today."

The men's doubles final between Ohio State's top-seeded team of Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola and unseeded Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech was at 5-4, on serve in the first set when the rain began. At stake was not just an NCAA title, but for the Ohio State pair, a chance to become the first team to claim all three collegiate majors in the same academic year.

The Ohio State pair had returned to their hotel, thinking they had at least an hour to relax, when word came the match would resume in 30 minutes. Although they didn't have an opportunity to warm up, Buchanan and Rola didn't show any signs of it, and played an excellent tiebreaker to claim the first set 7-6(4). Carvalho and Escobar, who had been playing together as a team only since March and were the first Texas Tech team to reach the NCAA final, lost their first service game of the second set, and were not able to recover.

Buchanan and Rola didn't face a break point in the final set, and broke Carvalho in the final game for a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory and the unprecedented triple crown of doubles.

"We certainly felt the adrenaline rush on the match points, getting the chance to do that," said Rola, a sophomore. "So many good doubles teams have been playing in college that winning those three events, as the only couple, is just unbelievable."

"I didn't really think about it today until that last game," said Buchanan, a senior. "When it was like 0-30, I was like, oh my god, we might do it."

Ohio State coach Ty Tucker pointed out the difficulty his players faced after winning the All-American in October and the USTA/ITA Indoor in November.

"They spent the whole time as No. 1 in the country, and everybody knows if you beat Rola and Buchanan you make the NCAAs (field)," Tucker said. "They never got a day off, because a win against the 1 team in the country will throw you up in the Top 20 right now. They always came for the challenge. It's unbelievable what they did, and I'm so happy for them, especially Chase. He's meant so much to the program."

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Men's Singles Final

#1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY, 6-4, 6-4

Women's Singles Final

#3 Nicole Gibbs (3), STANFORD def. #5 Mallory Burdette (5), STANFORD, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

Men's Doubles Final

#1 Chase Buchanan-Blaz Rola (1), OHIO STATE def. #18 Raony Carvalho-Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH, 7-6(4), 6-3

Women's Doubles Final

#2 Mallory Burdette-Nicole Gibbs (2), STANFORD def. #27 Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson, GEORGIA, 6-2, 6-4

Johnson Goes for Second Straight Singles Title Against Quigley; Gibbs and Burdette Meet in All-Stanford Final at NCAA Division I Championships

2012-05-27T23:44:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Four team titles and an NCAA singles championship haven't yet sated Steve Johnson's appetite for college tennis. After a hot and grueling week in Athens, the Southern California senior knows there is one last morsel left--another title and a US Open wild card. Kentucky's Eric Quigley, a senior who also knows his last match is for the NCAA championship, is the last player with an opportunity to end Johnson's 71-match winning streak.

The women's final will feature teammates and doubles partners Nicole Gibbs and Mallory Burdette of Stanford, who have made some history of their own. By reaching the finals in singles and in doubles, the pair become the first women to play in both championship matches.

Gibbs, the No. 3 seed, beat top seed Allie Will of Florida 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in her characteristically gritty fashion. Leading 3-1 in the third set, Gibbs needed to consolidate her break, but was down 0-30. Four times Will hit an overhead, and four times Gibbs got it back in play, eventually coming up with backhand passing shot to win the point. She went on to hold for a 4-1 lead, then broke in the next game to assure herself a place in the final.

"That was a definite turning point," said Gibbs, who reached the NCAA semifinals last year as a freshman. "It gave me the confidence to finish out the set. Allie Will is a great competitor and I wasn't counting her out at 3-1, especially when she was up 0-30 in that game. So just sticking in that point, making her play for it. Lele (Forood) told me on the previous changeover to stop lobbing her when she came to the net and to pass her, and I ended with a backhand down-the-line passing shot, so I think that made her happy too."

Will gave credit to Gibbs, whom she had beaten this year in a dual match at Stanford.

"I know she is going to compete and fight as hard as she can, like she always does," said Will, a junior. "She did a great job of that today. She served better than normal today, made a lot of first serves, probably because I started going after her second serves. She did a good job of adjusting in the third."

While Gibbs was still working to put Will away, Burdette was in the stands with her sister Lindsay, cheering for her teammate. Burdette had eliminated freshman Zsofi Susanyi of Cal 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour, using her impressive power and an improved attitude to post her fifth consecutive straight-set win.

"I think in terms of my mental game, this is the best that I've played," said Burdette, a junior who grew up in the central Georgia town of Jackson. "In terms of my tennis game, it's not anything spectacular, and I try to think of them as two separate things."

Two people with intimate knowledge of Burdette's game weren't buying it. Coach Forood said she thought Burdette was playing her best tennis--she hasn't lost more than three games in any set--and Susanyi agreed.

"She was on fire today," said Susanyi, who was 0-2 against Burdette this season. "She played a really, really good match. I honestly think she played better today than she did in our last two matches."

Gibbs and Burdette have already played once, back in the October regional, when Gibbs won 7-6 in the third. At stake Monday is more than a berth in the National Indoor. Because both are Americans, the winner will likely receive a main draw wild card into the US Open.

"It's a bonus," said Burdette. "If I were to win, we'd still have to wait to see if the USTA would want to give a wild card to me, so it's just so far off, so far out of my control, I can't do anything about that. And there's a lot more tennis to be played before then."

Gibbs admitted that she thought about the wild card possibility during the week.

"It's a significant motivating factor," Gibbs said. "Just knowing it's there, or possible there. It's kept me resilient in a few situations this tournament when I was on the brink of breaking down, especially in the Joanna (Mather) match, down 3-0 in the third, down points for 4-0, and I'm thinking, I want to keep myself in the hunt for the title and potentially a wild card."

Gibbs and Burdette are the first teammates to play each other in the final since 2001, when Stanford's Laura Granville won the second of her two consecutive titles against Lauren Kalvaria. Forood was in her first year as Stanford head coach then and also was head coach in 2005, when two of her doubles teams played each other in the final, so she knows how to cope.

"It's as easy as it gets," Forood said. "We go sit in the stands, high up."

"I'm excited for a battle tomorrow," said Burdette. "I think there are going to be some great points out there, a lot of good sportsmanship, I hope, but no matter what, there's going to be a battle. And I hope we both enjoy it. As they say, may the best player win, on that day."

Gibbs agreed.

"We're both looking forward to the competition. It's what we love and what we live to do, so the fact that we're in the finals together is incredible," Gibbs continued. "We have a for sure Stanford winner and you can't go wrong with that, but I think we both have the will to win, so it's going to be a very entertaining match tomorrow."

The men's final won't have the same family dynamic, but both Johnson and Quigley are seniors who are looking to end their careers with an NCAA title and a US Open wild card.

Quigley, the No. 3 seed, showed he was ready for the pressure of the final by coming back to defeat Ohio State's Blaz Rola, a 9-16 seed, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(1), while serving from behind throughout the final set.

Whenever his service games got close, Quigley used his serve to bail him out, and Rola was unable to shake his confidence in that stroke in the 4-5 and 5-6 games.

"I was serving great, so there was no need for me to get tight," said Quigley, the third Wildcat to reach the NCAA singles final. "I was able to serve great, I thought, the whole third set and I got a great start in the tiebreaker and didn't let go. I really wasn't nervous and I was playing great. I've had a great record in tiebreakers this tournament (4-0 including today), so I was liking my chances if I could get to a tiebreaker."

Rola started the tiebreaker with a double fault and never recovered from that.

"My focus just went down after that first double fault," said Rola, a sophomore from Slovenia. "I'm really disappointed about that tiebreaker. It was only one point in the tiebreaker, it's a huge mistake, but it shouldn't have thrown me off or anything. You have to win seven points and that was only one."

Rola managed an angled, running forehand pass to make it 2-1, but lost the next two points on his serve, and Quigley hit two good serves, including an ace, that made it 6-1. The right-hander from Pewee Valley, Kentucky needed only one of those match points, with Rola netting a backhand early in the rally.

Quigley said he won't approach the final any differently despite all that is at stake.

"I'm just trying to make it as routine as possible, just another match," Quigley said. "If I try to think of what's on the line, I think I will start to get nervous. I've been playing great, not thinking about nerves, so I'll just keep it a routine match."

Johnson has considerably more experience in high-stakes matches, with his four NCAA team titles, a singles title last year, and a first round match at the US Open, yet he recognizes there is plenty of pressure awaiting him in his final match.

"To have the potential wild card on the line for the US Open just adds to the pressure of an NCAA final," said Johnson, who beat Tennessee's Rhyne Williams in a three-set final last year. "But having been there in the team and in the singles last year, I think I'll be able to handle it pretty well. I know what it feels like to be there, so I'll come out ready to go."

In his 6-4, 7-5 semifinal win over 2010 champion Bradley Klahn of Stanford, Johnson was able to serve well enough to keep the pressure on his longtime friend and frequent college opponent.

"I played smart today, served really smart," said Johnson, who was only broken once in the match, after taking a 2-0 lead in the second set. "I think that was the key, knowing I could hold easy and take my chances on his serve."

With Klahn serving at 4-5, 0-30 in the first set, Johnson came up with his best shot of the day, anticipating perfectly and picking off a blazing forehand from Klahn after a lightning-quick rally. Two points later, Johnson had the first set, and as Klahn said later, Johnson is tough to beat when he gets a lead.

"He's a great front-runner, and I knew going in if I could get that first break or get on top of him a little early, I could really change a lot of things," said the left-hander from Poway, Calif. "In the past, he's gotten up early breaks and the way he's confident in his serve, he rides that momentum."

Johnson did falter a little in the second set, after going up 2-0, but he shrugged it off.

"I made a serving mistake 30-15 up, then a let cord, he hits a winner and comes up with an incredible lob," said Johnson. "Not much you can do about it, but after that point it was just kind of trading holds until I was fortunate enough to get that break at 5-6."

At 40-30 in the final game, Klahn missed two forehands and Johnson had a match point. He didn't have to hit a ball, as Klahn double faulted to give Johnson the win.

Quigley and Johnson have not played since last year's quarterfinal in the NCAA team championships, a match Johnson won 6-4, 6-2.

"I've known Eric for a long time," said Johnson. "I know how he's going to come out and play. He's going to hit the ball hard and go for his shots. I know what it takes to beat him and hopefully I can execute tomorrow," said Johnson.

The doubles finals are set, with Burdette and Gibbs, the No. 2 seeds, taking on hometown favorites Chelsey Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist of Georgia. Burdette and Gibbs defeated the unseeded Tennessee team of Natalie Pluskota and Kata Szekely 7-6(1), 6-1, while the unseeded Gullickson and Gilchrist delighted the hundreds of Bulldogs fans with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over unseeded Courtney Dolehide and Pam Montez of UCLA 7-6(5), 6-4. Burdette is the defending NCAA doubles champion, having won the title last year with Hilary Barte.

Although there is no longer a possibility of a Triple Crown (singles, doubles and team titles) for USC, the Ohio State Buckeyes can claim a similarly impressive distinction. Top seeds Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola, who reached the final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over unseeded Costin Paval and Dane Webb of Oklahoma, can become the first team to win all three collegiate majors in the same year. Buchanan and Rola also won the ITA All-American in October and the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in November.

In their match against Paval and Webb, which started in bright sunlight and ended around 9 p.m. under the lights, Buchanan and Rola trailed 3-0 in the final set before turning it around.

"We were struggling," said Buchanan. "We were just able to find a way."

"Maybe during the doubles I was thinking this was one of the days when everything goes wrong," said Rola, who had lost in the semifinals to Quigley just a few hours earlier. "Thank god it's not that day."

After breaking Paval to take a 5-4 lead in the final set, Rola served his team to a 40-0 lead. Three match points came and went and when Rola netted a forehand, they were down break point. But the left-hander snapped off an ace and a lob winner to earn their fourth match point, which they converted when Webb just missed a forehand return.

"It was not fun standing over there for the serve on that break point," said Rola. "But a good serve, a slice out wide, helped me a lot today."

Rola and Buchanan will play unseeded Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech, who have yet to lose a set in the tournament. On Sunday, Carvalho and Escobar defeated Chris and Marcel Thiemann of Ole Miss 6-4, 6-2 and are the first players from Texas Tech to advance to an NCAA final.

Both the men's and women's singles finals are scheduled for noon on Monday. The doubles will follow on the two courts, with the women's doubles likely to be later due to the need for rest for Gibbs and Burdette.

===========================================
Men’s Singles Semifinals
#1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #36 Bradley Klahn, STANFORD, 6-4, 7-5
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #9 Blaz Rola (9-16), OHIO STATE, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(1)

Women’s Singles Semifinals
#3 Nicole Gibbs (3), STANFORD def. #1 Allie Will (1), FLORIDA, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
#5 Mallory Burdette (5), STANFORD def. #13 Zsofi Susanyi (9-16), CALIFORNIA, 6-2, 6-2

Men’s Doubles Semifinals
#1 Chase Buchanan-Blaz Rola (1), OHIO STATE def. #10 Costin Paval-Dane Webb, OKLAHOMA, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
#18 Raony Carvalho-Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH def. #17 Chris Thiemann-Marcel Thiemann, MISSISSIPPI, 6-4, 6-2

Women’s Doubles Semifinals
#27 Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson, GEORGIA def. #9 Courtney Dolehide-Pamela Montez, UCLA, 7-6(5), 6-4
#2 Mallory Burdette-Nicole Gibbs (2), STANFORD def. #10 Natalie Pluskota-Kata Szekely, TENNESSEE, 7-6(1), 6-1

2010 Champion Klahn and 2011 Champion Johnson Meet Sunday in Men's Semifinals; Gibbs Ousts Defending Champion Juricova, Faces Top Seed Will in Women's Semis

2012-05-26T23:34:00.001-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Another chapter in the rivalry that is reaching the length of the novel War and Peace will take place Sunday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, when top seed and defending champion Steve Johnson of Southern California faces 2010 champion Bradley Klahn for a place in the NCAA Division I singles final.

Klahn is the last player to beat Johnson, with that string extending back to January 17, 2011, and since then Johnson has won 70 matches in a row. Johnson's 70th, a grueling 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 win over unseeded Alex Domijan from Virginia was not what he wanted, especially given the temperatures, which had already reached 87 degrees when the match began at noon.

Johnson breezed through the first set, barely losing a point, and playing some jaw-dropping tennis, but Domijan didn't get discouraged, and had two break points at 5-5 in the second. His passing shot skipped off the netcord with Johnson at the net for 15-40, but Johnson saved the first with a confident overhead. At 30-40 it was the Cavalier sophomore who put the pressure on, approaching the net himself, and when Johnson's backhand pass went wide, the match was even.

With the heat rule in effect, there was a 10-minute break between sets, and Domijan seemed ready to continue his push, earning a break point in the opening game. Johnson saved it however, and got a break in the next game, and went on to take a 5-1 lead. Serving for the match, Johnson double faulted at 40-30, then just missed a lob to give Domijan a break point, which Johnson saved with an ace. Another ace gave Johnson another match point and he never got the ball in play, double faulting again. Another double fault and Johnson's fifth miss of a serve in a row gave Domijan another break point, but Johnson saved that with an overhead winner. A forehand winner gave him a third match point and he double faulted it away again. He didn't make any first serves in this stretch, but his forehand remained lethal and he earned a fourth match point, and, like Groundhog's Day, he again double faulted. Finally, on match point No. 5, he missed his first serve, just barely, but made his second and hit a forehand winner to claim his place in the semifinals.

"It was more mental," said Johnson, when asked his reason for all the double faults. "I think at that point I was exhausted from the heat, and having such a good first set, so dominant, and then a tough second set lost, and in the third set I wanted to close it out at 5-1. It just got to me mentally that I double faulted, which is completely unlike me. To do it four straight times is, I guess special, but to still win the game was kind of a testament to my mental toughness out there towards the end of the match."

Johnson and his partner Roberto Quiroz, seeded second, retired from their quarterfinal doubles match against Texas Tech's Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar trailing 6-2, 3-2, and at times in that evening match, Johnson appeared to be in pain.

"After singles I was feeling just exhausted physically and I tried to come out here and play doubles, but my body just wasn't holding up," said Johnson, who had an ice bag wrapped around his stomach area. "I knew more time on the court would be bad for me, so I just decided the body wasn't feeling good, so just call it a day. The heat finally got to me today, and I've 12, 16 hours to get ready for singles tomorrow against Bradley, so I'll get up in the morning with a better attitude, I think."

Klahn had a less taxing win in the quarterfinals, defeating Ole Miss freshman Nikola Scholtz, a 9-16 seed, 6-1, 6-3. Scholtz had played three consecutive three-setters in advancing to the quarterfinals, and in the extreme heat was no match for the 2010 NCAA champion.

Klahn also had a doubles match and it was nearly 8 p.m. when he and Ryan Thacher, the 2011 finalists and seeded fourth this year, lost to unseeded Costin Paval and Dane Webb of Oklahoma 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3.

After his singles match, Klahn said he was pleased with his overall physical condition.

"My fitness is feeling pretty good, and I feel fit and fresh. I couldn't be happier with the way my back is holding up this week," said the senior, who had surgery for a herniated disc last October. "It's hot today, obviously, so it's nice to get a straight-set win and get on and off the court pretty quickly against a great opponent."

Although Johnson said he's played Klahn "way too many times to count," Klahn threw out a number, saying he thought Sunday match would be their 14th, in college alone.

"If you count the practice sets, you're looking at a couple hundred," said Klahn, who grew up with Johnson playing junior events in Southern California. "Steve and I go way back and we're going to be training together this summer, probably living together. I was lucky that I was the last one to beat him, but he's certainly put together a string of unfathomable records, to say the least. You don't win 70 matches without playing with a lot of confidence, but at the same time, I feel I'm playing better and better each match."

Johnson, who has beaten Klahn in straight sets twice in the past six weeks, is eager to play his friend again.

"I'm just more or less happy that Bradley's back playing and playing at a high level," Johnson said. "To come back from that back surgery, to be back to where he is now is pretty remarkable and I'm really happy for him. He's a good buddy of mine, and I know it's going to be a good match tomorrow."

The other men's semifinal will feature No. 3 seed Eric Quigley of Kentucky against Blaz Rola of Ohio State, a 9-16 seed. Rola, playing outstanding tennis, surprised No. 2 seed Mitchell Frank 7-6(5), 6-1, dealing the freshman from Virginia, who won both fall individual majors, only his second loss of the season.

"It was a great day for me," said Rola, who reached the quarterfinals last year. "I played unbelievable. I'm hitting my forehand really well, and for the last two rounds, I've also been serving well."

Quigley downed No. 5 seed Henrique Cunha of Duke 6-4, 6-3 and he also attributed his success to his serve, which is not surprising, after hitting two consecutive aces to close out the match against Cunha.

"I think we were both tight in the beginning," said Quigley, a senior who has reached the Final Four for the first time. "I know I was, but even in the beginning, I felt that I was serving well. I feel like I've served really well throughout the tournament."

Quigley and Rola have not played this year, as Rola was playing at No. 2 both times Kentucky and Ohio State met, but they split their two decisions last year.

"It will be a tiebreaker tomorrow," Quigley said.

His doubles partner Panav Jha plans to stick around to support his teammate Sunday, but he faces a dilemma if Quigley advances to the final.

"I really want him to win," said the sophomore. "But I think even if he wins tomorrow I think I'm going to have to head home. I've got summer school. But being here is great and being around Eric, seeing how professional he is, really helps me. He's quite an accomplished player, and at times he's carried me."

The women's semifinals feature two Stanford players, junior Mallory Burdette and sophomore Nicole Gibbs, and Burdette is hoping to see her teammate in the final.

"Of course, why not?" said Burdette, when asked if she wanted to play Gibbs in the final. "It's a chance for a Stanford player to come out with a win."

Burdette beat No. 2 seed Beatrice Capra of Duke 6-3, 6-2, in a match that took over two hours despite the seemingly routine score.

"I knew I was going to have to be really aggressive," said Burdette, who is from Jackson, Ga., about an hour and a half from Athens. "She was going to make me play a lot of balls, and I think I did a good job of staying level-headed and just taking it one point at a time."

