No. 16 Auburn Downs Southern Miss, 6-1
AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn’s 16th-ranked men’s tennis team remained unbeaten in 2012 as they defeated Southern Miss, 6-1, on a chilly Friday afternoon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Tigers improved to 5-0 on the season (3-0 at home), continuing their best start to a campaign since beginning the 2007 season with a 6-0 mark. Southern Miss fell to 2-2.
“I thought Southern Miss was a better team than we played last year,” Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. “I thought we showed some signs of rust from two weeks without a match. We’ve got to get better if we want to get where we want to be at the end of the year. Sunday (against South Florida) is going to be a very tough match. They may be 0-4, but we know how good they are, and we need to be ready.”
The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead, sweeping the three doubles matches. The No. 3 pairing of Dennis Lengsfeld and Lucas Lopasso took down Michael Elortegui and Andrew Goodwin, 8-5, just a few moments before Daniel Cochrane and Alex Stamchev finished off Inaki Belloso and Matt Frost, 8-2, to clinch the doubles point. Andreas Mies and Lukas Ollert had to fight hard for the win on court two, but they were able to outlast Paulo Alvarado and Juan Escobar, 8-6.
In singles, the 18th-ranked Mies made quick work of Matt Frost with a 6-1, 6-1 win on court one. Ollert earned a win at No. 4 singles when his opponent, Belloso, retired with an injury to give Auburn a 3-0 lead. Ollert had just won the first set, 6-4. Shortly thereafter, the Tigers clinched the win as Stamchev remained unbeaten in singles play in the spring (5-0) at the No. 2 position with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alvarado.
Lengsfeld made it a 5-0 Auburn lead with a 6-3, 6-2 win at the No. 3 singles position over Escobar. Southern Miss got on the board on court six as Auburn’s Rafael Rondino fought his way back from a huge early hole, but fell in a second-set tiebreaker to Goodwin, 6-1, 7-6 (4). And the No. 5 singles match went to a third-set super tiebreaker, ultimately won by Lopasso to finish out the day with a 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (12-10) win over Jovan Zelkovic.
The Tigers will wrap up the two-match homestand Sunday as they play host to No. 56 South Florida. The match is slated for a noon start at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, and admission is free.
Georgia Beats Texas 4-2 To Advance At National Team Indoors
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Sixth-ranked Georgia battled past 14th-ranked Texas 4-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoors here Friday.
Georgia (7-0) claimed a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The No. 3 team of Lilly Kimbell and Maho Kowase finished first with an 8-4 decision over Krista Damico and Elizabeth Begley. The team point was clinched by the No. 2 duo of Lauren Herring and Kate Fuller as they edged Aeriel Ellis and Cierra Gayatan-Leach 8-6. The No. 1 contest was halted with the Bulldogs leading 7-6.
In singles, the Longhorns (3-2) claimed the first set in four of the six matches. Texas evened the contest when freshman Lina Padegimaite upset the 56th-ranked Fuller 6-1,6-3 at No. 5. It snapped a nine-match winning streak for the Bulldog sophomore as her record fell to 18-5. The Bulldogs went back on top 2-1 courtesy of a 6-0,7-5 win by Kimbell at No. 6. Meanwhile second-ranked Chelsey Gullickson and Kowase headed to a third set in their matches at No. 1 and 4 respectively. Elsewhere, Herring was up a set and leading 4-1 in the second at No. 2 while Gilchrist was looking to force a third set against Damico at No. 3.
Herring, ranked No. 52, closed out Scott 7-6(2),6-2 to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage. It was the eighth consecutive win for the freshman and moved her record to 19-4. Texas junior Aeriel Ellis made it 3-2 with an upset of second-ranked Gullickson in the feature match, 6-0,3-6,6-3. It was only the third loss this season for the Bulldog senior who dropped to 20-3. At that point, Kowase held a 5-2 lead over Gaytain-Leach in the third set while Damico and Gilchrist were tied at 2-all.
Kowase would clinch the victory for the Bulldogs, outlasting Gaytan-Leach 6-7(4),6-4,6-2. She improved to 12-4 this year. Gilchrist’s match was halted with her leading 4-2.
“Texas was very impressive right from the start,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. “They came out on fire in singles. The No. 6 match with Lilly was the only one we had in our favor early. They were really strong, but this is a fighting team. They did a great job of that today, just fighting and finding ways to get into matches.
“For us, every match is a new match. This is a great event, and you have to come out ready to play every match. I am just very proud of our players. I thought we played well in doubles today. At No. 3 we lost a tough game to tie it at 4-4, and then got down in the next game, but found a way to win. That was a pivotal game in that match, because they really got on a roll after that. At No. 1 we were down the entire time, but picked it up at the end to stay in it.”
Up next, Georgia will face seventh-ranked California in the quarterfinals Saturday at noon. The Golden Bears blanked No. 11 Miami 4-0 in their round of 16 match.
Georgia Men's Tennis Downs William & Mary, 6-1
ATHENS, Ga. - The fourth-ranked University of Georgia men’s tennis team improved to 5-0 on the 2012 season with a 6-1 win over William & Mary Friday afternoon at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts.
The visiting Tribe falls to 6-6 on the season with the loss.
Georgia won doubles for the fifth straight time while sophomore Hernus Pieters captured the match clincher for the first time this season. Redshirt freshman Eric Diaz saw the first dual match action of his career, winning at No. 6 singles.
“It’s great to see the guys playing so well,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “We played really well in doubles and I thought we played a very complete match. The guys have a lot of confidence right now heading into our match Tuesday vs. Georgia Tech. They beat us last year for the first time in 24 years. The guys are wanting it and we know it will be a big challenge.”