Burdette will play freshman Zsofi Susanyi of Cal, a 9-16 seed who ended the run of unseeded Sabrina Santamaria of Southern California 6-2, 7-6(4). Burdette has beaten Susanyi twice in the last month, both times in straight sets.

Gibbs took out defending champion Jana Juricova of Cal, who had eliminated Gibbs in the semifinals last year in Stanford, 6-2, 7-5. Juricova served for the second set at 5-4, but Gibbs, who had beaten Juricova in Stanford's win over Cal last month, managed to break the senior in her final two service games.

"I got an early taste of revenge this year at the Regionals," said Gibbs, the tournament's third seed. "And then again in the dual match season, but nothing feels sweeter than beating her at this tournament, because she took me out last year. I think I still owed her one."

Gibbs has had long energy-sapping battles in the past two rounds, and she was happy to get out of the quarterfinal encounter with such a dangerous opponent in two sets.

"It was a good match and the second set was really tough," Gibbs said. "I had to stay in the game at 5-all that I think could have turned the match the other way. She took it to me in the second set and encouraged me to start hitting the ball a little more, which is great, going into my match tomorrow."

Juricova finished her career at Cal with an ITA Indoor singles title in 2009, an NCAA doubles championship in 2009, the NCAA singles championship in 2011, and reached the team final with the Bears in 2009.

"It's obviously not how I wanted to finish," said the senior from the Slovak Republic, who also lost in the doubles quarterfinals. "It was a pretty tough day today. I think I had a really good career for Cal, and I always enjoyed it. I think I improved in the four years, and I want to continue playing so I'll play professionally, starting this summer. College is over, but not tennis for me, so I feel like I'm not done yet."

Gibbs has another loss to avenge tomorrow when she faces top seed Allie Will of Florida, who beat her in Stanford's dual match win over the Gators back in February.

Will defeated No. 7 seed Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar of Texas A&M 6-3, 6-3 and said she is finally beginning to find her form in the tournament.

"I've been struggling a little bit at the beginning mentally," said Will, a junior. "Today I was a little more relaxed, got a little more depth on my shots and I went after it today. I really went for the win and I think that's why I was successful."

While Will has the three-set win over Gibbs in Stanford as a positive memory, their previous meeting in the NCAA singles tournament, in last year's round 16, was less so. Gibbs trailed 5-1 in the third set, but came back to force a tiebreaker, which she the won to claim the nearly four-hour match.

"She's an incredible player," said Will. "We've battled a lot, I know I played her at Stanford and we had a really long three setter as well, so I know I've just got to be mentally prepared. I know she's going to fight just as hard as I am."

The women's singles semifinals are scheduled to start at noon, followed by the men's semifinals.

The doubles semifinals are also set, with only one seeded team advancing in both the men's and women's draws. Top seeds Chase Buchanan and Rola will play unseeded Paval and Webb from Oklahoma in one men's semifinal. In the other, twins Chris and Marcel Thiemann of Ole Miss will face Carvalho and Escobar of Texas Tech.

In the women's doubles, Burdette, the 2011 champion, and Gibbs, who are second No. 2, will play Natalie Pluskota and Kata Szekely of Tennessee. Pluskota and Szekely saved three match points in their 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) quarterfinal win over Florida's Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather. In the other semifinal, UCLA's Courtney Dolehide and Pam Montez will play Georgia's Nadja Gilchrist and Chelsey Gullickson, who were doubles semifinalists in 2010. By reaching the quarterfinals, as Gilchrist and Gullickson did with their win Friday, both earned All-American honors. For Gullickson, that win gave her the rare distinction of being an eight-time All-American, the first in Georgia history.

The doubles semifinals are scheduled to begin with the women's at 4:00 p.m Sunday, followed by the men's.

===========================================

Men’s Singles Quarterfinals

#1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #39 Alex Domijan, VIRGINIA, 6-0, 5-7, 6-1

#36 Bradley Klahn, STANFORD def. #14 Nik Scholtz (9-16), MISSISSIPPI, 6-1, 6-3

#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #5 Henrique Cunha (5), DUKE, 6-4, 6-3

#9 Blaz Rola (9-16), OHIO STATE def. #2 Mitchell Frank (2), VIRGINIA, 7-6(5), 6-1

Women’s Singles Quarterfinals

#1 Allie Will (1), FLORIDA def. #6 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (7), TEXAS A&M, 6-3, 6-3

#3 Nicole Gibbs (3), STANFORD def. #8 Jana Juricova (6), CALIFORNIA, 6-2, 7-5

#13 Zsofi Susanyi (9-16), CALIFORNIA def. #26 Sabrina Santamaria, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 6-2, 7-6(4)

#5 Mallory Burdette (5), STANFORD def. #2 Beatrice Capra (2), DUKE, 6-3, 6-2

Men’s Doubles Quarterfinals

#1 Chase Buchanan-Blaz Rola (1), OHIO STATE def. #7 Panav Jha-Eric Quigley (5-8), KENTUCKY, 6-3, 6-4

#10 Costin Paval-Dane Webb, OKLAHOMA def. #4 Bradley Klahn-Ryan Thacher (4), STANFORD, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3

#17 Chris Thiemann-Marcel Thiemann, MISSISSIPPI def. #63 Antoine Baroz-Alexis Heugas, VCU, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

#18 Raony Carvalho-Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH def. #2 Steve Johnson-Roberto Quiroz (2), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 6-3, 3-2, retired

Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals

#9 Courtney Dolehide-Pamela Montez, UCLA def. #13 Ema Burgic-Nina Secerbegovic, BAYLOR, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

#27 Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson, GEORGIA def. #15 Jana Juricova-Zsofi Susanyi, CALIFORNIA, 6-1, 6-2

#10 Natalie Pluskota-Kata Szekely, TENNESSEE def. #22 Lauren Embree-Joanna Mather, FLORIDA, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3)

#2 Mallory Burdette-Nicole Gibbs (2), STANFORD def. #32 Lorraine Guillermo-Khunpak Issara, PEPPERDINE, 6-1, 6-3

Heat Doesn't Stop Top Seeds from Advancing to Quarterfinals of NCAA Division I Individual Championships

2012-05-25T23:56:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Top seeds Steve Johnson of Southern California and Allie Will of Florida survived temperatures in the 90s Friday to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Because Johnson was still in doubles, he had a 10 a.m. start time against unseeded Neal Skupski of LSU, which was definite advantage in conditions very unlike those in Stanford last year.

Johnson had played Skupski last fall in the first round of the Costa Mesa Futures, where the USC senior went on to win the title, and his 6-4, 7-5 win there was similar, except for the unfortunate ending. With Johnson leading 6-3, 5-5, 0-30, Skupski ran hard to cover his forehand corner and fell, injuring his left ankle. A trainer was called to the court, and because Skupski was lying close to court 2, play was suspended in the women's match next to them while he received treatment. After limping to the changeover bench, Skupski had his ankle wrapped, but was unable to continue, giving Johnson his 69th consecutive collegiate victory.

"I played him in Costa Mesa and I knew he was a good player, there was no doubt about it," said Johnson, who also won his doubles match with Roberto Quiroz later in the afternoon. "He's got a big game--big serve, big forehand, comes in well. In the first set I was fortunate enough to get a break and serve my way through it. In the second set, I don't recall a break point until 5-all. It's really unfortunate what happened. That's not the way you want to win. It was tough watching."

Next up for Johnson is unseeded Alex Domijan of Virginia, who managed a 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Alex Musialek of Kentucky, a 9-16 seed.

"I've never played him," said Johnson, who didn't meet the sophomore even back in their days of the USTA junior circuit. "But I know he's not just going to go out there and see what happens. He'll have a good game plan, and I'm excited. I've been looking forward to getting a chance to play him."

Will followed Johnson onto Court 1, starting her match around noon, with the heat building relentlessly. Will's opponent, unseeded Abigail Tere-Apisah of Georgia State, was making her first NCAA appearance, but she held her own, especially in the second set, breaking the Florida junior when she served for the match, before falling in the next game 6-1, 6-4.

"I've been getting better mentally every single day," said Will, who reached the quarterfinals for the first time in her career. "Today I hit the ball a lot deeper, but went through some rough patches on my serve, and she made me pay for that."

Will's opponent in Saturday's quarterfinal is No. 7 seed Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar of Texas A&M, who also advanced in straight sets, defeating unseeded Petra Niedermayerova of Kansas State 6-4, 6-3.

Natalie Pluskota hits the tweener

The other women's quarterfinal in the top half is a rematch of last year's semifinal, with defending champion Jana Juricova of Cal, seeded sixth, against No. 3 seed Nicole Gibbs, of Stanford. Juricova defeated unseeded Aeriel Ellis of Texas 7-6(4), 6-2, and Gibbs won another grueling two-setter, beating unseeded Natalie Pluskota of Tennessee 7- 6(1), 7-6(6). Pluskota hit the shot of the tournament, a tweener that kept her in a point that she eventually won, but it may a shot in the second set tiebreaker that she'll remember more vividly. After Gibbs had come back from 5-1 down in the tiebreaker, Pluskota earned a set point, but missed a routine overhead into the net, and Gibbs survived.

Another all-Pac-12 quarterfinal is scheduled in the bottom half, with Sabrina Santamaria of USC, the only unseeded player left in the women's draw, against fellow freshman Zsofi Susanyi of Cal, a 9-16 seed, who beat No. 4 seed Robin Anderson of UCLA 7-5, 6-4. Santamaria, who went undefeated in her team's three dual matches last week, beat two-time NCAA quarterfinalist Nina Secerbegovic of Baylor 6-4, 6-4, her third consecutive straight-set win.

Like Georgia's Chelsey Gullickson, who Santamaria beat in the opening round, Secerbegovic is a big hitter, which doesn't faze Santamaria. She varies her approach depending on her opponent.

"I like playing both kinds of players, [those] who give me pace and give me no pace," Santamaria said. "When they don't give me pace I like to slam forehands, banging the ball is always fun too. So I like any style of play."

The other quarterfinal in the bottom half has No. 2 seed Trice Capra of Duke against No. 5 seed Mallory Burdette of Stanford. Capra beat friend and former junior rival Lauren Embree 6-1, 6-3, while Burdette continued her impressive form, defeating Zoe Scandalis of USC, a 9-16 seed, 6-0, 6-3.

The men have two unseeded quarterfinalists--Domijan and 2010 NCAA champion Bradley Klahn of Stanford, who beat Chase Buchanan of Ohio State, a 9-16 seed, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Klahn had never beaten Buchanan before, and when he missed his opportunity to take a 4-0 lead in the second set and ended up losing it, it appeared that string would continue.

"I was kicking myself a little bit," Klahn said of the two break points he failed to convert with Buchanan serving down 0-3 in the second set. "Just kind of sensing the importance of those and knowing that I need to take advantage of those opportunities against him."

When he didn't, Buchanan raised his level and finished the second set playing his best tennis. In the third, Klahn was able to learn from his mistakes in the second, when he admitted he took his foot off the gas.

"I think I got too far ahead of myself, thinking a game ahead, instead of focusing on what I need to do to have the best opportunity to win that point. I thought I did a much better job in the third set, especially when I got up that break, and carried that momentum."

Klahn's opponent in the quarterfinals is Nik Scholtz of Ole Miss, a 9-16 seed. Scholtz, a freshman, spent even more time on the singles court than Klahn did, eventually getting past unseeded Louis Cant of Mississippi State 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

In the bottom quarter, Ohio State's Blaz Rola, a 9-16 seed who reached the quarterfinals last year too, will play No. 2 seed Mitchell Frank. Frank dealt 9-16 seed Wil Spencer, the last Georgia player left in the draw, a 6-1, 6-3 defeat in a rematch of the 2011 All-American final in Tulsa. With Frank and Domijan's wins today, Virginia has set a men's modern era (1977) record by putting a player in the quarterfinals for seven consecutive years. USC (1993-1998) and Stanford (1997-2002) held the previous record. Rola ended the college career of Dennis Nevolo, the No. 7 seed, with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

The other quarterfinal in the men's draw has No. 5 seed Henrique Cunha of Duke against No. 3 seed Eric Quigley of Kentucky. Cunha came back to beat Gonzalo Escobar 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, while Quigley had a tough battle with Artem Ilyushin of Mississippi State, a 9-16 seed, before posting a 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win.

The doubles quarterfinals are also set, with No. 2 seeds Gibbs and Burdette the only seeded team remaining in the women's draw.

Top seeds Buchanan and Rola and No. 2 seeds Johnson and Quiroz are through, as are Klahn and Ryan Thacher, the No. 4 seeds, who reached the semifinals here in Athens in 2010.

Play begins with singles at noon on Saturday.
===========================================

Men’s Singles Round of 16

#1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #55 Neal Skupski, LSU, 6-3, 6-5, ret. inj.

#39 Alex Domijan, VIRGINIA def. #15 Alex Musialek (9-16), KENTUCKY, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2

#36 Bradley Klahn, STANFORD def. #10 Chase Buchanan (9-16), OHIO STATE, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2

#14 Nik Scholtz (9-16), MISSISSIPPI def. #50 Louis Cant, MISSISSIPPI STATE, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4

#5 Henrique Cunha (5), DUKE def. #40 Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY, def. #13 Artem Ilyushin (9-16), MISSISSIPPI STATE, 7-6(5), 7-6(4)

#9 Blaz Rola (9-16), OHIO STATE def. #7 Dennis Nevolo (7), ILLINOIS, 6-4, 6-3

#2 Mitchell Frank (2), VIRGINIA def. #11 Wil Spencer (9-16), GEORGIA, 6-1, 6-3

Women’s Singles Round of 16

#1 Allie Will (1), FLORIDA def. #37 Abigail Tere-Apisah, GEORGIA STATE, 6-1, 6-4

#6 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (7), TEXAS A&M def. #29 Petra Niedermayerova, KANSAS STATE, 6-4, 6-3

#3 Nicole Gibbs (3), STANFORD def. #35 Natalie Pluskota, TENNESSEE, 7-6(1), 7-6(6)

#8 Jana Juricova (6), CALIFORNIA def. #40 Aeriel Ellis, TEXAS, 7-6(4), 6-2

#26 Sabrina Santamaria, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #23 Nina Secerbegovic, BAYLOR, 6-4, 6-4

#13 Zsofi Susanyi (9-16), CALIFORNIA def. #4 Robin Anderson (4), UCLA, 7-5, 6-4

#5 Mallory Burdette (5), STANFORD def. #14 Zoe Scandalis (9-16), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 6-0, 6-3

#2 Beatrice Capra (2), DUKE def. #9 Lauren Embree (9-16), FLORIDA, 6-1, 6-3

Men’s Doubles Round of 16

#1 Chase Buchanan-Blaz Rola (1), OHIO STATE def. #21 Roy Kalmanovich-Dennis Nevolo, ILLINOIS, 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-1

#7 Panav Jha-Eric Quigley (5-8), KENTUCKY def. #68 Andre Dome-Matt Fawcett, CAL POLY, 7-6(2), 6-3

#4 Bradley Klahn-Ryan Thacher (4), STANFORD def. #16 Henrique Cunha-Chris Mengel, DUKE, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2

#10 Costin Paval-Dane Webb, OKLAHOMA def. #15 Alex Llompart-Finn Tearney, PEPPERDINE, 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3

#63 Antoine Baroz-Alexis Heugas, VCU def. #5 Drew Courtney-Jarmere Jenkins (5-8), VIRGINIA, 6-2, 7-5

#17 Chris Thiemann-Marcel Thiemann, MISSISSIPPI def. #3 Kevin King-Juan Spir (3), GEORGIA TECH, 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4

#18 Raony Carvalho-Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH def. #6 Nick Andrews-Christoffer Konigsfeldt (5-8), CALIFORNIA, 6-3, 6-1

#2 Steve Johnson-Roberto Quiroz (2), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #28 Jarryd Botha-Ricky Doverspike, ALABAMA, 6-3, 7-5

Women’s Doubles Round of 16

#13 Ema Burgic-Nina Secerbegovic, BAYLOR def. Alexa Guarachi-Courtney McLane, ALABAMA, 6-3, 6-3

#9 Courtney Dolehide-Pamela Montez, UCLA def. #8 Kristy Frilling-Shannon Mathews (5-8), NOTRE DAME, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

#27 Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson, GEORGIA def. #11 Emina Bektas-Brooke Bolender, MICHIGAN, 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-1

#15 Jana Juricova-Zsofi Susanyi, CALIFORNIA def. #30 Lauren Mira-Jackie Wu, VANDERBILT, 6-0, 7-5

#22 Lauren Embree-Joanna Mather, FLORIDA def. #5 Annie Goransson-Anett Schutting (5-8), CALIFORNIA, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

#10 Natalie Pluskota-Kata Szekely, TENNESSEE def. #18 Emily Fraser-Lindsey Hardenbergh, VIRGINIA, 7-6(3), 7-6(2)

#32 Lorraine Guillermo-Khunpak Issara, PEPPERDINE def. #23 Alex Anghelescu-Jillian O’Neill, GEORGIA TECH, 6-1, 6-2

#2 Mallory Burdette-Nicole Gibbs (2), STANFORD def. #26 Natalie Beazant-Dominique Harmath, RICE, 6-2, 6-2

Andy Jackson Resign as Men's Head Coach at University of Florida

2012-05-25T21:48:00.000-04:00

Andy Jackson, who was head men's coach at Florida for 11 years, resigned today, according to this release from the Florida athletic department.

The word started circulating late Friday evening among the college coaches still in Athens, and those I spoke to acknowledged the domino effect of such a high-profile opening will be substantial. Like all Florida athletics, the head coaching job there is considered one of the nation's best, and although there are several high level coaches who would not consider it, it would be a lot easier to name those; the list of those wishing to interview for the position is certainly a long one.

Jackson, who was hired by current Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, had a perennial top 10 program while he was at Florida, but has had no Final Four appearances since 2005, and no national titles. The athletic accomplishment bar is very high in Gainesville, and the success of the women's program, which has reached the NCAA finals the past three years and won the last two team championships, has raised that bar even higher where tennis is concerned.

On a personal note, I've interacted many times with Jackson both in college tournament situations and junior tournaments where he was recruiting and have always appreciated his candor and his obvious love of the game. I look forward to seeing him in future tennis travels.

My Recap of Men's and Women's Team Finals; Taylor Townsend Conference Call Transcript

2012-05-25T08:59:00.000-04:00

Before the start of today's round of 16 in singles, I wanted to post a link to my recap of the NCAA Division I men's and women's team event, which is now up at the Tennis Recruiting Network. Under difficult circumstances, the men's final between USC and Virginia was a tense and memorable match from start to finish, while Florida's win over UCLA was an impressive, if less exciting, display of tennis.

In the midst of the second day of the individual tournament, I took time out to phone in to the USTA's conference call with Taylor Townsend and Patrick McEnroe. Townsend revealed that she recently did a fitness block with Pat Etcheberry in Orlando, likes clay better than you might expect given her game style, and will train in Spain prior to the French Open Junior Championships. The complete transcript, which includes several questions to McEnroe about player development in general, can be found at ASAP Sports Transcripts.

Long All-American Day Ends Without Major Upsets in NCAA Division I Singles Tournament; Top Seeds in Women's Doubles Fall

2012-05-24T23:55:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

The second day of the NCAA singles championship has extra significance, with any player who was not seeded in the tournament able to earn the right to call themselves All-Americans with a victory.

On a hot and humid day at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, 11 players qualified, most of whom are familiar to college tennis fans, including Alex Domijan of Virginia, who was seeded No. 2 in last year's NCAAs and Bradley Klahn of Stanford, who as 2010 NCAA singles champion, probably doesn't need additional resume building.

But for Abigail Tere-Apisah of Georgia State, a 6-3 6-4 victory of Kata Szekely of Tennessee made her the first tennis All-American in school history, and certainly the first from Papua New Guinea. Just by playing in the tournament's first round, the 37th-ranked sophomore made school history, but she has a tough challenge if she hopes to continue her impressive run. She faces top-seed Allie Will of Florida, who defeated Danielle Lao of Southern California 6-4, 6-4.

The other women to earn All-American honors with victories on Thursday are: Petra Niedermayerova of Kansas State, who defeated Diana Nakic of Baylor, a 9-16 seed, in three sets; Natalie Pluskota of Tennessee, who won a three-hour-plus marathon with Arizona's Lacey Smith; Aeriel Ellis of Texas, who saved match points for the second day in a row in beating Anya Morgina of South Carolina; Baylor's Nina Secerbegovic, an NCAA quarterfinalist the past two years, who beat Tennessee's Brynn Boren in a match that last three and a half hours; and Sabrina Santamaria of USC, who defeated Florida's Sofie Oyen and is the only freshman in that group.

Joining Domijan and Klahn in earning the honor on the men's side are: LSU's Neal Skupski, who beat Georgia's Sadio Doumbia; Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech, who downed Costin Paval of Oklahoma, a 9-16 seed; and Louis Cant of Mississippi State, who beat Florida's Bob van Overbeek.

The top two men seeds had little difficulty advancing, with No. 1 Steve Johnson of USC, the defending champion, beating Nassam Slilam of Florida 6-3, 6-2 for his 68th consecutive win, and No. 2 Mitchell Frank of Virginia who beat Johnson's teammate Raymond Sarmiento 6-4, 6-1.

Sarmiento was up 3-1 in the opening set, but from then on Frank was the much steadier player, using his consistent depth to keep Sarmiento from using his wide variety of shots.

"I kept the ball pretty deep and was able to get the ball down when he came in and make him come up with some tough volleys, which he is of course is going to do, because he has unbelievable hands, and is a great player," said Frank. "I think it was key to keep him back and keep the ball deep, and return well so he can't get in, and I think I did a pretty good job with that."

Sarmiento wasn't as sharp as he was during the team competition, when he defeated Frank's teammate Domijan in the final, but much of that had to do with Frank's play.

"When he had that break point in the first game (of the second set) you could kind of see him check out a little bit, and not be willing to go through the points as long as he was in the first set, staying with it." Frank said. "It was important to get him down, because if I didn't, I'd still be out here battling for a while."

Women's No. 3 seed Nicole Gibbs of Stanford didn't make it easy on herself, trailing 5-1 in the first set to Florida's Joanna Mather and 3-0, two breaks, in the third set before posting a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

"The heat was getting to me a little bit," said the 2011 NCAA semifinalist of the temperatures approaching 90 degrees. "I'm not used to playing long matches in this kind of weather, so I'm still adjusting. But I think that was really beneficial today, to know what it feels like and know I can play through those kinds of situations.

With Mather serving for the first set at 5-1, she and Gibbs played at least 20 minutes before Gibbs finally got the break. And although she ended up losing the set, Gibbs felt that lengthy game was important to set the tone.

"That was a huge statement on my part," said the sophomore. "I was in that game as much to affect her as much as I was to stay in the set, to let her know that I was sticking around and that I wasn't going to lay down for her because it was hot out."

Mather, the 2011 Indoor finalist, hits her forehand with a lot of pace, and Gibbs admits the Florida senior is not a good matchup for her.

"I've always really struggled playing her," Gibbs said. "She brings a lot of power to the court, hits a very flat ball that I have a hard time finding my offense off of. Since I've been working on my game to try to become more offensive, it's really frustrating for me not to see the balls I'm accustomed to seeing off of good shots and that's why she's tough."

Gibbs, down 3-0 in the final set, managed to win the final six games of the match, and just as in the first set, another long game provided the jumpstart.

"We had a really long game at 3-0 and again I worked my way back into the match, and just kept trusting what I was doing, and in the end, she was breaking down physically as much or more than I was."

Friday's action will see several interesting matchups, with Florida's Lauren Embree, a 9-16 seed, against No. 2 seed Beatrice Capra of Duke in a renewal of their junior rivalry and UCLA's Robin Anderson, seed No. 4, against fellow Pac-12 freshman Zsofi Susanyi, a 9-16 seed, from Cal.

On the men's side, there is a Big Ten clash between No. 7 Dennis Nevolo of Illinois and Blaz Rola of Ohio State, a 9-16 seed, and Klahn against Ohio State's Chase Buchanan, a 9-16 seed.

The first round of doubles went late into the night, and there were plenty of surprises in the women's draw, with four seeded teams losing, including top seeds Will and Oyen of Florida. Emma Burgic and Secerbegovic of Baylor took out the top-ranked team 7-5, 6-2.

Singles and doubles results below:

Men’s Singles

Second Round - May 24

#1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #53 Nassim Slilam, FLORIDA, 6-3, 6-2

#55 Neal Skupski, LSU def. #32 Sadio Doumbia, GEORGIA, 6-2, 6-3

#39 Alex Domijan, VIRGINIA def. #56 George Coupland, MISSISSIPPI STATE , 6-3, 6-2

#15 Alex Musialek (9-16), KENTUCKY def. #52 Ignacio Taboada, GEORGIA, 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-4

#36 Bradley Klahn, STANFORD def. #27 Remi Boutillier, FRESNO STATE, 6-1, 6-1

#10 Chase Buchanan (9-16), OHIO STATE def. #24 Kevin King, GEORGIA TECH, 6-2, 6-4

#50 Louis Cant, MISSISSIPPI STATE def. #42 Bob van Overbeek, FLORIDA, 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-1

#14 Nik Scholtz (9-16), MISSISSIPPI def. #26 Jose Hernandez, NORTH CAROLINA, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2

#40 Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH def. #12 Costin Paval (9-16), OKLAHOMA, 6-3, 6-4

#5 Henrique Cunha (5), DUKE def. #21 Daniel Nguyen, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 6-4, 6-4

#13 Artem Ilyushin (9-16), MISSISSIPPI STATE def. #45 Jonas Lutjen, MISSISSIPPI, 6-0, 6-3

#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #18 Andreas Mies, AUBURN, 7-6(4), 6-3

#9 Blaz Rola (9-16), OHIO STATE def. #57 Emilio Gomez, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 7-6(5), 6-3

#7 Dennis Nevolo (7), ILLINOIS def. #20 Marcel Thiemann, MISSISSIPPI, 6-4, 7-6(6)

#11 Wil Spencer (9-16), GEORGIA def. #47 Luka Somen, VIRGINIA TECH, 6-4, 7-5

#2 Mitchell Frank (2), VIRGINIA def. #25 Ray Sarmiento, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 6-4, 6-1

Women’s Singles

Second Round - May 24

#1 Allie Will (1), FLORIDA def. #19 Danielle Lao, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 6-4, 6-4

#37 Abigail Tere-Apisah, GEORGIA STATE def. #57 Kata Szekely, TENNESSEE, 6-3, 6-4

#6 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (7), TEXAS A&M def. #31 Joelle Kissell, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, 6-2, 6-0

#29 Petra Niedermayerova, KANSAS STATE def. #16 Diana Nakic (9-16), BAYLOR, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

#3 Nicole Gibbs (3), STANFORD def. #21 Joanna Mather, FLORIDA, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3

#35 Natalie Pluskota, TENNESSEE def. #50 Lacey Smyth, ARIZONA, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5

#8 Jana Juricova (6), CALIFORNIA def. #56 Sona Novakova, BAYLOR, 6-4, 6-1

#40 Aeriel Ellis, TEXAS def. #45 Anya Morgina, SOUTH CAROLINA, 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-0

#23 Nina Secerbegovic, BAYLOR def. #32 Brynn Boren, TENNESSEE, 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4

#26 Sabrina Santamaria, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #61 Sofie Oyen, FLORIDA, 6-3, 6-0

#13 Zsofi Susanyi (9-16), CALIFORNIA def. #24 Mary Anne Macfarlane, ALABAMA, 6-0, 7-5

#4 Robin Anderson (4), UCLA def. #36 Natalie Beazant, RICE, 6-4, 6-4

#14 Zoe Scandalis (9-16), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #18 Anna Bartenstein, MIAMI, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

#5 Mallory Burdette (5), STANFORD def. #17 Denise Dy, WASHINGTON, 6-1, 6-2

#9 Lauren Embree (9-16) def. #28 Cristina Stancu, MARYLAND, FLORIDA, 6-2, 6-2

#2 Beatrice Capra (2), DUKE def. #43 Lindsey Hardenbergh, VIRGINIA, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1

Men’s Doubles
First Round - May 24
#1 Chase Buchanan-Blaz Rola (1), OHIO STATE def. #20 Joey Burkhardt-Jose Hernandez, NORTH CAROLINA, 7-6(3), 7-6(4)
#21 Roy Kalmanovich-Dennis Nevolo, ILLINOIS def. #25 George Coupland-Artem Ilyushin, MISSISSIPPI STATE, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
#7 Panav Jha-Eric Quigley (5-8), KENTUCKY def. #62 Gregg Cohenca-Evan Zimmer, BUCKNELL, 6-2, 6-0
#68 Andre Dome-Matt Fawcett, CAL POLY def. #13 Jonas Lutjen-Nik Scholtz, MISSISSIPPI, 7-6(4), 6-3
#4 Bradley Klahn-Ryan Thacher (4), STANFORD def. #55 Niall Fitzgerald-Casey Watt, NOTRE DAME, 6-4, 7-6(2)
#16 Henrique Cunha-Chris Mengel, DUKE def. #23 Chip Cox-Nick Jones, SOUTH CAROLINA, 6-4, 6-4
#15 Alex Llompart-Finn Tearney, PEPPERDINE def. #9 Andreas Mies-Alexander Stamchev (5-8), AUBURN, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(2)
#10 Costin Paval-Dane Webb, OKLAHOMA def. #27 Russell Bader-Jason Lee, PENN STATE, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1
#63 Antoine Baroz-Alexis Heugas, VCU def. #14 Billy Federhofer-Nassim Slilam, FLORIDA 5-7, 7-5, 6-1
#5 Drew Courtney-Jarmere Jenkins (5-8), VIRGINIA def. #31 Christopher Aumueller-Benedikt Lindheim, NEBRASKA, 6-1, 6-4
#17 Chris Thiemann-Marcel Thiemann, MISSISSIPPI def. #67 Kyle Parker-Mickael Trintignac, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
#3 Kevin King-Juan Spir (3), GEORGIA TECH def. #58 Francis Alacantara-Remi Boutillier, FRESNO STATE, 7-6(1), 5-7, 6-2
#18 Raony Carvalho-Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH def. #12 Mikelis Libietis-Hunter Reese, TENNESSEE, 6-4, 6-4
#6 Nick Andrews-Christoffer Konigsfeldt (5-8), CALIFORNIA def. #65 Phillip Anderson-Jadon Phillips, NEW MEXICO, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
#28 Jarryd Botha-Ricky Doverspike, ALABAMA def. #26 John Collins-Maros Horny, MARYLAND, 6-1, 6-3
#2 Steve Johnson-Roberto Quiroz (2), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #11 Clifford Marsland-Ashley Watling, TULSA, 6-3, 6-3

Women’s Doubles
First Round - May 24
#13 Ema Burgic-Nina Secerbegovic, BAYLOR def. #1 Sofie Oyen-Allie Will (1), FLORIDA, 7-5, 6-2
Alexa Guarachi-Courtney McLane, ALABAMA def. #35 Maria Belaya-Jeltje Loomans, WILLIAM AND MARY, 7-6(2), 6-3
#8 Kristy Frilling-Shannon Mathews (5-8), NOTRE DAME def. #24 Stacey Tan-Ellen Tsay, STANFORD, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5),
#9 Courtney Dolehide-Pamela Montez, UCLA def. #19 Samantha Adams-Kenna Kilgo, TEXAS TECH, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
#11 Emina Bektas-Brooke Bolender, MICHIGAN def. #3 Kaitlyn Christian-Sabrina Santamaria (4), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
#27 Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson, GEORGIA def. #17 Beatrice Capra-Rachel Kahan, DUKE, 6-2, 7-5
#15 Jana Juricova-Zsofi Susanyi, CALIFORNIA def. #7 Kristi Boxx-Abby Guthrie (5-8), MISSISSIPPI, 7-6(3), 6-4
#30 Lauren Mira-Jackie Wu, VANDERBILT def. #25 Marie-Pier Huet-Whitney Ritchie, OKLAHOMA, 6-4, 7-5
#22 Lauren Embree-Joanna Mather, FLORIDA def. #28 Linda Abu Mushrefova-Nida Hamilton, NORTHWESTERN, 6-0, 6-1
#5 Annie Goransson-Anett Schutting (5-8), CALIFORNIA DEF, #21 Mary Clayton-Ester Goldfeld, DUKE, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7)
#18 Emily Fraser-Lindsey Hardenbergh, VIRGINIA def. #42 Millie Nichols-Olivia Smith, TCU, 6-2, 7-6(3)
#10 Natalie Pluskota-Kata Szekely, TENNESSEE def. #4 Shinann Featherston-Lauren McHale (3), NORTH CAROLINA, 7-6(2), 6-3
#32 Lorraine Guillermo-Khunpak Issara, PEPPERDINE def. #29 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar-Sun Wen, TEXAS A&M, 6-4, 6-2
#23 Alex Anghelescu-Jillian O’Neill, GEORGIA TECH def. #33 Ana Belzunce-Welma Luus, MARYLAND, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
#26 Natalie Beazant-Dominique Harmath, RICE def. #41 Antonia Foehse-Mary Anne Macfarlane, ALABAMA, 6-1, 6-4
#2 Mallory Burdette-Nicole Gibbs (2), STANFORD def. #50 Hilary Bartlett-Lindsay Graff, PRINCETON, 6-1, 6-1

Three NCAA Champions Advance as First Round Play Begins in Division I Individual Tournament

2012-05-23T23:24:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Two years ago, Georgia's Chelsey Gullickson and Stanford's Bradley Klahn won NCAA singles titles on the courts of the Dan Magill Tennis Center. On Wednesday, in the opening round of the 2012 individual championships, it was Klahn, who is unseeded, who survived a tough first round match, while the No. 8 seeded Gullickson fell to unseeded Sabrina Santamaria of Southern Cal.

The weather for the opening day of singles matches was in the mid-80s, but there was none of the late afternoon thunderstorm action that plagued the last two days of the team tournament.

The championship hangover didn't seem to bother the Florida women, who went 4-0 on the day, or the USC men, who won 4 of 5 singles matches, and for Santamaria, who stayed up until 1 a.m. to watch the USC men clinch their fourth straight team title, the Trojans provided her with the inspiration for her 6-3, 6-2 win.

"I'm very good friends with all the men's team," said the freshman from Los Angeles. "They keep telling me they're proud of me, and it's really inspiring, so I was really happy to watch them win it. I tried to carry that through today."

Gullickson, one of the premier ball strikers in college tennis, was off her game today, but Santamaria, who is close to a foot shorter than the Georgia senior, thought she had something to do with that.

"I really made her play, giving her balls that she's not used to seeing," said Santamaria, who was named to the all-tournament team at No. 3 singles. "I was definitely keeping it out of her strike zone and making her move uncomfortably, I think."

Although Santamaria clinched USC's 4-3 quarterfinal win over Stanford, she put her victory over Gullickson right up there among her personal best.

"It's huge," said Santamaria. "It's one of the best wins of my life."

With Gullickson out, it was up to Klahn to defend the honor of the 2010 champions, and he had a tough task, drawn to face No. 4 seed Jarmere Jenkins. Klahn, who was injured throughout the fall season and only returned to singles play in mid-February, knew the possibility of a bad draw was looming.

"I knew going in, missing all the fall and the first third of the dual match season, my ranking was lower and I wasn't going to be seeded and I'd have to be ready for any of the top seeds," said the senior, who graduated in March. "But at the same time, I could use that to my advantage, because they're going to have to see me earlier than they probably would have wanted."

Klahn was down an early break to Jenkins, who served for the first set at 5-4, but lost that game and the next two. In the second set, Jenkins lost serve at 2-3, and Klahn held on for the 7-5, 6-3 victory.

"He came up really fired up and got an early break, and that's a credit to him," said Klahn. "His mentality and determination after such a tough team match last night, to come out here and be ready to battle, I give all the credit to him. I thought I was kind of able to raise my game when I needed to."

Next to the Jenkins on the late evening shift was teammate Alex Domijan, another dangerous unseeded floater, who drew No. 6 seed Evan King of Michigan as his first round opponent. Last year as the No. 2 seed, Domijan had lost in the first round, also after a team loss in the finals, but said he'd learned a lot from it, which showed in his 6-3, 6-2 win over King.

"This year I went to bed on time and didn't do anything extra, took care of myself," said Domijan. "I think that made a big difference. Last year, I just wanted to get home, I didn't even want to be out there--all of us didn't--but I think we all learned a lot."

Although the emotional letdown, especially after such a painful loss, often plays a role in early round singles matches, Domijan said he would rather be in his position than in King's.

"I think it's tougher to be in his position honestly," said Domijan, who also struggled with injuries throughout the fall. "Once I got on the court I was fine. I'm used to the courts, the environment and everything, so I understand it's tough."

Coincidentally, the player that upset Domijan in the first round last year, Pepperdine's Sebastian Fanselow, was himself an upset victim this year, losing to Bob van Overbeek of Florida 6-3, 6-4. With Fanselow's loss, three of the top 8 seeds are out in the men's draw, as is 9-16 seed Nick Meister of UCLA.

The 2012 NCAA champions had no trouble today, with Cal's Jana Juricova, seeded sixth, beating Kate Turvy of Northwestern 6-3, 6-1, and Steve Johnson winning his 67th consecutive collegiate match with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Illinois' Roy Kalmanovich.

Johnson now has experienced four such championship hangover days in his college career, and says he's learned from each one.

"It's all about taking care of your body in the first week to get ready for the second week," Johnson said. "First year you're so clueless as to this team event, you have no idea what it is. I think starting my junior year at Stanford, I knew the first week I had to do everything right, keep my body in order, because it's two long weeks of tennis, hopefully. I think last year in the singles final it showed. I was ready to go in the second and third sets and I think Rhyne [Williams] kind of ran out of gas."

Johnson is joined in the second round by teammates Raymond Sarmiento, who plays No. 2 seed Mitchell Frank Thursday, Emilio Gomez and Daniel Nguyen.

Women's top seed Allie Will of Florida faced a determined challenge from Notre Dame's Shannon Mathews, but advanced to the second round with a 7-6(5), 6-3 win.

In addition to Gullickson, four other seeded women lost Wednesday, all of them 9-16 seeds: Emina Bektas of Michigan, Kristie Boxx of Ole Miss, Jacqueline Cako of Arizona Sate and Jillian O'Neill of Georgia Tech.

Play resumes at 10 a.m. on Thursday, with the first round of doubles also on the schedule.

See georgiadogs.com for complete draws and times.
============================================

MEN’S: First Round - May 23
#1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #31 Roy Kalmanovich, ILLINOIS, 6-2, 6-3
#53 Nassim Slilam, FLORIDA def. #118 Matija Pecotic, PRINCETON, 6-4, 6-4
#55 Neal Skupski, LSU def. #16 Nick Meister (9-16), UCLA, 6-1, 6-2
#32 Sadio Doumbia, GEORGIA def. #23 Kyle McMorrow, WASHINGTON, 6-2, 6-4
#39 Alex Domijan, VIRGINIA def. #6 Evan King (6), MICHIGAN, 6-3, 6-2
#56 George Coupland, MISSISSIPPI STATE def. #58 Nick Andrews, CALIFORNIA, 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4
#15 Alex Musialek (9-16), KENTUCKY def. #69 Damian Hume, BOISE STATE, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
#52 Ignacio Taboada, GEORGIA def. #17 Mate Zsiga, BAYLOR, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
#36 Bradley Klahn, STANFORD def. #4 Jarmere Jenkins (4), VIRGINIA, 7-5, 6-3
#27 Remi Boutillier, FRESNO STATE def. #38 Chris Mengel, DUKE, 6-4, 6-4
#10 Chase Buchanan (9-16), OHIO STATE def. #28 Mikelis Libietis, TENNESSEE, 6-0, 6-1
#24 Kevin King, GEORGIA TECH def. #19 KU Singh, GEORGIA, 7-6(4), 6-4
#42 Bob van Overbeek, FLORIDA def. #8 Sebastian Fanselow (8), PEPPERDINE, 6-3, 6-4
#50 Louis Cant, MISSISSIPPI STATE def. #51 Yannick Hanfmann, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 6-3, 6-4
#14 Nik Scholtz (9-16), MISSISSIPPI def. #33 Alexis Klegou, TEXAS A&M, 6-3, 6-7(10), 6-4
#26 Jose Hernandez, NORTH CAROLINA def. #77 Ashley Watling, TULSA, 6-3, 7-6(10)
#40 Gonzalo Escobar, TEXAS TECH def. #29 Ryan Thacher, STANFORD, 6-3, 7-6(5)
#12 Costin Paval (9-16), OKLAHOMA def. #60 Hernus Pieters, GEORGIA, 6-3, 6-4
#21 Daniel Nguyen, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #44 Charlie Jones, VANDERBILT, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3
#5 Henrique Cunha (5), DUKE def. #46 Adrien Puget, UCLA, 7-5, 6-0
#45 Jonas Lutjen, MISSISSIPPI def. #54 Greg Andrews, NOTRE DAME, 7-5, 6-3
#13 Artem Ilyushin (9-16), MISSISSIPPI STATE def. #37 Ben McLachlan, CALIFORNIA, 6-1, 6-3
#18 Andreas Mies, AUBURN def. #30 Finn Tearney, PEPPERDINE, 6-3, 6-2
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #41 Andre Dome, CAL POLY, 7-5, 6-4
#57 Emilio Gomez, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #49 Nikola Bubnic, SAN DIEGO, 6-4, 6-4
#9 Blaz Rola (9-16), OHIO STATE def. #35 Olivier Borsos, LSU, 6-0, 6-0
#20 Marcel Thiemann, MISSISSIPPI def. #43 Francis Alcantara, FRESNO STATE, 6-3, 7-6(2)
#7 Dennis Nevolo (7), ILLINOIS def. #34 Jaime Pulgar, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, 6-1, 6-3
#47 Luka Somen, VIRGINIA TECH def. #48 Tripper Carleton, FLORIDA, 6-2, 6-0
#11 Wil Spencer (9-16), GEORGIA def. #59 Juan Spir, GEORGIA TECH, 6-3, 6-0
#25 Ray Sarmiento, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #120 Nick Sayer, RADFORD, 6-1, 6-1
#2 Mitchell Frank (2), VIRGINIA def. #22 Anthony Rossi, KENTUCKY, 6-4, 6-4

WOMEN’S: First Round - May 23
#1 Allie Will (1), FLORIDA def. #34 Shannon Mathews, NOTRE DAME, 7-6(5), 6-3
#19 Danielle Lao, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #46 Keri Wong, CLEMSON, 6-3, 6-1
#57 Kata Szekely, TENNESSEE def. #12 Emina Bektas (9-16), MICHIGAN, 6-4, 7-5
#37 Abigail Tere-Apisah, GEORGIA STATE def. #60 Katie Le, SANTA CLARA, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-0
#6 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (7), TEXAS A&M def. #52 Alexa Guarachi, ALABAMA, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3)
#31 Joelle Kissell, NORTH CAROLINA STATE def. #48 Tayler Davis, CALIFORNIA, 7-5, 6-1
#16 Diana Nakic (9-16), BAYLOR def. #27 Gabriela Mejia, MIAMI, 6-2, 6-2
#29 Petra Niedermayerova, KANSAS STATE def. #81 Lutfiana Budiharto, WICHITA STATE, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
#3 Nicole Gibbs (3), STANFORD def. #22 Emily Fraser, VIRGINIA, 6-0, 6-2
#21 Joanna Mather, FLORIDA def. #59 Hanna Mar, DUKE, 7-5, 6-4
#50 Lacey Smyth, ARIZONA def. #10 Kristi Boxx (9-16), MISSISSIPPI, 6-4, 7-6(3)
#35 Natalie Pluskota, TENNESSEE def. #54 Anastasia Putilina, UTAH, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
#8 Jana Juricova (6), CALIFORNIA def. #20 Kate Turvy, NORTHWESTERN, 6-3, 6-1
#56 Sona Novakova, BAYLOR def. #38 Zoe De Bruycker, NORTH CAROLINA, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
#45 Anya Morgina, SOUTH CAROLINA def. #15 Jacqueline Cako (9-16), ARIZONA STATE, 6-3, 6-3
#40 Aeriel Ellis, TEXAS def. #58 Maho Kowase, GEORGIA, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1
#23 Nina Secerbegovic, BAYLOR def. #70 Lauren McHale, NORTH CAROLINA, 6-3, 6-2
#32 Brynn Boren, TENNESSEE def. #11 Jillian O’Neill (9-16), GEORGIA TECH, 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4
#61 Sofie Oyen, FLORIDA def. #44 Ecaterina Vasenina, SOUTH FLORIDA, 6-4, 6-2
#26 Sabrina Santamaria, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #7 Chelsey Gullickson (8), GEORGIA, 6-3, 6-2
#24 Mary Anne Macfarlane, ALABAMA def. #102 Anais Dallara, LONG BEACH STATE, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
#13 Zsofi Susanyi (9-16), CALIFORNIA def. #47 Mary Weatherholt, NEBRASKA, 6-4, 7-5
#36 Natalie Beazant, RICE def. #25 Stacey Tan, STANFORD, 7-5, 6-2
#4 Robin Anderson (4), UCLA def. #33 Courtney Collins, MEMPHIS, 6-3, 6-0
#18 Anna Bartenstein, MIAMI def. #51 Liudmila Vasilieva, WASHINGTON STATE, 6-3, 6-1
#14 Zoe Scandalis (9-16), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA def. #65 Lucia Batta, UNLV, 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2
#17 Denise Dy, Washington def. #41 Marianne Jodoin, FRESNO STATE, 6-4, 7-6(3)
#5 Mallory Burdette (5), Stanford def. #120 Maria Craciun, South Carolina State, 6-1, 6-1
#28 Cristina Stancu, Maryland def. #53 Nazari Urbina, Texas A&M, 7-6(3), 6-0
#9 Lauren Embree (9-16), Florida def. #49 Anastasia Erofeeva, Tulsa, 6-0, 6-3
#43 Lindsey Hardenbergh, Virginia def. #30 Anett Schutting, California, 6-1, 6-4
#2 Beatrice Capra (2), Duke def. #42 Jackie Wu, Vanderbilt, 6-2, 6-2

Southern Cal Trojans Win Fourth Straight NCAA Men's Title with Dramatic 4-2 Win Indoors

2012-05-22T23:59:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

The circumstances surrounding the men's final were far from ideal, but the hundreds of fans who stuck around until 12:55 a.m. Wednesday morning will never forget how the University of Southern California Trojans won their fourth straight NCAA men's tennis championship.

When freshman Yannick Hanfmann won a third set tiebreaker from the University of Virginia's Justin Shane at No. 5 singles, giving top seed USC a 4-2 victory, the hundreds of fans packed into the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Tennis Center were emotionally exhausted from the twists and turns the match took during its final hours.

Rain arrived just as the doubles point was completed around 6 p.m., with Virginia dealing USC only its second loss of a doubles point all season, with wins at 2 and 3 doubles. There was a two-hour delay before the decision was made to move the singles matches indoors, and because there are only four courts, the prospect of a long night loomed.

With the Virginia fans outnumbering those from USC by a substantial margin, sitting in and standing behind the three-tiered aluminum bleachers and making their loyalties known on every point, the four-ring circus began at 8:30 p.m.

Without electronic scoreboards and with the deafening noise making chair umpire score calling inaudible, it was impossible to monitor what was happening on each court, with old-fashioned scoreboards manually changed by umpires the only source of information.

Virginia's fans began to sense the possibility that this would finally be their year when freshman Mitchell Frank took a big lead on USC's Daniel Nguyen at No. 3 singles. The senior Nguyen, who had clinched the last two USC titles, had not lost an NCAA singles match in his career, going 15-0, and earning the reputation as Mr. Clutch.

At No. 2 singles, USC's Raymond Sarmiento and Virginia's Alex Domijan where locked in an entertaining battle with Sarmiento showing off some deft hands while coping with the big ground strokes of the Cavalier sophomore.

Sarmiento got a late break in the first set to take it 6-4, and by that time Emilio Gomez had the first set over Drew Courtney at 4 and Steve Johnson had taken the first set from Jarmere Jenkins at 1.

Frank was leading Nguyen 6-3, 5-1 and had nine match points to put Virginia up 2-0, but before Frank could finally convert his tenth match point, Johnson had beaten Jenkins 6-3, 6-2 and Gomez had made it 2-1 USC with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Courtney.

With the No. 5 and No. 6 singles able to take the courts, Sarmiento was serving up 5-3, and he served for the match at 5-4. With the players trading winners in the high-quality match, Domijan got his chance to break back and took it, hitting a backhand return winner to make it 5-5. He was broken in the next game however, and Sarmiento had a second chance to serve for the match. Down 15-30, Sarmiento hitting a spinning, diving volley to make it 30-30 and earned a match point when Domijan made a rare error, on the backhand side. Sarmiento gave USC the 3-2 lead they would hold for a very long time when he hit a perfectly executed drop volley on match point, which the 6-foot-7 Domijan sprinted desperately for but couldn't reach, and Sarmiento had the 6-4, 7-5 win.

Virginia's Julien Uriguen had taken the first set from Roberto Quiroz at 6, while Hanfmann and Shane were at 4-4 in their opening set at 5. Hanfmann broke and held to give USC that first set, and the Trojans were one set from their fourth straight title.

Shane got an early break in the second set, and went on to win it 6-2, while Quiroz was staying with Uriguen in their second set, which reached a tiebreaker. If Uriguen could win it, all the attention would be on Shane and Hanfmann, but he was beginning to show signs of cramping and Quiroz, a freshman, stepped up his game to take the tiebreaker 7-3, forcing a third set.

Despite his medical issues, which resulted in a trainer administering to him at every changeover, Uriguen took a 3-0 lead in the final set. Shane and Hanfmann, similar players in body type and game style, were at 4-4 in the third when Shane got the break to serve for the match. He missed two forehands wide however, to go down 0-30, and just missed a backhand to give Hanfmann two break points. Shane forced an error on the next point, but netted a forehand at 30-40 to make it 5-5, and Hanfmann quickly held for 6-5. Shane continued to play boldly serving at 5-6 and used a good serve and a forehand winner to get to the tiebreaker.

On 6, Quiroz had broken Uriguen serving at 4-2 to get back on serve in the third as Hanfmann and Shane began their tiebreaker. It was 3-3 at the change of ends, but Shane netted a backhand to trail 4-3 and missed a forehand wide for 5-3. Hanfmann then came up with an ace to make it 6-3, with two serves to come for Shane. Shane missed his first, made his second, but after a tense rally, the sophomore missed a forehand, doubling over in disappointment as the USC celebration began and the Trojan pep band launched into its exuberant rendition of the school's fight song.

"I knew I had this ability, that I could do that," said Hanfmann, who also clinched a 4-3 victory for USC in the finals of the ITA National Indoors three months ago. "But it's not just me, but the whole team was competing, playing their asses off. Just seeing everybody playing so hard, it was just an inspiration for me. And I think I was lucky for it to finish that way."

"For a freshman to do that is remarkable," said USC coach Peter Smith, who equals Stanford's Dick Gould's 1995-1998 streak with his fourth consecutive title. "It was tough for us, the last two matches were going to be freshmen against a sophomore and a junior, but the tradition lives on, it's unbelievable."

It was mission accomplished for Johnson and Nguyen, who joined Stanford's Paul Goldstein and Charles Hoeveler as the only players to win four consecutive NCAA team championships since the championship format was changed in 1977.

"I guess mission accomplished is the best way to put it," said Johnson, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. "I came back to win four, and I don't think there was ever a doubt in my mind that I was going to come back. But to do it with this group of guys, it's such a special group, and to be able to mentor these young freshmen...these guys are going to carry on the legacy in the next few years and I'm excited to watch them grow."

"Just to finish my career with these guys, we're just so close to each other," said Nguyen. "It's definitely a very special moment."

For Virginia's Brian Boland, whose team lost 4-3 to USC in last year's final, it was a disappointing, but not discouraging loss.

"These guys continue to get back here, to put themselves in position to become champions," Boland said. "And in my mind they're champions regardless of winning or losing this match. It's unfortunate we came up short, because I think we did things the right way and gave ourselves a chance to finish at the end with a national championship. But we fell short, and we'll bounce back."

The returning members of the USC team, sporting their National Championship T-shirts as they stood behind the makeshift media table and listened to Smith, Johnson and Nguyen talk about their fourth straight title, knew they had also been a part of something special.

"The standard was different for this team," said Smith. "Plain and simple. The only standard was winning it, and we knew it. But boy, it feels so good."

===========================================
MEN: #1 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (33-1) def. #3 VIRGINIA (29-2), 4-2
Head Coaches: Peter Smith (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) and Brian Boland (VIRGINIA)

Doubles (Order of finish: 2,3)
1. #2 Steve Johnson/Roberto Quiroz (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) vs. #5 Drew Courtney/Jarmere Jenkins (VIRGINIA), 6-5, unfinished
2. Alex Domijan/Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA) def. Emilio Gomez/Yannick Hanfmann (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 8-5
3. Julen Uriguen/Justin Shane (VIRGINIA) def. #35 Daniel Nguyen/Ray Sarmiento (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 8-4

Singles (Order of finish: 1,4,3,2,5*)
1. #1 Steve Johnson (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #4 Jarmere Jenkins (VIRGINIA), 6-3, 6-2
2. #25 Ray Sarmiento (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #39 Alex Domijan (VIRGINIA), 6-4, 7-5
3. #2 Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA) def. #21 Daniel Nguyen (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-3, 6-1
4. #57 Emilio Gomez (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. Drew Courtney (VIRGINIA), 6-4, 6-2
5. #51 Yannick Hanfmann (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #82 Justin Shane (VIRGINIA), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4)
6. Roberto Quiroz (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) vs. Julen Uriguen (VIRGINIA), 2-6, 6-7(3), 3-4, unfinished

Florida Women Claim Second Straight NCAA Team Title with 4-0 Win over Top Seed UCLA

2012-05-22T20:27:00.002-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

The University of Florida women returned this year to the site of their heartbreaking finals loss in 2010, and succeeded in what coach Roland Thornqvist said was even more difficult than winning a first title—earning another one the following year.

The defending champions played a near-flawless match on a warm and humid Tuesday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, downing No. 1 UCLA 4-0, a victory that put them in the record books as six-time National champions and the first Florida team to claim titles back-to-back.

Two years ago in Athens, Florida fell 4-3 to Stanford in the final, with Mallory Burdette taking the last three games of her match with Florida’s Marrit Boonstra.

Some of that pain was softened by last year’s even more dramatic championship match, when Lauren Embree came from 4-0 down in the final set to defeat Burdette in a tiebreaker, which gave Florida a 4-3 win over host Stanford.

There was no such suspense this year, and that was just fine with Embree, who beat UCLA’s McCall Jones 6-4, 6-0 at No. 2 to close out the Bruins.

“I’m glad it wasn’t as dramatic as last year,” said Embree, who was named the Most Outstanding Player for the second year in a row. “But I just happened to be the last one that had a chance at clinching. The bottom of our lineup, I was looking at the scoreboard and they were doing awesome down there. It feels amazing to clinch it, but it’s a team effort and I’m so proud of them for being so tough.”

Florida won the doubles point, with Allie Will and Sofie Oyen taking a big lead over UCLA freshmen Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton and closing out an 8-4 victory on court one. Gators Alex Cercone and Caroline Hitimana then put their team up 1-0, coming back from 3-1 down to post an 8-5 win over Jones and Carling Seguso on court three. Court two doubles did not finish.

Florida didn’t take that lead for granted, especially after their experience against Duke in Monday’s semifinal. After losing the doubles point to Florida, the Blue Devils got off to a blazing start in singles and it was nearly five hours before the Gators would claim a 4-3 win.

UCLA’s Morton took an early 3-0 lead on Oyen at 4, but Oyen took the next six games, one of three first sets the Gators would win. Cercone, who had played three hours and 14 minutes on Monday, clinching the match against Duke, was the first off Tuesday, defeating Chanelle Van Nguyen 6-2, 6-0 to make it 2-0 Florida.

“I was a little bit concerned how I would hold up today, after my match yesterday,” said Cercone, a sophomore. “So I’m really happy that I played efficient tennis today. For me physically that was good, and obviously that helped out the rest of the girls.”

Oyen made it 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Morton, and by then Embree had taken a 2-0 lead over Jones at 2. Anderson was close to closing out Allie Will at 1 to get UCLA on the board, while at 3, Florida’s Joanna Mather had forced a third set with Pam Montez. UCLA’s Carling Seguso had taken the first set from Olivia Janowicz in a tiebreaker at 6, and they were midway through the second set as Embree kept rolling.

Embree made it 4-0, then 5-0 and 40-0. The junior from Marco Island, Florida only needed one championship point, and when she maneuvered closer to the net to pound a backhand winner, she set off two celebrations: one by the team on the court and the other by the hundreds of Florida fans in the stands.

“I thought we were absolutely fantastic and outstanding from start to finish,” said Thornqvist. “All through doubles on all three courts, I thought we were much better. Singles, what can you say? I thought we executed great on every court. At 4, 5 and 6 that was as good as I’ve seen us play in a long time frankly.”

UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster was also impressed by Florida’s performance Tuesday.

“They play with a lot of heart and they like to grind,” said Sampras Webster, who was named ITA Coach of the Year Tuesday. “We’re more shot makers, and we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be to beat a team like Florida. You really need to be able to execute and finish points off, and we weren’t able to do that as successfully as we needed to. Florida’s a tough team and they played well.

“I haven’t seen them play all year, so I don’t know if that was their best match or that was just how they play, but they definitely outplayed us today.”

Thornqvist suggested the Gators’ conditioning was a factor, given the short turnaround time after their long battle with Duke Monday.

“I really think all those wind sprints, all the grass workouts, all the Gator Mountains, all those things that are painful certainly paid off for the Florida Gators today,” said Thornqvist, who has now won three of Florida's six NCAA women's tennis titles with Florida, the first in 2003. “Because without them, we could not have rebounded from yesterday’s humongous battle with Duke and be as fresh as we were today.”

Thornqvist also pointed to the Gators lone loss of the year, to Stanford, back in February, as an important turning point in their efforts to defend their 2011 title.

“It really helped us,” said Thornqvist. “One of the really dangerous things is walking around thinking and hoping you have an undefeated season. Then you’re playing every match not to lose. When we got that loss, these guys want to win more than I do, and so we said hey, we’ve got to work harder, have an even better attitudes and play to win. They kicked our butts and I thought that was great for us. It was really not fun at the time, but now, it was the best thing that could have happened to us.”

“We discovered this year that without a doubt, it’s much more difficult to repeat than to do it the first time,” Thornqvist continued. “There are just some inherent challenges you have to deal with and we had to go through some growing pains as defending national champions, but throughout the spring these guys just showed what kind of will and courage and determination they had. What you saw today was the culmination of all that.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WOMEN: #2 FLORIDA (27-1) def. #1 UCLA (26-3), 4-0
Head Coaches: Stella Sampras Webster (UCLA) and Roland Thornqvist (FLORIDA)

Doubles (Order of finish: 1,3)
1. #1 Sofie Oyen/Allie Will (FLORIDA) def. #6 Robin Anderson/Skylar Morton (UCLA), 8-4
2. #9 Courtney Dolehide/Pamela Montez (UCLA) vs. #22 Lauren Embree/Joanna Mather (FLORIDA), 5-6, unfinished
3. Alex Cercone/Caroline Hitimana (FLORIDA) def. McCall Jones/Carling Seguso (UCLA), 8-5

Singles (Order of finish: 5,4,2*)
1. #4 Robin Anderson (UCLA) vs. #1 Allie Will (FLORIDA), 6-4, 5-2, unfinished
2. #9 Lauren Embree (FLORIDA) def. #98 McCall Jones (UCLA), 6-4, 6-0
3. #73 Pamela Montez (UCLA) vs. #21 Joanna Mather (FLORIDA), 6-3, 3-6, 0-1, unfinished
4. #61 Sofie Oyen (FLORIDA) def. #124 Skylar Morton (UCLA), 6-3, 6-2
5. #79 Alex Cercone (FLORIDA) def. #119 Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA), 6-2, 6-0
6. Carling Seguso (UCLA) vs. Olivia Janowicz (FLORIDA), 7-6(7), 2-5, unfinished

ITA National Awards Announced

2012-05-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

As is the tradition, the ITA announced its National Player Award recipients at a brunch this morning. The Coach awards were announced at a separate meeting earlier in the day. The men's Coach of the Year will be announced at a later time.

MEN:

ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership & Sportsmanship- Ryan Thacher, Stanford

Farnsworth/ITA Senior Player of the Year-Steve Johnson, Southern California

ITA Rookie Player of the Year-Mitchell Frank, Virginia

ITA Player to Watch-Sebastian Fanselow, Pepperdine

ITA/Rafael Osuna Award-Eric Quigley, Kentucky and Daniel Nguyen, Southern California

ITA Assistant Coach of the Year-George Husack, Southern California

ITA Coach of the Year-TBA

WOMEN:
ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership & Sportsmanship-Caroline Newman, College of Charleston

ITA Senior Player of the Year-Jana Juricova, Cal

ITA Rookie Player of the Year-Robin Anderson, UCLA and Beatrice Capra, Duke

ITA Player to Watch-Zoe Scandalis, Southern California

ITA/Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship-Aeriel Ellis, Texas

ITA Assistant Coach of the Year-Rance Brown, UCLA

ITA Coach of the Year-Stella Sampras Webster, UCLA

NCAA Elite 89 Award-Mary Anne Macfarlane, Alabama

USC Faces Virginia with Fourth Straight Title on the Line After Semifinal Victories Monday Indoors

2012-05-21T23:56:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

The University of Southern California men will play for their fourth consecutive Division I National Team Championship Tuesday, and their opponent will be a familiar one. The top-seeded Trojans will face the third-seeded University of Virginia Cavaliers in a rematch of last year's final after both team completed 4-1 semifinal victories indoors late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. USC earned their place in the championship match with a victory over No. 4 UCLA, while Virginia beat No. 7 Pepperdine.

USC defeated UCLA for the third time in four meetings, with the first and last points of their 4-1 win both decided in tiebreakers. USC won the doubles point in a tiebreaker, with Raymond Sarmiento and Daniel Nguyen needing six match points before they would post a 9-8(6) win over Bruins Nick Meister and Dennis Novikov.

The singles matches were all in their first sets when the dark clouds began to gather, and when lightening was detected within three miles, play was suspended. It began to rain a few minutes later and the NCAA committee decided to move the matches indoors, to the 4-court Lindsey Hopkins facility a few steps from the outdoor courts. Less than an hour later, the matches resumed, with the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches in each semifinal taking the courts.

USC quickly took a 3-0 lead, with Steve Johnson collecting his 65th consecutive collegiate victory with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Clay Thompson at 1, and Raymond Sarmiento taking down Nick Meister by the same score. Next on court were lines 3 and 4, with UCLA's Dennis Novikov playing Daniel Nguyen and Marcos Giron facing Emilio Gomez. Giron got UCLA on the board with a 6-3, 6-4 win, allowing the No. 5 court to go on, but if Nguyen could battle back from losing the first set to Novikov, that match wouldn't matter.

Nguyen was serving from behind in the third set, but he managed to force a tiebreaker and used his experience and an effective slice to take a 5-2 lead over the freshman, who entered school and began competing with the Bruins less than two months ago. Nguyen forced Novikov forward, and although Novikov did run down one drop shot and hit a winner to cut Nguyen's lead to 5-3, Novikov missed a backhand to give Nguyen a match point. After one shot in the rally Nguyen seemed to hesitate, thinking Novikov was going to call his shot out, but he readjusted, regained control of the point and hit a backhand winner to put his team in the final again.

The win kept Nguyen's perfect record in NCAA singles matches intact. He is now 15-0, while Johnson is 14-1, his only loss coming in his first Sweet 16 match as a freshman.

Nguyen wasn't made available for interviews after the match, with cramping given as the reason, but Smith knows how important his senior is to the team.

“The people got their money’s worth," said Smith. "That was a long evening and it was an amazing match. UCLA showed a lot of heart. We had two of our guys come out and play incredible tennis (Stevie and Ray). And we had one guy play incredibly clutch in (Daniel Nguyen). It was pretty special.”

UCLA's coach Billy Martin was hoping his team could find the same magic that led them to a 4-3 win over USC last month in Los Angeles, but weren't able to change the momentum, with only two courts to work with.

"We know they are a great team and we don’t expect to beat them on every occasion but we think we have a chance to battle with them," Martin said. "It’s disappointing, but I'm still really proud of the team and we had a great year, so we can’t be too disheartened."

USC's match ended at 11:30 p.m., thanks to Nguyen, but Virginia still had work to do. Although they too had won the doubles point outdoors with wins on courts 2 & 3, their top two players were not as dominant once the matches went indoors, with both Jarmere Jenkins at 1 and Alex Domijan at 2 extended to three sets. Domijan made it 2-0 with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Finn Tearney at 2, but Jenkins lost to Sebastian Fanselow at 1 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, assuring a later finish. But Mitchell Frank and Drew Courtney, Virginia's 3 and 4 players both captured their first sets and Frank soon made it 3-1 with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Alex Llompart. With the completion of the USC - UCLA match, the 5 and 6 players for Pepperdine and Virginia could also take the court, but it was Courtney who had the best chance of finishing, as he had taken the first set from Mousheg Hovhannisyan at 4 and had just broken for a 2-0 lead. With the orange-clad Cavalier fans urging him on from behind the netting that protects the seats at each end of the courts, Courtney continued to serve well to hold on to that break. Trailing 5-2, Hovhannisyan needed help from Courtney to get back in the match, but he didn't get it, with Courtney hitting big off the ground to earn two match points. With the fans stomping their feet on the metal bleachers, Courtney closed it out on his first match point, and at 12:15 a.m., USC had its opponent.

Virginia has lost to USC in the last three NCAA tournaments--in the quarterfinals in 2009, the semifinals in 2010 and the finals last year.

"We've played them so many times, dating back to the NCAAs five, six years ago, so it's not just been the last few years," said Virginia coach Brian Boland. "It's been great. We have a lot of respect for their program and we're looking forward to playing them tomorrow."

Asked if it would be particularly sweet to end USC's winning streak at 3, after USC had eliminated them in the tournament the last five years, Boland had a ready answer.

"We're just trying to win our first national title," he said. "I'm not really focused on who we compete against. We have a great deal of respect for them and we'll be ready to go."

Courtney was also not made available for comment, but Boland spoke of how pleased he was that Courtney was healthy for his last shot at an NCAA title, after an injury kept him out of the Sweet 16 last year.

"I'm so happy for him," Boland said. "He's worked so hard, he's done everything right and he's been one of the best leaders Virginia's ever had. He's in the best shape of his life and loving the opportunity to compete in a Virginia uniform in this last go round, particularly after what happened last year, breaking his foot in the round of 32. It's a special moment and he's obviously looking forward tomorrow, as all the guys are."

Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg didn't think the emotional 4-3 victory over Georgia in the quarterfinals Sunday night had an impact on his team's performance on Monday.

"The guys did not want the year to end," Steinberg said. "Our attitude before the match was like it always is, hitting balls this afternoon, I felt the energy from the team. They really wanted to play great tonight. We knew it was four matches in five days and we work on our conditioning all year for this moment this moment, so they were prepared for it, so no excuses. They have a great team and they were just too tough for us."

The men's final is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, and will be streamed on ncaa.com, as will the women's final at 1 p.m.

There is a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms on Tuesday.
========================================
#1 Southern California 4, #4 UCLA 1

Singles competition
1. Steve Johnson (USC) def. Clay Thompson (UCLA) 6-1, 6-1
2. Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Nick Meister (UCLA) 6-1, 6-1
3. Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. Dennis Novikov (UCLA) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
4. Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. Emilio Gomez (USC) 6-3, 6-4
5. Yannick Hanfmann (USC) vs. Adrien Puget (UCLA) 3-6, 1-3, unfinished
6. Roberto Quiroz (USC) vs. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) 2-3, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Steve Johnson/Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Alex Brigham/Adrien Puget (UCLA) 8-6
2. Daniel Nguyen/Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Nick Meister/Dennis Novikov (UCLA) 9-8 (6)
3. Marcos Giron/Warren Hardie (UCLA) def. Emilio Gomez/Yannick Hanfmann (USC) 8-4

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,4,3)
===========================================
Virginia 4, Pepperdine 1

Singles competition (Order of finish: 2,1,3,4*)
1. Sebastian Fanselow (PEPP) def. Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
2. Alex Domijan (UVA) def. Finn Tearney (PEPP) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
3. Mitchell Frank (UVA) def. Alex Llompart (PEPP) 7-6 (3), 6-2
4. Drew Courtney (UVA) def. Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEPP) 7-6 (3), 6-2
5. Justin Shane (UVA) vs. Hugh Clarke (PEPP) 4-5, unfinished
6. Julen Uriguen (UVA) vs. Jenson Turner (PEPP) 6-2, 3-3, unfinished

Doubles competition (Order of finish: 2,3)
1. Jarmere Jenkins/Drew Courtney (UVA) def. Finn Tearney/Alex Llompart (PEPP) 8-7, unfinished
2. Justin Shane/Julen Uriguen (UVA) def. Sebastian Fanselow/Jenson Turner (PEPP) 8-4
3. Alex Domijan/Mitchell Frank (UVA) def. Hugh Clarke/David Sofaer (PEPP) 8-4

Top Seed UCLA Meets Defending Champion Florida for National Title Tuesday

2012-05-21T22:49:00.001-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

UCLA's Stella Sampras Webster and Florida's Roland Thornqvist have led their teams to Tuesday's NCAA Division I Team Championship, but both knew they were fortunate to come through nearly five-hour marathons decided by the last match on Monday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

With the heat rule in effect on the tournament's most oppressive day, top seed UCLA defeated No. 5 seed and crosstown rival Southern Cal 4-3, while No. 2 seed Florida battled past No. 3 Duke, also by a 4-3 score. It was the first time since the format changed in 2001 that both women's semifinals were decided by 4-3 scores.

"Honestly, I don't know how we won that match," said Thornqvist. "Duke is one heck of a team. The first hour in singles, they were just beating us to death, making us run. I thought it got to us and I was really concerned that we were going to wear down, frankly. Somehow we found a way...we were really down and out but somehow found a way to get back in the match."

Florida won the doubles point, with Joanna Mather and Lauren Embree taking a 9-8 (1) tiebreaker at No. 2 over Duke's Rachel Kahan and Beatrice Capra, after the teams had split results at 1 and 3.

Duke came out and took the first sets on five courts, but they were unable to put a quick point on the scoreboard. Embree beat Ester Goldfeld 6-4, 6-1 on 2 to make it 2-0 for the Gators, and Joanna Mather had completed her comeback over Hanna Mar at 3, earning a 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory that made it 3-0 Florida. But where that fourth point was going to come from wasn't obvious.

Gators Olivia Janowicz at 6 and Alex Cercone at 5 forced third sets in their matches with Monica Turewicz and Mary Clayton respectively, and Florida's Sofie Oyen also battled back from down 5-2 in the second set, taking five straight games to force Kahan into a third set at 4.

Meanwhile, Capra and Allie Will were locked in a war of attrition, with Capra needing 91 minutes to win the first set 6-4, and were at 2-2 in the second set when Duke finally lifted the spirits of its fans with Turewicz's 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Janowicz, making it 3-1.

Although Oyen had all the momentum in her match after taking the second set, Kahan fought back and took a big lead. Cercone, taking advantage of the heat rule, took a 10-minute break between sets and got an early break of Clayton on 5.

It was exactly three hours into the match when Capra beat Will 6-4, 6-4 to make it 3-2. Kahan closed out Oyen 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to finally pull Duke even, and Duke had hope when, with Cercone serving at 4-3, she fell behind 0-40, but fought back to take that game and the next one. The match took three hours and 14 minutes from beginning to end, but Cercone had beaten Clayton 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to put Florida back in the final.

"When I came up there, she was just like a surgeon at the end," said Thornqvist of Cercone, a sophomore. "She put the ball exactly where it needed to be every point. I heard somebody say one unforced error in the last five games. That usually gets it done."

Duke coach Jamie Ashworth was proud that his team came so close to unseating the defending champions.

"They are a great team," said Ashworth, who won a national title with Duke in 2009. "They obviously have everybody back from the team that won it a year ago. If you are going to take out a team like that, you have to knock out the champion. You're not going to win by any decision...I thought we pushed them more than they had been pushed in a while and gave ourselves a chance, and that is all we can ask for."

UCLA's McCall Jones had never beaten Danielle Lao, and lost to her as recently as last month, when USC shocked the top-ranked Bruins at home 6-1.

But rather than get nervous when she knew the match was coming down to her court, the senior relaxed, a reaction even she couldn't quite explain.

"I think she got a little tight when she knew it was going to come down to her, and for me, I feel like it was the opposite," said Jones, who beat Lao 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 for the Bruins final point. "I was tight until it came down to me, and then I started playing my better tennis.

"Something triggered in my mind and I finally started hitting the ball and playing the way I wanted to play. I was down 2-0, 40-30 and had a couple of game points against to go down 3-0. I looked at the scoreboard and told myself I had to do it. I knew it was going to come down to me and I think it helped me."

The Bruins took the doubles point, with wins at 1 and 2, with the third court not finishing. Although they collected their first point with relative ease, the final three came much harder.

UCLA took the first sets at 2, 4 and 5, with USC taking the first sets at 1, 3 and 6. None of that meant much however, as five of the six matches went to a third set. The only one that didn't--Skylar Morton's 6-4, 7-5 win over Kaitlyn Christian at 4--gave UCLA a 2-0 lead, and that was three and a half hours into the match. UCLA's Robin Anderson had just taken the second set from Zoe Scandalis at 1, but USC's Sabrina Santamaria and Gabriella DeSimone were just a few games away from posting their points. DeSimone recorded her second straight come-from-behind win, taking out fellow freshman Chanelle Van Nguyen 0-6, 6-2, 6-4 to make it 2-1. Another freshman, Santamaria, made it 2-2 with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Pamela Montez and Southern Cal got their first lead of the match when Valeria Pulido beat Carling Seguso 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 at 6 to make it 3-2. But by that time, Anderson had a 4-0 lead over Scandalis at 1, so the match on 2 between Lao and McCall became the focus.

Leading 4-2 in the third, Jones saved a break point, or rather Lao lost it with an unforced error, and she looked to be struggling with heat, unable to extend the rallies. After Jones held for 5-2, Lao took a medical timeout. Meanwhile, Anderson collected her point, defeating Scandalis 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 and Lao had to hold serve to extend the match. Jones wasn't going for a lot, but she kept the ball deep and up the middle, with adequate pace, and the Lao errors kept piling up. At 15-40, Jones missed a return, but on her second match point, Lao hit a forehand wide, and the celebration began.

"McCall loves the big moments and she really embraced it today," said Sampras Webster. "She was able to just outlast Danielle. Danielle is a tough competitor, you've got to win every point. But McCall's so fit, in such great shape, that she was able to maintain that high level and finish the match at a high level."

USC coach Richard Gallien wasn't disappointed in his team's performance, which resulted in their third loss to UCLA in four matches this year.

"Had we got discouraged after the doubles and in the beginning of some of the singles, the day could have finished about two hours ago," Gallien said. "The girls did not give up, they fought to the bitter end. It's certainly painful to be on the wrong end. Respect and congratulations to them, but more importantly to the hearts and souls of my kids."

Sampras Webster, who learned who her team's opponent would be during the press conference, appeared eager, after playing both Cal and USC in this tournament, to take on the challenge of a team they had not played this year.

"We're going to have fight really hard to beat Florida," said Sampras Webster, who won a national title in 2008 and lost in the final here in Athens in 2007. "They're a great team and they're used to this weather, and we're going to have to fight that much more and prepare that much more. It'll be fun, because we don't know them very well, and they don't know us. We'll have to figure things out and adjust as we go. It will be a great match, I'm sure."

Florida has now reached the finals three straight years, and like their match today, the previous two have been 4-3 thrillers.

"It's definitely exciting to be back in the finals," said Embree, who clinched the national title in a tiebreaker at Stanford last year. "I feel our team has worked so hard to be back in this position, where we want to be. So tomorrow we're going to leave it all out on the court and play our hearts out."

==========================================
WOMEN: #2 FLORIDA (26-1) def. #3 DUKE (29-3), 4-3 - McWhorter Courts
Head Coaches: Roland Thornqvist (FLORIDA) and Jamie Ashworth (DUKE)

Doubles (Order of finish: 1,3,2)
1. #1 Sofie Oyen/Allie Will (FLORIDA) def. #21 Mary Clayton/Ester Goldfeld (DUKE), 8-3
2. #22 Lauren Embree/Joanna Mather (FLORIDA) vs. #17 Beatrice Capra/Rachel Kahan (DUKE), 9-8(1)
3. Hanna Mar/Monica Gorny (DUKE) def. Alex Cercone/Caroline Hitimana (FLORIDA), 8-4

Singles (Order of finish:2,3,6,1,4,5*)
1. #2 Beatrice Capra (DUKE) def. #1 Allie Will (FLORIDA), 6-4, 6-4
2. #9 Lauren Embree (FLORIDA) def. #110 Ester Goldfeld (DUKE), 6-4, 6-1
3. #21 Joanna Mather (FLORIDA) def. #59 Hanna Mar (DUKE), 2-6, 6-2 6-0
4. #85 Rachel Kahan (DUKE) def. #61 Sofie Oyen (FLORIDA), 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
5. #79 Alex Cercone (FLORIDA) vs. #66 Mary Clayton (DUKE), 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
===========================================
WOMEN: #1 UCLA (26-2) def. #5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (24-4), 4-3 - Henry Feild Stadium
Head Coaches: Stella Sampras Webster (UCLA) and Richard Gallien (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA)

Doubles (Order of finish: 1,2)
1. #6 Robin Anderson/Skylar Morton (UCLA) def. #3 Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 8-3
2. #9 Courtney Dolehide/Pamela Montez (UCLA) def. #49 Valeria Pulido/Zoe Scandalis (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 8-4
3. McCall Jones/Carling Seguso (UCLA) vs. #75 Danielle Lao/Alison Ramos (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 5-6, unfinished

Singles (Order of finish: 4,5,3,6,1,2)
1. #4 Robin Anderson (UCLA) def. #14 Zoe Scandalis (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2
2. #98 McCall Jones (UCLA) def. #19 Danielle Lao (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
3. #26 Sabrina Santamaria (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #73 Pamela Montez (UCLA), 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
4. #124 Skylar Morton (UCLA) def. #89 Kaitlyn Christian (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-4, 7-5
5. Gabriella DeSimone (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #119 Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA), 0-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Valeria Pulido (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. Carling Seguso (UCLA), 7-5, 3-6, 6-1

Loeb, Jarry Sweep Grade 4 ITF Titles in Delray Beach; Sandgren Wins Third Pro Circuit SinglesTitle of Year at Tampa Futures

2012-05-21T11:57:00.002-04:00

Before the start of today's NCAA Division I men's and women's semifinals, I wanted to briefly pass along a couple of results from weekend in ITF Juniors and Pro Circuit events.

In the Delray Beach ITF Grade 4, the third of three clay events in Floriday, Jamie Loeb and Nicolas Jarry of the US swept the singles and doubles titles.

The unseeded Jarry, who was a finalist in the Daytona Beach Grade 4 two weeks ago, defeated No. 9 seed Alp Horoz of Turkey 6-2, 6-4 in the boys singles final. Loeb, also unseeded, beat unseeded Maria Shishkina 7-6(1), 7-6(4) in the girls singles final.

Jarry teamed with Josh Hagar to win the doubles title, with the No. 6 seeds beating unseeded Dan Kerznerman and Logan Smith 6-2, 6-2.

Loeb and Alexandra Morozova, the No. 3 seeds, won the girls doubles title in a walkover from No. 2 seeds Dasha Ivanova and Mia King.

In the $10,000 Tampa Pro Circuit event, 20-year-old Tennys Sandgren won his third Futures singles title of the year, beating unseeded 18-year-old Bjorn Fratangelo 6-1, 6-3, in the final. Fratangelo beat top seed Gerald Melzer in the second round, and qualifier Michael Redlicki in the semifinals to advance against No. 2 seed Sandgren. Sandgren had barely survived the semifinal challenge of Christian Harrison, who turns 18 later this month, with the former Tennessee Volunteer getting through that match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4).

Unseeded Philip Bester and Kamil Pajkowski of Canada won the doubles title.

At the $10,000 women's Pro Circuit event in Pennsylvania, No. 4 seed Piia Suomalainen of Finland beat unseeded Liz Lumpkin of the US in the final 7-6(4), 6-1. No. 3 seeds Macall Harkins and Connie Hsu of the US beat top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Alexandra Mueller of the US 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles final.

Pepperdine Surprises Second Seed Georgia to Reach Men's Semifinals Against Virginia

2012-05-20T23:57:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Pepperdine's Alex Llompart has represented Puerto Rico in Davis Cup for five years and his 14-4 record includes singles wins in away ties. But nothing in his tennis career compares to his 7-6(2), 6-7(2), 6-4 win over Georgia's Sadio Doumbia that clinched the Waves 4-3 victory over the No. 2 seeds, and silenced thousand of Bulldog fans.

"This is number 1," said Llompart, a senior playing line 3 for the No. 7 seeds. "I've played Davis Cup before, I've won at home, but there's nothing like what happened today out there."

The match, which began at 4 p.m. and ended at 8:48 p.m. was full of twists and turns. Pepperdine started out by winning the doubles point with Llompart and Finn Tearney taking No. 1 doubles 8-1 and Hugh Clarke and David Sofaer collecting No. 3 doubles with a 9-7 win over Wil Spencer and KU Singh.

Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg thought that point was particularly important given the circumstances.

"We've never really been in this situation, this team," said Steinberg. "We've never played in front of a crowd like that, and how they handled that, coming out and winning the doubles point, I was so proud of them for that. It was so big, because we thought, wow, we can really do this, and it made a believer out of everybody."

There was no question that the Pepperdine supporters were outnumbered and of the 3,167 fans attending, probably no more than 30 were cheering for the Waves. Yet the Waves continued to keep the crowd concerned as well as supportive, taking four first sets in singles.

Georgia got a quick 6-1, 6-3 win from Ignacio Taboada over Mousheg Hovhannisyan at 4, and took a 2-1 lead with KU Singh's 7-6(3), 6-2 win over Finn Tearney at 2, but the score stayed there for a very long time. Georgia's Spencer had earned a third set with Sebastian Fanselow at 1 and Nathan Pasha had split with Pepperdine's Hugh Clarke at 5, so there was ample and realistic hope for the Georgia fans. Pasha gave Georgia a brief 3-1 lead with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Clarke, but just a few minutes later, Pepperdine had closed the gap with Jenson Turner's 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Hernus Pieters at 6.

That left the match in the hands of the players on courts 1 and 3. Spencer was broken early in his third set with Fanselow, while Doumbia had come back from down 5-2 in the second set. Llompart had served for the match at 5-3 in the second, but was broken at love. Doumbia then held at love, but Llompart recovered to hold for 6-5.

With Doumbia serving at 5-6 in the second set, and Spencer serving at 3-5 in the third set, both faced match points at the same precise moment. Spencer, in fact, faced three of them, going down 0-40, while Doumbia survived his one match point when Llompart netted a backhand and went on to hold for a tiebreaker. Spencer saved all three match points and then a fourth before holding for 5-4, and at the changeover asked for a medical time out. Spencer said later he was suffering from stomach issues due to salt tablets, and Fanselow finished off the match, converting his fifth match point to make it 3-3.

Doumbia had played an assured tiebreaker to force the third set, which began at 8 p.m., precisely four hours after the match started. All eyes were now on court 3, and Doumbia, hearing chants of his name from the Georgia crowd, played well in his first two service games. He was unable to take advantage of his early break opportunities however, and Llompart seized on his in the fifth game, playing aggressively, approaching the net often, and taking a 3-2 lead.

Both players held until Llompart was once again in the position to serve out the match, this time at 5-4 and this time with not just the match but the entire Pepperdine season in the balance.

After a nifty running forehand winner by Doumbia, Llompart fell behind 15-40, raising Georgia hopes, but he never waivered in his aggressive approach. Several times both players were at the net volleying, and Llompart was daring Doumbia to pass him. On the first break point Doumbia missed a backhand pass wide, and on the second, Llompart managed a perfect lob winner as Doumbia stood at the net.

Llompart missed only two first serves in the eight points played, and at deuce, he got a good first serve in, with Doumbia netting a forehand return. He also got a first serve in on his first match point, and when Doumbia netted his backhand, the wild celebration began, with the only noise in the stadium coming from the Wave players and coaches.

Asked how he managed to stay aggressive in the final moments of such a pressure-packed situation, Llompart was blunt.

"In the second set I tried to stay back, and it didn't work out very well," Llompart said. "I had a couple of match points, I served for it, and that didn't work out very well, so I had to do something different. We talked about it, executed the game plan and I'm happy I got the win for the boys."

Doumbia wasn't surprised by Llompart's tactics.

"I guess he was pretty tired and trying to shorten the points," said Doumbia, a senior. "I was cramping since the second set, but no, I wasn't really surprised. He played well."

Georgia coach Manny Diaz credited Pepperdine for their ability to rise to the occasion.

"They brought their best tennis at the most important times," said Diaz. "I've got to give them all the credit. We competed well, we gave it all we had, but we came up a little bit short. We all agreed that maybe we could have played better, but a lot of that was the fact that Pepperdine just played loose, played aggressive and played very composed in the most important moments."

Steinberg now faces the difficult task of bringing his team back down from such an emotional win to face No. 3 Virginia in less than 24 hours.

"We've talked about that," said Steinberg. "The four seniors, we just don't want the year to end. We want to keep playing as long as they'll allow us. I told the guys in there that this feels amazing, but the ultimate goal when you get here for all 16 teams is to finish with that ring at the end. So I think we need to keep our eye on that and find a way to come back tomorrow against an amazing team."

Virginia did indeed look amazing in their 4-0 win over No. 11 seed Stanford.

The Cavaliers took the doubles point with a win at 1, with Jarmere Jenkins and Drew Courtney beating Ryan Thacher and Denis Lin 9-8(2) after the teams had split on courts 2 and 3.

Virginia took five first sets in singles and didn't look back, with Mitchell Frank at 3, Drew Courtney at 4 and Justin Shane at 5 getting straight set wins over Matt Kandath, John Morrissey and Daniel Ho respectively. Alex Domijan had match points on Ryan Thacher as Shane collected the fourth point.

"I was pleased with the way team played," said coach Brian Boland, who taken his teams to the final four in five of the last six years. " We came out with a lot of energy and I thought it stayed with us throughout the match. I thought we had a little bit of a lull in our match with Berkeley, but today, the guys' energy was all the way through the match. I thought we played an excellent match from start to finish, with the focus and a great purpose."

Unable to play in singles last year as his team made the final, Drew Courtney is now healthy and eager to be on the court in his few remaining days of college tennis competition.

"Last year was the toughest, on the sideline, knowing how much the team thrives on the moment and I thrive on this moment," Courtney said. "It was definitely tough last year, but it's good to be out there this year."

As Pepperdine and Georgia battled with their score 1-1, Boland was asked if, with the short turnaround time, he felt his team had an advantage.

"It is an advantage to get off the court," Boland said. "Get our guys recovering right away. From the looks of it, they still have a lot of work to do, but we respect either team and look forward to whoever we play."

Stanford coach John Whitlinger was impressed with the Virginia team he saw in Sunday's quarterfinals.

"Virginia's a great team," said Whitlinger. "We almost snuck the doubles point, like we did in Charlottesville. I was really proud of the effort the guys gave in doubles, and it was close. Would that have made a difference? I don't know. They're very good and they deserved to win. We gave it everything we had, and Virginia was just too good tonight."

The semifinals Monday begin at 1 p.m. with the women. Top seed UCLA and No. 5 USC will play in one semifinal, with No. 3 Duke and No. 2 seed Florida in the other.

The men's semifinals, with No. 1 USC against No. 4 UCLA and No. 3 Virginia against No. 7 Pepperdine, are scheduled for 5 p.m.
==========================================

#7 PEPPERDINE (27-6) def. #2 GEORGIA (26-3), 4-3 - Henry Feild Stadium
Head Coaches: Manuel Diaz (GEORGIA) and Adam Steinberg (PEPPERDINE)
Doubles (Order of finish: 1,2,3)
1.       #15 Alex Llompart/Finn Tearney (PEPPERDINE) def. Sadio Doumbia/Hernus Pieters (GEORGIA), 8-1
2.       #41 Nathan Pasha/Ignacio Taboada (GEORGIA) def. Sebastian Fanselow/Jenson Turner (PEPPERDINE), 8-5
3.       Hugh Clarke/David Sofaer (PEPPERDINE) def. KU Singh/Wil Spencer (GEORGIA), 9-7

Singles (Order of finish: 4,2,5,6,1,3*)
1.       #8 Sebastian Fanselow (PEPPERDINE) def. #11 Wil Spencer (GEORGIA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
2.       #19 KU Singh (GEORGIA) def. #30 Finn Tearney (PEPPERDINE) 7-6(3), 6-2
3.       Alex Llompart (PEPPERDINE) def. #32 Sadio Doumbia (GEORGIA), 7-6(2), 6-7(2), 6-4
4.       #52 Ignacio Taboada (GEORGIA) def. #109 Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEPPERDINE), 6-1, 6-3
5.       Nathan Pasha (GEORGIA) def. Hugh Clarke (PEPPERDINE), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
6.       Jenson Turner (PEPPERDINE) def. #60 Hernus Pieters (GEORGIA), 6-4, 7-6(4)

==========================================
#3 VIRGINIA (28-1) def. #11 STANFORD (20-9), 4-0 - McWhorter Courts
Head Coaches: Brian Boland (VIRGINIA) and John Whitlinger (STANFORD)
Doubles (Order of finish: 3,2,1)
1.       #5 Drew Courtney/Jarmere Jenkins (VIRGINIA) def. Denis Lin/Ryan Thacher (STANFORD), 9-8(2)
2.       Bradley Klahn/John Morrissey (STANFORD) def. Alex Domijan/Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA), 8-5
3.       Justin Shane/Julen Uriguen (VIRGINIA) def. Jamin Ball/Matt Kandath (STANFORD), 8-4

Singles (Order of finish: 3,4,5*)
1.       #4 Jarmere Jenkins (VIRGINIA) vs. #36 Bradley Klahn (STANFORD), 7-6(1), 2-3, unfinished
2.       #39 Alex Domijan (VIRGINIA) vs. #29 Ryan Thacher (STANFORD), 6-3, 5-3, unfinished
3.       #2 Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA) def. Matt Kandath (STANFORD), 6-2, 6-0
4.       Drew Courtney (VIRGINIA) def. John Morrissey (STANFORD), 6-2, 6-4
5.       #82 Justin Shane (VIRGINIA) def. Daniel Ho (STANFORD), 6-4, 6-1
6.       Julen Uriguen (VIRGINIA) vs. Robert Stineman (STANFORD), 4-6, 2-2, unfinished

Pac 12 Rivalry Resumes in NCAA Men's Semifinals with Top Seed USC vs. No. 4 UCLA

2012-05-20T22:29:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

The UCLA Bruins have already claimed the distinction of having kept the University of Southern Californian from a perfect season. UCLA shocked the three-time defending champions 4-3 at home last month, and although USC got revenge in the Pac-12 team tournament in Ojai two weeks later, their fourth match of the season is for a place in the NCAA final, and the history books.

The top-seeded Trojans got to the semifinal in a hurry, taking down No. 8 seed Duke 4-1 in two and a half hours. The fourth-seeded Bruins were on the court over an hour longer, subduing No. 5 Ohio State 4-2 on another dry and sunny afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Center.

USC took the doubles point with an 8-4 victory at 1, after Duke had won at 3 and USC at 2.

The singles started well for the Trojans, and although they surrendered their first point of the NCAA tournament, when Raphael Hemmeler beat Yannick Hanfmann at line 5, the outcome wasn't in doubt. Steve Johnson, who had clinched the doubles point at 1 with Roberto Quiroz, got his second singles clinch this week, closing out Henrique Cunha of Duke 6-4, 6-0 at the top singles court.

Senior Daniel Nguyen, who is a perfect 14-0 in NCAA singles during his career at USC, posted the Trojans' second point, taking out Torsten Wietoska 6-3, 6-1, and Emilio Gomez quickly followed with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Fred Saba at 4 to make it 3-0. By then Johnson was up 5-0 on Cunha, and a few minutes later, the match was over.

"I was just extremely happy with how we played," said USC coach Peter Smith. "I think Duke is a really good team, they've beaten us in the last two years, and they've got great coaching. So I thought our guys really rose to the occasion."

Ramsey Smith, in his fourth season as Duke's coach, agreed that Southern Cal played well.

"Full credit to Southern Cal. They're an awfully good team," Smith said. "I was very impressed with them today. I thought we played a pretty good match. [Hemmeler and Wietoska] played amazing at 3 doubles, got off the court quickly. I know we lost 8-4 at 1, but we had some chances that match and it was a little bit closer than the score. In singles, they got off to a good start on a couple courts and really took it to us. Like I said, they're a great team, and I think they'll be tough to beat this year."

While Smith and his team awaited their opponent in Monday's semifinal, Smith admitted that he thought it would be UCLA.

"It's the semis, and of course you can lose to anyone, but I think we're going to play UCLA," said Smith. "That's the way I've been looking at it. I've respected UCLA the whole year, and they've got a good team."

Going into the match, Ohio State would have been the favorite for the doubles point against UCLA, but the Bruins received a big boost when they collected it with a win over the nation's top-ranked team of Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola. After Ohio State had won at 3 and UCLA at 2, Adrien Puget and Alex Brigham earned the only break of the match at at 5-5 and, saving two break points in the final game, took an 8-6 decision over Buchanan and Rola.

Puget, a sophomore, celebrated the win by falling to the court, and after the match, he admitted the point gave his team a boost.

"It was huge. We had lost to Ole Miss on Friday and to beat the No. 1 team in the country, I think it was our best match of the year. We knew we could, because we had wins over Stanford and Cal's teams this year, but it was huge for us."

In singles, the teams each won three first sets, and it was Ohio State taking the 2-1 lead, getting wins from Connor Smith at 6, a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Dennis Mkrtchian, and Chase Buchanan at 1, a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Clay Thompson.

Freshman Dennis Novikov, who joined the Bruins less than two months ago, contributed with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Peter Kobelt at 3, and UCLA got in position to win when freshman Marcos Giron beat Devin McCarthy at 4 6-4, 6-4.

Ohio State coach Ty Tucker had removed Ille Van Engelen at No. 4, elevating Hunter Callahan to the 5 position and Connor Smith to No. 6. Smith had played in Friday's round of 16 match, but Callahan had not played in the Buckeyes' third round win over Florida. The freshman trailed Puget by 6-3, 3-0, but fought back to 4-all.

UCLA coach Billy Martin sensed he needed to get to Puget's court once he had lost his advantage.

"He looked very tired to me, and that's not normal for him," Martin said. "He's usually the leader of our team as far as energy and closing out matches goes. By the time I got up there it was 4-3 and he looked spent…I was a little worried about that, but Adrien was able to keep his composure and shorten the points a little bit."

Serving from behind in the set, Callahan endured two difficult service games, and was called on to save a match point serving at 5-6. He hit a huge first serve and put away the return with a forehand winner, so there was nothing for Puget and Martin to regret.

"Match point down the young man played an unbelievable point, a flawless point. But Adrien played a good, solid tiebreaker. Maybe his experience more than the young man's helped us in the tiebreaker."

Puget dominated the tiebreaker, with Callahan not able to step up to his level in the final few points. When Puget blasted a backhand winner on his first match point, he had earned a 6-3, 7-6(0) decision, his 22nd consecutive victory.

"I won't lie, doubles took a lot of energy," said Puget, who has lost only one dual match all season. "I needed to close it out in the second set, because there is a momentum change if you lose the second set. I would have fought to the end, but it was a great feeling."

Asked about his decision to bench Van Engelen, Tucker said, "I thought that gave us our best chance to get four points. Was it the right move? I don't know, I make more wrong moves than I do right moves; you never know. We were in it until the end, at 3:40 (pm) we were in the thick of the match, so we had our opportunities, we had some chances, but this is UCLA, you're going to get one or two points and you're going to have to capitalize."

Martin knows UCLA has a difficult task against USC in Monday's first semifinal, but can look back on their win last month for a blueprint.

"If they win the doubles point, and Stevie is almost a lock point-wise for them at 1, you're almost down 2-0 and it's can you win 4 out of 5 matches, 2 through 6. We were fortunate enough to do that that day. We just kept fighting and got ourselves in a position, and did they get tight or tentative? Probably, but in sports, on any given day, you get a little lucky and rise to the occasion, and it can happen."
==========================================
#4 UCLA (26-3) def. #5 OHIO STATE (34-4), 4-2 - McWhorter Courts
Head Coaches: Billy Martin (UCLA) and Ty Tucker (OHIO STATE)

Doubles
1.         #44 Alex Brigham/Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. #1 Chase Buchanan/Blaz Rola (OHIO STATE), 8-6
2.         #85 Nick Meister/Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. #32 Devin McCarthy/Ille Van Engelen (OHIO STATE), 8-1
3.         Peter Kobelt/Connor Smith (OHIO STATE) def. Marcos Giron/Warren Hardie (UCLA), 8-4

Singles
1.         #10 Chase Buchanan (OHIO STATE) def. #62 Clay Thompson (UCLA), 6-3, 6-3
2.         #16 Nick Meister (UCLA) vs. #9 Blaz Rola (OHIO STATE), 3-6, 6-3, 3-2, unfinished
3.         Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. #67 Peter Kobelt (OHIO STATE), 6-4, 6-0
4.         #84 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #85 Devin McCarthy (OHIO STATE), 6-4, 6-4
5.         #46 Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. #107 Hunter Callahan (OHIO STATE), 6-3, 7-6(0)
6.         Connor Smith (OHIO STATE) def. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA), 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish
Doubles: 3,2,1
Singles: 6,1,3,4,5*

===========================================

#1 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (31-1) def. #8 DUKE (25-6), 4-1 - Henry Feild Stadium
Head Coaches: Peter Smith (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) and Ramsey Smith (DUKE)

Doubles
1.         #2 Steve Johnson/Roberto Quiroz (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #16 Henrique Cunha/Chris Mengel (DUKE), 8-4
2.         #35 Daniel Nguyen/Ray Sarmiento (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. David Holland/Fred Saba (DUKE), 8-2
3.         Raphael Hemmeler/Torsten Wietoska (DUKE) def. Emilio Gomez/Yannick Hanfmann (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 8-3

Singles
1.         #1 Steve Johnson (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #5 Henrique Cunha (DUKE), 6-4, 6-0
2.         #25 Ray Sarmiento (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) vs. #38 Chris Mengel (DUKE), 5-7, 3-0, unfinished
3.         #21 Daniel Nguyen (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #113 Torsten Wietoska (DUKE), 6-3, 6-1
4.         #57 Emilio Gomez (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. Fred Saba (DUKE), 6-4, 6-1
5.         Raphael Hemmeler (DUKE) def. #51 Yannick Hanfmann (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-3, 6-4
6.         Roberto Quiroz (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) vs. Jason Tahir (DUKE), 6-2, 4-2, unfinished

Order of Finish
Doubles: 3,2,1
Singles: 3,4,5,1*

Defending Champion Florida Joined in Women's Semifinals by Duke, USC and Top Seed UCLA

2012-05-19T23:54:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

Defending champion and No. 2 seed Florida advanced to the NCAA Division I team semifinals with routine victories Saturday at the Dan Magill Tennis Center, but their opponents Monday afternoon, Duke and Southern California, added considerably more drama to the proceedings on a picture-perfect day on the campus of the University of Georgia.

The last time the championships were in Athens, in 2010, the Stanford women returned to California with the title, but the Cardinal will not play in their third straight final after falling to Pac-12 rival USC 4-2 on the McWhorter courts Saturday afternoon.

The fifth-seeded Women of Troy captured the doubles point with an 8-6 victory by Danielle Lao and Alison Ramos over Kristie Ahn and Veronica Li at No. 3, after Stanford's Stacey Tan and Ellen Tsay had beaten Valeria Pulido and Zoe Scandalis 8-5 at 2, and Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria had beaten the nation's second-ranked team, Stanford's Nicole Gibbs and Mallory Burdette, 8-6 at No. 1.

The fourth-seeded Cardinal seemed to brush off the loss of the doubles point and posted five first sets in singles. Gibbs gave Stanford its first point with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Scandalis at 1, but Southern Cal began its comeback when Gabriella DeSimone's 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win at 5 over Tsay made it 2-1.

Stanford pulled even when Li beat Pulido 6-4, 7-5 at 6, but USC had forced third sets at 2 and 3, with Ahn, making her first singles appearance in two months, and Christian deep in the second set at 4.

With the three matches still in progress all together, the fans of both teams could focus their energy in one direction if not on one court.

Santamaria trailed Tan 5-2 in the third set on court 3, and Tan served for the match at 5-3, but she was broken, while Christian earned a third set against Ahn. On court 2, Lao and Burdette were at 3-3 in the third, so any number of scenarios could play out in the next minutes or, perhaps, the next hour.

Santamaria broke Tan, winning her fourth straight game to make it 6-5, and she had a match point at 40-30, but a rare unforced error on the forehand made it deuce and a net cord winner by Tan and a forehand error by Santamaria sent the match into a tiebreaker.

With Santamaria leading Tan 4-2 in the third set tiebreaker, Lao got a break of Burdette and would serve for the match at 5-4. She took a 30-0 lead with a forehand and overhead winner, while Santamaria nosed ahead 5-4 in the tiebreaker. Southern Cal was two points away from victory on both courts, and yet nothing was truly decided. Lao went up 40-15, but didn't convert on her first match point, putting a backhand long.

Next to her, Santamaria wrong-footed Tan to take a 6-5 lead. As quickly as their supporters could turn their heads from one match to the next, Burdette netted a backhand to give Lao a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory and Santamaria coaxed an error from Tan for a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(5) win and the fourth point.

"I just love playing next to D-Lao," said Santamaria, a freshman. "She just keeps me focused, always cheering me on even when she's battling with Mallory or anyone else...I had to come through for my team today, and just kept my focus on that and kept trying and kept fighting, fought on."

Lao, a junior, returned the compliments.

"The thing is, that Sabs says it's great to play next to me, but I really think it's great to play next to her," Lao said. "I think Sabs is very mature as a freshman, and for me, it puts a lot of pressure off me. Even down 5-2, I saw the scoreboard, and I knew it wasn't over, there was no chance it was over. When she got to 5-3, I thought, she's going to climb all the way back and I want to be right there, in my opponent's face, ready to pop her too."

Coach Richard Gallien credited his team's effort and fortitude for the win, which took over four hours from start to finish.

"Not letting go of the rope is one of our expressions, and any weakness on our part, and we would have gotten beat, and nobody could have said a word, because they are so tough," Gallien said. "When it came down to the crunch, and there was absolutely no margin for error, the girls anted up, and they deserve all the credit."

Stanford coach Lele Forood called it a "great battle and an amazing match. I don't think anyone knew the outcome until it ended. It was just a pretty amazing roller coaster. Obviously we knew how good they were, we've seen them a lot this year, and we knew they have people who make a lot of balls and play really tough."

Southern Cal already knew they would play another familiar team in the semifinals, they just weren't sure if it would be No. 9 seed Cal or UCLA. They will face the top-seeded Bruins for the fourth time this year in Monday's semifinal, after UCLA dominated the Bears in the bottom three spots and came away with a 4-1 victory.

UCLA claimed the doubles point with wins at the 2 and 3 courts, and took five first sets in singles. They were able to maintain those leads, which were substantial ones, especially at the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 courts. Skylar Morton gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead, with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Tayler Davis at 4, while Zsofi Susanyi posted Cal's first and only point with a 6-2, 6-1 win over McCall Jones at 2. Carling Seguso, subbing for an injured Kaitlyn Ray, won her match at 6 over Alice Duranteau 6-2, 6-4, and with Chanelle Van Nguyen up 6-1, 5-0 over Annie Goransson, it looked as if she would provide the final point. But Van Nguyen didn't convert her match point, and it was Pamela Montez at 3 who put the Bruins into the semifinals, defeating Anett Schutting 6-3, 6-4.

"We set the tone really early in the doubles and I think that got everyone to relax, and the energy was really, really high," said UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster. "We executed extremely well today. Cal's a strong team and they're well-coached, and we knew we needed to play well to beat them, and to win that doubles point was really important."

Cal coach Amanda Augustus agreed.

"I have to take my hat off to UCLA today. They came out in the doubles ready to go, they attacked...I think we were making adjustments, but we didn't get off to as good a start as we needed to and that kind of put us in a little bit of a hole, and we just didn't have enough on the bottom three courts today. The girls all gave it their best effort, but UCLA really played to win today."

Reigning NCAA champion Jana Juricova of Cal was just a few points from beating Robin Anderson at 1 when the match ended, and the senior, who will compete in the individual tournament next week, has played her last dual match for the Bears.

"You never know what will be the last one, so I try to enjoy the match," said Juricova. "They girls did so well during the season and I'm really proud of them, we worked so much, this year was very, very good with the team, and I'm very happy I ended up with this team."

The evening matches saw a scenario similar to the afternoon quarterfinals. Due to the length of the USC Stanford match, the doubles for both Georgia and Duke and Florida and Miami were played on the Henry Feild courts, although no one could have anticipated the Florida and Miami doubles would take an hour and 46 minutes to complete, delaying the start of the Georgia Duke singles matches.

The Gators won that doubles point, which came down to court 3, after the teams had split on courts 1 and 2. Miami's Anna Bartenstein and Brittany Dubins and Florida's Alex Cercone and Caroline Hitimana played a 7-deuce, 15 minute game with Cercone serving at 6-6 before holding, then breaking Bartenstein in another long game to take the 8- 6 win and the point.

Singles went Florida's way from the start, and as it was in UCLA's win, the bottom of lineup delivered the early momentum, with Cercone taking a 6-2, 6-2 win over Liat Zimmerman at No. 5, and Olivia Janowicz following shortly thereafter with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Dubins at 6.

Miami, the No. 10 seed, couldn't force a third set in any of the four remaining matches before senior Joanna Mather closed out the Hurricanes with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Lina Lineikite at 3.

"I think Florida played an amazing match today," said Miami coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews, whose teams have lost to Florida in the NCAA quarterfinals the past three years. "They made it physical, played the big points well, and they deserve the victory. It's always a little upsetting when a season ends, but I think the better team won today."

Florida coach Roland Thornqvist said he thought the loss of the doubles point "took a little edge off of Miami. They still did a great job, they tried to slow down the pace on virtually every court, between points and during points and I thought that was a good strategy against us, but I don't know that this time can be out-grinded, frankly. So I felt good about it, felt good that we're fit enough to go the distance and I was happy to see that we were fairly quick in winning some straight set matches."

Asked if he had any reaction to the loss by Stanford, their opponent in the last two NCAA finals, Thornqvist kept his focus on the next match.

"I have no thoughts whatsoever," Thornqvist said. "They were on the other side, and we're going to have our hands full with whomever we see on Monday. It's a dogfight out there right now between Georgia and Stanford and we've played both those teams. They're plenty capable if we don't take care of business."

It was nearly an hour after Florida earned its spot in the semifinal that their opponent was determined, with No. 3 Duke surviving a determined Georgia team 4-2.

Sixth-seeded Georgia captured the doubles point with wins at 1 and 3, but Duke came back to take four first sets in singles. Ester Goldfeld pulled Duke even with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Nadja Gilchrist at 2, but Georgia's Chelsey Gullickson dealt Beatrice Capra a rare loss at 1, beating the freshman 6-3, 6-2 to make it 2-1 Georgia. Duke's Monica Turewicz again brought the Blue Devils even, beating Lilly Kimbell 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 at 6, to bring the focus to the No. 3, 4 and 5 courts, where Georgia's Maho Kowase and Lauren Herring had forced third sets at 3 and 4, and Duke's Mary Clayton was closing in on the second set against Kate Fuller at 5.

Herring served for the match and a 3-2 lead against Rachel Kahan at 5-3 and had a match point at 40-30. She approached the net, but Kahan came up with an excellent passing shot, made even better when it clipped the tape. Herring lost that game, Kahan held for 5-5, and when Kahan broke Herring again, it was she who was serving for the match. She too was broken, and a tiebreaker would decide the match.

Meanwhile, Hanna Mar had broken Kowase and was serving for the match at 3. Two match points came and went, which boosted the spirits of the Georgia crowd, but Mar executed a perfect forehand volley closing the net to make it 3-2 Duke.

Herring had to win the tiebreaker to keep the match going, but down 6-3, with Kahan serving, her chances looked bleak. Herring saved two match points, with a Kahan error and an overhead winner, but on the third, Herring netted a forehand, silencing the Georgia faithful and setting off a Blue Devil celebration.

"Peter Smith, the USC's men's coach told me that it was like a rite of passage to win an NCAA match against Georgia here," said Duke coach Jamie Ashworth, who had not played Georgia in Athens in the NCAAs in his 16 years as coach of the Blue Devils. "We just played a hell of a match in singles, and I actually thought we played good in doubles too. We just kept fighting and fighting, and I couldn't be prouder of the girls."

Kahan spoke about what was going through her mind with Herring at the net down match point.

"She's an unbelievable player and I just tried to play it like any other point," Kahan said. "Just hit the shot, and luckily, it went my way."

"Rachel hit a great passing shot," said Ashworth. "Lauren put pressure on her and made Rachel come up with the shot. And she was able to do that ride the momentum a little bit for a couple more points. She did a great job of not letting that match point get her down, but Lauren did the right thing. I always tell our girls, put pressure on someone, and if they come up with the shot, then that's fine, and in that particular moment, Rachel came up with the shot."

Herring and Gullickson accompanied coach Jeff Wallace to the press conference after the match, and the senior and freshman couldn't hide the tear of disappointment after the loss.

"I've got to credit Duke, I think they really played unbelievable in the singles against us," Wallace said. "We're really disappointed. We've got a great team and these guys are just best friends, and it really hurts. They want to spend more time together, they want to play more because they just like each other so much and they work so hard for each other, for all the right reasons, so it's really tough right now."

Gullickson, who, like Cal's Juricova, is an NCAA singles champion and a senior, played her last dual match for the Bulldogs.

"I was fortunate enough to be able to have my senior year to be able to play here, and it's devastating not being able to win as a team here," Gullickson said. "We came out playing great Thursday and playing great today, but Duke just played amazing and there was nothing we could do. I'm proud of everyone and all the girls were fighting from the first point of doubles to the last point of the match. Not to be able to play with my team again is very upsetting, but I can't let it upset me too much. I have to be ready to play for individuals."

The women's semifinals are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Monday. The men's quarterfinals are Sunday, beginning at noon.

===========================================

#1 UCLA (25-2) def. #9 CALIFORNIA (20-7), 4-1 - Henry Feild Stadium

Head Coaches: Stella Sampras Webster (UCLA) and Amanda Augustus (CALIFORNIA)

Doubles

1. #6 Robin Anderson/Skylar Morton (UCLA) vs. #15 Jana Juricova/Zsofi Susanyi (CALIFORNIA), 5-7, unfinished

2. #9 Courtney Dolehide/Pamela Montez (UCLA) def. #5 Annie Goransson/Anett Schutting (CALIFORNIA), 8-4

3. McCall Jones/Carling Seguso (UCLA) def. Tayler Davis/Cecilia Estlander (CALIFORNIA), 8-4

Singles

1. #4 Robin Anderson (UCLA) vs. #8 Jana Juricova (CALIFORNIA), 4-6, 2-5, unfinished

2. #13 Zsofi Susanyi (CALIFORNIA) def. #98 McCall Jones (UCLA), 6-2, 6-1

3. #73 Pamela Montez (UCLA) def. #30 Anett Schutting (CALIFORNIA), 6-3, 6-4

4. #124 Skylar Morton (UCLA) def. #48 Tayler Davis (CALIFORNIA), 6-1, 6-4

5. #119 Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) vs. #67 Annie Goransson (CALIFORNIA), 6-1, 5-2, unfinished

6. Carling Seguso (UCLA) def. Alice Duranteau (CALIFORNIA), 6-2, 6-4

Order of Finish

Doubles: 3,2

Singles: 4,2,6,3*

#5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (24-3) def. #4 STANFORD (21-2), 4-2 - McWhorter Courts

Head Coaches: Lele Forood (STANFORD) and Richard Gallien (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA)

Doubles

1. #3 Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #2 Mallory Burdette/Nicole Gibbs (STANFORD), 8-6

2. #24 Stacey Tan/Ellen Tsay (STANFORD) def. #49 Valeria Pulido/Zoe Scandalis (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 8-5

3. #75 Danielle Lao/Alison Ramos (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. Kristie Ahn/Veronica Li (STANFORD), 8-6

Singles

1. #3 Nicole Gibbs (STANFORD) def. #14 Zoe Scandalis (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-1, 6-4

2. #19 Danielle Lao (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #5 Mallory Burdette (STANFORD), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

3. #26 Sabrina Santamaria (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #25 Stacey Tan (STANFORD) 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(5)

4. Kristie Ahn (STANFORD) vs. #89 Kaitlyn Christian (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-4, 5-7, 1-2, unfinished

5. Gabriella DeSimone (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) def. #74 Ellen Tsay (STANFORD), 1-6, 6-2, 6-2

6. Veronica Li (STANFORD) def. Valeria Pulido (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA), 6-4, 7-5

Order of Finish

Doubles: 2,1,3*

Singles: 1,5,6,2,3

#3 DUKE (29-2) def. #6 GEORGIA (24-5), 4-2 - Henry Feild Stadium

Head Coaches: Jamie Ashworth (DUKE) and Jeff Wallace (GEORGIA)

Doubles

1. #46 Kate Fuller/Nadja Gilchrist (GEORGIA) def. #21 Mary Clayton/Ester Goldfeld (DUKE), 8-1

2. #17 Beatrice Capra/Rachel Kahan (DUKE) def. Chelsey Gullickson/Lauren Herring (GEORGIA), 8-6

3. Lilly Kimbell/Maho Kowase (GEORGIA) def. Monica Gorny/Hanna Mar (DUKE), 8-6

Singles

1. #7 Chelsey Gullickson (GEORGIA) def. #2 Beatrice Capra (DUKE), 6-3, 6-2

2. #110 Ester Goldfeld (DUKE) def. Nadja Gilchrist (GEORGIA), 6-2, 7-5

3. #59 Hanna Mar (DUKE) def. #58 Maho Kowase (GEORGIA), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

4. #85 Rachel Kahan (DUKE) def. #70 Lauren Herring (GEORGIA), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5)

5. #66 Mary Clayton (DUKE) vs. #96 Kate Fuller (GEORGIA), 6-7(5), 6-4, 3-1, unfinished

6. #97 Monica Turewicz (DUKE) def. Lilly Kimbell (GEORGIA), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Order of Finish

Doubles: 1,2,3

Singles: 2,1,6,3,4*

#2 FLORIDA (25-1) def. #10 MIAMI (21-5), 4-0 - McWhorter Courts

Head Coaches: Roland Thornqvist (FLORIDA) and Paige Yaroshuk-Tews (MIAMI)

Doubles

1. #1 Sofie Oyen/Allie Will (FLORIDA) def. #20 Melissa Bolivar/Liat Zimmerman (MIAMI), 8-3

2. #76 Lina Lileikite/Gabriela Mejia (MIAMI) def. #22 Lauren Embree/Joanna Mather (FLORIDA), 8-4

3. Alex Cercone/Caroline Hitimana (FLORIDA) def. Anna Bartenstein/Brittany Dubins (MIAMI), 8-6

Singles

1. #1 Allie Will (FLORIDA) vs. #18 Anna Bartenstein (MIAMI), 6-3, 4-2, unfinished

2. #9 Lauren Embree (FLORIDA) vs. #27 Gabriela Mejia (MIAMI), 7-6(2), 1-3, unfinished

3. #21 Joanna Mather (FLORIDA) def. #71 Lina Lineikite (MIAMI), 6-2, 6-4

4. #61 Sofie Oyen (FLORIDA) vs. Melissa Bolivar (MIAMI), 6-3, 5-3, unfinished

5. #79 Alex Cercone (FLORIDA) def. Liat Zimmerman (MIAMI), 6-2, 6-2

6. Olivia Janowicz (FLORIDA) def. Brittany Dubins (MIAMI), 6-3, 6-2

Order of Finish

Doubles: 2,1,3

Singles: 5,6,3*

Georgia, Pepperdine Men Earn Final Quarterfinal Spots Under Friday Night Lights

2012-05-18T23:50:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

A gorgeous day at the Dan Magill Tennis center came to an end Friday evening, with thousands of Georgia Bulldogs fans filing out into the night secure in the knowledge their men's team would be playing again in Sunday's quarterfinals, but not knowing who the opponent would be.

The second-seeded Bulldogs zipped past No. 15 North Carolina 4-0 in less than three hours, taking the doubles point at 2 and 3 and getting wins from Hernus Pieters at 6, KU Singh and 2 and Nathan Pasha at 5.

"I thought we played a great match," said Georgia coach Manny Diaz. "Frankly from start to finish I thought our guys were very strong and composed and were having fun. That's an impressive start for us and I'm really pleased."

Pasha, a freshman, was getting his first taste of the legendary support of Georgia tennis fans, as an announced crowd of 2,304 erupted with every point won by a Bulldog.

"It felt great, it felt really electric," Pasha said. "The crowd is so big and it just provides a lot of energy, so I have to do a good job of not getting too excited with everyone out there. I'm doing a good job of managing my emotions."

Pieters, a sophomore playing in his first NCAA on his home courts, also detected a difference.

"With 4,000 people, it is definitely a bit different," Pieters said. "I was definitely delighted when I won the match, very excited. It was a great feeling."

"The crowd just brings out the best in you as a competitor," said Diaz. "Whether you've got the majority of the crowd with you or against you. I think this is an environment all schools thrive on, and it's always fun and it adds a little bit more meaning to everything these guys are working for. It's why this is such a great venue to play tennis in."

===========================================

#2 GEORGIA (26-2) def. #15 NORTH CAROLINA (15-8), 4-0 - Henry Feild Stadium

Head Coaches: Manuel Diaz (GEORGIA) and Sam Paul (NORTH CAROLINA)

Doubles

1. Sadio Doumbia/Hernus Pieters (GEORGIA) vs. #20 Joey Burkhardt/Jose Hernandez (NORTH CAROLINA), 6-1, 2-5, unfinished

2. #41 Nathan Pasha/Ignacio Taboada (GEORGIA) def. Cameron Ahari/Brennan Boyajian (NORTH CAROLINA), 8-5

3. KU Singh/Wil Spencer (GEORGIA) def. Esben Hess Olesen/Oystein Steiro (NORTH CAROLINA), 8-4

Singles

1. #11 Wil Spencer (GEORGIA) vs. #26 Jose Hernandez (NORTH CAROLINA), 6-1, 2-5, unfinished

2. #19 KU Singh (GEORGIA) def. #92 Brennan Boyajian (NORTH CAROLINA), 6-3, 6-1

3. #32 Sadio Doumbia (GEORGIA) vs. Esben Hess-Olesen (NORTH CAROLINA), 6-2, 3-3, unfinished

4. #52 Ignacio Taboada (GEORGIA) vs. Joey Burkhardt (NORTH CAROLINA), 7-6(5), 3-3, unfinished

5. Nathan Pasha (GEORGIA) def. William Parker (NORTH CAROLINA), 6-2, 6-2

6. #60 Hernus Pieters (GEORGIA) def. Oystein Steiro (NORTH CAROLINA), 6-3, 6-1

Order of Finish

Doubles: 3,2

Singles: 6,2,5*

===========================================

Georgia's opponent in the quarterfinals, No. 7 seed Pepperdine, needed much more time to subdue unseeded Tulsa, finishing their 4-1 win nearly two hours later than Georgia on the McWhorter courts. But the Waves were definitely excited about getting their chance to play on the front courts against the home team in Sunday's quarterfinals.

"Our goal is obviously to win it, but a great thing is to play Georgia at Georgia, so that's really what we're most looking forward to," said Jenson Turner, who clinched the match for Pepperdine with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Alejandro Espejo at line 6. "I've heard from everyone that the Georgia fans are pretty intense, so actually we're pretty excited about it, not intimidated, just happy to be there, and we'll be free swinging."

After dropping the doubles point, Pepperdine had their work cut out if they were to win their 23rd consecutive match.

"We hadn't lost a doubles point since February and today it was kind of a shock to us," said Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg. "It took us a while to get that fight back in singles against a really good team."

The match was over three hours old when Pepperdine finally evened the match, with Mousheg Hovhannisyan taking 6-3, 6-4 decision at No. 4. When Finn Tearney earned a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win over Clifford Marsland of Tulsa at 2, Pepperdine had its first lead, but Steinberg admitted to some anxious moments before that.

"There's a point there where doubt creeps in," Steinberg said. "For me as the coach, you see the scores up there and you feel like you're losing control of the match a little bit. But we've won 23 matches in a row, and these guys have made me a believer more than any team I've ever coached. So as soon as we got even a little bit of momentum there, again I sit there and say, wow, these guys are going to do it again. It didn't take much for me to get back that belief we could do this now, win four singles."

Pepperdine got its third point from Alex Llompart at No. 3 singles and with leads at both 5 & 6, could finally exhale.

Steinberg, whose team could not compete in last year's team event due to a self-imposed post-season ban when scholarship issues were discovered during an audit, was eager to have his team compete in Athens.

"Since I was a little kid, it was something I always wanted to be a part of, so here we go," said Steinberg, who led Pepperdine to a National Championship in 2006 with a win over Georgia. "We've talked about it all year. We have four seniors and it's what these guys live for, to have that moment. It's a major challenge--not only do they have a great team, but it's here in Georgia. But that energy from the crowd, obviously it helps them, but I think it will help us too."

=========================================
#7 PEPPERDINE (26-6) def. #17-32 TULSA (20-9), 4-1 - McWhorter Courts

Head Coaches: Adam Steinberg (PEPPERDINE) and Vince Westbrook (TULSA)

Doubles

1. #11 Clifford Marsland/Ashley Watling (TULSA) def. #15 Alex Llompart/Finn Tearney (PEPPERDINE), 8-6

2. Grant Ive/Tristan Jackson (TULSA) def. Sebastian Fanselow/Jenson Turner (PEPPERDINE), 9-8(4)

3. Hugh Clarke/David Sofaer (PEPPERDINE) def. Japie De Klerk/Alejandro Espejo (TULSA), 8-3

Singles

1. #8 Sebastian Fanselow (PEPPERDINE) vs. #117 Japie De Klerk (TULSA), 6-4, 5-6, unfinished

2. #30 Finn Tearney (PEPPERDINE) def. #97 Clifford Marsland (TULSA), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2

3. Alex Llompart (PEPPERDINE) def. #77 Ashley Watling (TULSA), 6-4, 6-4

4. #109 Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEPPERDINE) def. Grant Ive (TULSA), 6-3, 6-4

5. Hugh Clarke (PEPPERDINE) vs. Tristan Jackson (TULSA), 3-6, 7-5, 5-0, unfinished

6. Jenson Turner (PEPPERDINE) def. Alejandro Espejo (TULSA), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Order of Finish

Doubles: 3,1,2

Singles: 4,2,3*

Stanford Men's Upset of Kentucky Ends with Default

2012-05-18T22:31:00.000-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

The third round match between the No. 6 seeds Kentucky and No. 11 Stanford started well for the Wildcats, but it ended badly, with Tom Jomby being defaulted at the end of his match with John Morrissey at line 4 to give the Cardinal a 4-1 victory and a place in Sunday's quarterfinals.

Kentucky won the doubles point without much resistance from Stanford, earning wins at 1 and 3, but when the singles began, an entirely different story unfolded, with Stanford taking charge by winning first sets in all six matches.

Bradley Klahn's 6-1, 6-2 win over Eric Quigley at 1--only Quigley's second loss in a dual match this year--brought Stanford even, and Ryan Thacher made it 2-1 with a victory over Alex Musialek at 2. Daniel Ho took a three-set win over Alejandro Gomez at 5 to get Stanford within 1 point of their second win over Kentucky this year, but the Wildcats had extended the matches at 3, 4, and 6 to a third set.

Jomby's behavior in his match with Morrissey had already put him in a hole in the third set, when he received a point penalty and then a game penalty to give Morrissey an early lead. Jomby fought back, but Morrissey was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set when he earned a match point at 40-30. Morrissey's first serve was long, and Jomby slapped the serve away. It hit the umbrella of the chair umpire, who determined that Jomby had intentionally sent the ball in her direction. Jomby pleaded his case, but the chair umpire called the assistant referee to the court, and he consulted with two members of the NCAA tournament committee. A few moments later, Morrissey was awarded the match by a score of 6-1, 3-6, 5-4, default. The committee issued the following statement regarding the default:

The chair umpire said factually that the player intentionally hit the ball at the umpire. The student-athlete had already been assessed a point and game penalty earlier in the match. The umpire recommended imposing the next point penalty, which was the default. The referee, as a matter of law, ruled that hitting a ball at the umpire is at least a code violation and since the next code violation was default, the match was over.

Kentucky head coach Dennis Emery wasn't watching at the time, and although he consulted with the assistant referee, he wasn't sure exactly what had happened.

"It's unfortunate for it to end that way," said Emery. "We put ourselves in a position where the official could determine the outcome of the match. It's pretty simple, you don't ever do that."

Klahn, who was watching the remaining three matches with his teammates and members of the women's team, also was mystified by the conclusion, but pleased to see his team season continue.

"It's unfortunate the match had to end like that," said the senior, who won the NCAA singles title here in 2010. "I wasn't paying that much attention, so I don't know any specifics. You never want a match to end like that, even though I'm happy we won.

"We came out very strong in singles. Kentucky really came at us in the doubles, put up a quick point before we even got going, but I was happy with the way guys responded. Looking up at that scoreboard and seeing six first sets certainly relaxes you a little bit. Not to the sense in taking your foot off the gas, but it's nice to see the teamwork showing up."

Stanford coach John Whitlinger expected Kentucky would mount a challenge even as his team posted first set after first set.

"Kentucky is a great team," said Whitlinger. "They beat Georgia here and we had a good match with them at the Indoor. They knew us and we knew them. We went back in after the doubles, which wasn't close, and we got them focused, and I told them to try to find that next gear, the one you don't think you have. You find it and let's go with it, and obviously the guys did. I can't say enough about how we competed."

Stanford will take on Virginia in Sunday's quarterfinals, another rematch from the Team Indoor, which Virginia won 4-1.

"Virginia's been perennial for a while now, and we have a lot of respect for them," said Whitlinger. "They are very solid from top to bottom and their doubles is good. We're just going to go out to practice tomorrow, get some plans together and see what happens on Sunday."

=========================================
#11 STANFORD (20-8) def. #6 KENTUCKY (28-6), 4-1 - McWhorter Courts

Head Coaches: Dennis Emery (KENTUCKY) and John Whitlinger (STANFORD)

Doubles (Order of finish: 3,1)

1. #7 Panav Jha/Eric Quigley (KENTUCKY) def. Denis Lin/Ryan Thacher (STANFORD), 8-2

2. #38 Alex Musialek/Anthony Rossi (KENTUCKY) vs. Bradley Klahn/John Morrissey (STANFORD), 4-5, unfinished

3. Alejandro Gomez/Tom Jomby (KENTUCKY) def. Jamin Ball/Matt Kandath (STANFORD), 8-2

Singles (Order of finish: 1,2,5,4*)

1. #36 Bradley Klahn (STANFORD) def. #3 Eric Quigley (KENTUCKY), 6-1, 6-2

2. #29 Ryan Thacher (STANFORD) def. #15 Alex Musialek (KENTUCKY), 6-1, 7-5

3. Matt Kandath (STANFORD) vs. #22 Anthony Rossi (KENTUCKY), 6-3, 3-6, 5-4, unfinished

4. John Morrissey (STANFORD) def. #80 Tom Jomby (KENTUCKY), 6-1, 3-6, 5-4, default

5. Daniel Ho (STANFORD) def. #111 Alejandro Gomez (KENTUCKY), 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

6. Robert Stineman (STANFORD) vs. Grant Roberts (KENTUCKY), 6-3, 4-6, 1-1, unfinished

Virginia Blanks Cal to Reach Quarterfinals

2012-05-18T21:13:00.001-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012--
Athens, GA--

For the first time in four years, the Virginia Cavaliers headed to the Sweet 16 without the top seeding. But as the No. 3 seeds in 2012, the Cavaliers appeared ready for another deep run after a convincing 4-0 win over No. 14 Cal in the third round of the NCAA Division I team championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Center.

Virginia took the doubles point with 8-3 wins at 1 and 3 , and five first sets in singles. Although Cal fought their way back in several of the matches, Justin Shane made it 2-0 with a win at 5 and Alex Domijan earned the Cavaliers third point with a victory at 2.

"We've been a pretty strong team in doubles all year, but they put us on our heels early," said Cal coach Peter Wright. "We didn't recover from that really in the whole match. That was an area we thought we had a good chance at, and they outplayed us from the start. In singles, I felt our guys battled back pretty well after we got behind early in a lot of the courts. I'm proud of the way my guys competed today, but tip your hat to Virginia."

Freshman Mitchell Frank clinched the match for the Cavaliers at No. 3, defeating Carlos Cueto 6-4, 6-4 in his first Sweet 16 match in Athens.

"It was fun today, to be able to close it out," said Frank, who is ranked No. 2 in singles nationally. "I think I have a little experience from the National Indoors at home, but it's very exciting to be here, big crowds, it reminds me a lot of Kalamazoo. I'm excited to be playing here and going into the quarterfinals."

Virginia coach Brian Boland believes his team has benefitted from their previous visits to the final four.

"I think we just continue to learn from each time we're here," said Boland, who said his team is suffering from no injuries this year. "I feel really good about this team, they've done some great things. They've stuck together, the leadership has been great with Jarmere and Drew and Phil...I don't think there's been anything different, other than just trying to continue to learn from each time here. We've been here so many times, the final four, and last year in the final, and that was a great match, so we just continue to learn and get better."

==========================================
#3 VIRGINIA (27-1) def. #14 CALIFORNIA (14-12), 4-0 - Henry Feild Stadium

Head Coaches: Brian Boland (VIRGINIA) and Peter Wright (CALIFORNIA)

Doubles

1. #5 Drew Courtney/Jarmere Jenkins (VIRGINIA) vs. #6 Nick Andrews/Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CALIFORNIA), 8-3

2. Julen Uriguen/Justin Shane (VIRGINIA) vs. #56 Carlos Cueto/Ben McLachlan (CALIFORNIA), 7-3, unfinished

3. Alex Domijan/Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA) vs. Gregory Bayane/Andrew Scholnick (CALIFORNIA), 8-3

Singles
1. #4 Jarmere Jenkins (VIRGINIA) vs. #37 Ben McLachlan (CALIFORNIA) , 6-3, 5-6, unfinished

2. #39 Alex Domijan (VIRGINIA) def. #58 Nick Andrews (CALIFORNIA), 6-1, 6-3

3. #2 Mitchell Frank (VIRGINIA) def. #70 Carlos Cueto (CALIFORNIA), 6-4, 6-4

4. Drew Courtney (VIRGINIA) vs. Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CALIFORNIA), 6-2, 4-6, 2-3, unfinished

5. #82 Justin Shane (VIRGINIA) def. Gregory Bayane (CALIFORNIA), 6-1, 6-3

6. Julen Uriguen (VIRGINIA) vs. Riki McLachlan (CALIFORNIA), 7-6(7), 2-0, unfinished

Order of Finish

Doubles: 1,3

Singles: 2,5,3*

Ohio State Advances to Quarterfinals with Tough 4-1 Victory Over Florida; UCLA Holds Off Ole Miss 4-1

2012-05-18T17:16:00.002-04:00

©Colette Lewis 2012
Athens, GA--

A golden set is beyond rare, but circumstances conspired to put Connor Smith in the position to win one, as well as an NCAA third round match for his Ohio State teammates. With No. 5 seed Ohio State leading No. 12 Florida 3-1, having gotten the doubles point and wins by Buchanan at No. 1 and Rola at No. 2, Smith was facing a cramping Michael Alford at 6, having taken a critical second set 6-1.

Alford received a time violation warning and a point penalty to close the second set, and when a limping Alford did not return to his position within the required time to open the third set, he received a game penalty. Smith won the next 20 points, earning a 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 victory and the Buckeye's fourth point. Given Alford's obvious distress, and the fact that Smith and Alford are both from the Tampa area and practiced together as juniors, there was no celebration, but the Buckeyes were happy to advance to the quarterfinals.

"I tried focusing on every point, trying to just block out what he's doing and take care of each shot the best you can," said Smith, who said he'd never been in a similar situation in a match, nor had he seen an opponent quite that immobile before. "It looks brutal."

Ohio State coach Ty Tucker was did admit to some concern when his team lost four first sets in singles.

"In the first 45 minutes to an hour in the singles, we were in some trouble," said Tucker. "But we put a lot time in on the practice court and have guys who like to compete and fight, so I thought if we could make a move in the second set of a match, I felt confident with Buchanan and Rola, we just needed to find one other point."

Florida coach Andy Jackson wasn't surprised how the match unfolded.

"The match kind of played out along the lines of what we thought it might," said Jackson. "They're very good at three spots--doubles and 1, 2. We felt like we had a chance at 4 and 5 and 6 was a toss up."

Jackson's team took the first sets at 3,4,5 and 6, but Ohio State managed to force third sets at three of the four. Alford, who had come into the match with a knee injury that had limited his practice time, was unable to sustain that effort over the course of two sets, and Jackson was blunt in his assessment of the way the match ended.

"He's had an issue with his knee, but let's be clear," said Jackson. "Connor was just tougher, Ohio State was tougher. It's isn't like we didn't have our chances, but congratulations to them."

Tucker admitted that although his team is over the loss in the Big Ten final to Illinois, he isn't.

"It gave us a lot of motivation in the last two weeks," said Buchanan. "We've had really good practices. It was a good wakeup call for the team."

"The guys tell me to get over it, but it still hurts," said Tucker, who lost to a Big Ten opponent for the first time in 93 dual matches. "They tell me enough of that talk, let's move forward, but I can't. They kind of pull me along and I lag behind."
==========================================
#5 OHIO STATE (34-3) def. #12 FLORIDA (16-10), 4-1 - McWhorter Courts

Head Coaches: Ty Tucker (OHIO STATE) and Andy Jackson (FLORIDA)

Doubles

1. #1 Chase Buchanan/Blaz Rola (OHIO STATE) def. Tripper Carleton/Nassim Slilam (FLORIDA), 8-1

2. #32 Devin McCarthy/Ille Van Engelen (OHIO STATE) vs. #64 Spencer Newman/Bob van Overbeek (FLORIDA), 5-6, unfinished

3. Peter Kobelt/Connor Smith (OHIO STATE) def. Mike Alford/Florent Diep (FLORIDA), 8-3

Singles

1. #10 Chase Buchanan (OHIO STATE) def. #42 Bob van Overbeek (FLORIDA), 6-3, 6-3

2. #9 Blaz Rola (OHIO STATE) def. #48 Tripper Carleton (FLORIDA), 6-4, 6-1

3. #67 Peter Kobelt (OHIO STATE) vs. #53 Nassim Slilam (FLORIDA), 2-6, 7-5, 0-1, unfinished

4. Ille Van Engelen (OHIO STATE) vs. #66 Spencer Newman (FLORIDA), 4-6, 5-2, unfinished

5. Florent Diep (FLORIDA) def. #85 Devin McCarthy (OHIO STATE), 6-4, 6-2

6. Connor Smith (OHIO STATE) def. Mike Alford (FLORIDA), 5-7, 6-1, 6-0

Order of Finish

Doubles: 3,1

Singles: 2,5,1,6*

==========================================

Ohio State will meet No. 4 seed UCLA in Sunday's quarterfinals. The Bruins, whose late surge and win over USC propelled them past Ohio State in the rankings, were able to overcome a determined Ole Miss team 4-1.

The No. 13 Rebels won the doubles point with wins at 1 and 3, but they couldn't sustain that momentum in singles. UCLA won all six first sets, and quickly took a 3-1 lead with wins by Puget at 5, Giron at 4 and Novikov at 3. It looked as if Dennis Mkrtchian would put the Bruins in the quarterfinals at 6, but he lost the second set tiebreaker, and Ole Miss's Nik Scholtz and Marcel Thiemann at 1 and 2 also reached third sets, with Bruins Clay Thompson and Nick Meister respectively.

"The Ole Miss boy (at 6) toughed it out and the other ones got close. I was starting to get really worried that they were going to do to us what we did to them last May," said coach Billy Martin, referring to UCLA's 4-3 win over the Rebels in the NCAA regional final last year, when the Bruins came back from 3-1 down to take a third set tiebreaker for the win. "So glad to get through it, and looking forward to another tough opponent in Ohio State."

Mkrtchian finished out his 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 victory over Chris Thiemann to give UCLA a 4-1 win, while the matches at 1 and 2 were both 2-2 in the third set.

UCLA dealt USC its only loss of the season and its first in over a year in April, and senior Nick Meister said that win has given the Bruins confidence.

"All the guys just pretty much believe they can beat anybody," said Meister. "There's not a team out there we can't beat. When we step on the court with these teams that are top 5 in the country, we believe we can win."

"Like Nick said, we certainly respect all these teams," said Martin. "But I think on a given day I think we feel we have a chance to beat an Ohio State. We're going to come out with the hope that we get a little lucky, and then maybe we can do it."

#4 UCLA (25-3) def. #13 OLE MISS (15-9), 4-1 - Henry Feild Stadium

Head Coaches: Billy Martin (UCLA) and Billy Chadwick (OLE MISS)

Doubles

1. #13 Jonas Lutjen/Nik Scholtz (OLE MISS) def. #44 Alex Brigham/Adrien Puget (UCLA), 8-5

2. #85 Nick Meister/Dennis Novikov (UCLA) vs. #17 Chris Thiemann/Marcel Thiemann (OLE MISS), 6-6, unfinished

3. Johan Backstrom/William Kallberg (OLE MISS) def. Marcos Giron/Warren Hardie (UCLA), 9-8(4)

Singles

1. #62 Clay Thompson (UCLA) vs. #14 Nik Scholtz (OLE MISS), 7-6(8), 2-6, 2-2, unfinished

2. #16 Nick Meister (UCLA) vs. #20 Marcel Thiemann (OLE MISS), 6-3, 4-6, 2-2, unfinished

3. Dennis Novikov (UCLA) def. #45 Jonas Lutjen (OLE MISS), 6-4, 6-2

4. #84 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #83 William Kallberg (OLE MISS), 6-2, 6-4

5. #46 Adrien Puget (UCLA) def. Johan Backstrom (OLE MISS), 6-1, 6-2

6. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) vs. Chris Thiemann (OLE MISS), 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2

Order of Finish

Doubles: 1,3

Singles: 5,4,3,6*