Georgia got rolling in doubles with an 8-3 win from Diaz and Campbell Johnson, playing together for the first time in a dual match and the fourth time overall, beating Ben Hoogland and Adrian Vodislav at No. 3. That pair was followed by Pieters and Sadio Doumbia at No. 1, who beat John Banks and Jacob Braig also 8-3 to clinch the point. The Bulldogs completed the doubles sweep as Ignacio Taboada and Nathan Pasha won 8-6 over Anton Andersson and Will Juggins at No. 2.
Heading to singles, the Bulldogs went up 2-0 as 10th-ranked Doumbia topped Vodislav 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 for his team-leading 22nd win of the season. He was followed up by KU Singh’s 6-1, 6-2 win over Andersson at No. 2 to make it 3-0, before Pieters added the clinching victory with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Hoogland at No. 4.
The Bulldogs kept rolling and made it 5-0 as No. 26 Taboada downed Banks by a 6-2, 7-5 score at the No. 3 spot, before the Tribe earned their lone point at No. 5 when Juggins edged Campbell Johnson 6-4, 6-4. Georgia completed the day with a win for Diaz at No. 6, with the Athenian going 6-2, 6-2 over former Clemson standout Robert Pietrucha for his first career win in dual match play and his 10th win of the season.
Georgia will remain at home for one more, hosting in-state foe Georgia Tech on Tues., Feb. 14 at 4 p.m., before the squad heads to the ITA National Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 17-20.
No. 3 Duke Holds Off No. 23 Rebels 4-3
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In their first ITA National Team Indoor Final 16 appearance in more than a decade, the No. 23 ranked Ole Miss women’s tennis team had everyone talking as they took the top seed, No. 3 ranked Duke, down to the wire before falling in a four hour 4-3 match here Friday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The Rebels will face No. 14 ranked Clemson Saturday at 9 a.m., while Duke advances to the quarterfinals to play Michigan.
Duke (6-0) came in as the obvious favorite, but the Rebels (4-2) gave the Blue Devils all they wanted for four hours.
For the third time in four matches, the decision came down to No. 6 singles and sophomore Vivian Vlaar. Vlaar was the queen of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, rallying to clinch the team’s spot in Charlottesville, and she almost did it again. Down a set (6-3) and with the overall match squared at 3, Vlaar won a second set tiebreaker 7-6(2) against Duke’s Annie Mulholland. Mulholland broke to start the final set, but Vlaar was able to break back for 3-3, before Mulholland won the final three games to clinch the win.
“We played well against a great team, and had opportunities to win,” head coach Mark Beyers said. “I think we definitely turned some heads today, we just came up a little short. Duke is ranked No. 3 in the nation for a reason, but it was a great team effort. We can be proud of that. If we can get a little more consistent in the lineup, we’ll be in great position for the rest of the year. We look forward to playing another great team tomorrow.”
For the first time this year, the Rebels fell behind early by losing the doubles point. Duke won 8-1 at No. 2 doubles and 8-2 at No. 3 to take a 1-0 lead. The Rebels led the No. 1 match 7-4 when the point was clinched.
In singles, Duke won three first sets, as did the Rebels. In one of those matches where the Blue Devils won the first set, Ester Goldfeld defeated Erin Stephens 6-2, 7-5 to make it 2-0. Stephens had a chance to win the second set up 5-2, but as Beyers said, “We got a little nervous there and Goldfield started playing better.”
Moments later, senior Abby Guthrie put the Rebels on the board with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win over 66th-ranked Mary Clayton at No. 5 singles. Freshman Julia Jones played a solid match defeating Duke’s Rachel Kahan 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles to even the match.
Duke regained the lead when Beatrice Capra, the No. 3 ranked player in the nation, handed 12th-ranked senior Kristi Boxx a 6-4, 6-1 loss at the top spot. Capra made it to the third round of the U.S. Open this past year and was the No. 1 recruit coming in this year.
Sophomore Caroline Rohde-Moe , ranked No. 54, remained undefeated at No. 2 singles and squared the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win against 38th-ranked Hanna Mar, setting up the final outcome on court six.
UF Women's Tennis Blanks Pepperdine, Improves to 5-0
STANFORD, Calif. – The top-ranked University of Florida women’s tennis team blanked Pepperdine and earned its fourth sweep in five matches this season, as the two programs met at the Taube Tennis Center on the campus of Stanford University Friday afternoon.
The Gators (5-0) won their 26th consecutive match dating back to last season thanks to taking an early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point for the 25th straight time.
Junior All-Americans Allie Will and Lauren Embree, as well as sophomore Sofie Oyen won their respective singles matches in straight sets, while Joanna Mather, Olivia Janowicz and Alexandra Cercone captured three-setters to complete the sweep.
“It wasn’t the greatest match for us,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I think we all know we have to do a better job on Sunday (against Stanford). This season is a work in progress. We need to be tough. That’s how you win matches on the road.”
Will, ranked No. 3 in the country, was the first off the court as she defeated Pepperdine’s 72nd-ranked Ale Granillo, 6-1, 6-2. Will is a perfect 10-0 in overall singles matches this year and 93-10 in her career.
Embree was the next off the court, defeating Khunpak Issara, 6-1, 6-3 and giving Florida a 3-0 lead against the 27th-ranked Waves (2-2). Embree is now 71-11 in her singles career, including a 47-4 dual match mark.
Oyen provided the clinching victory with her 6-3, 6-4 decision over Ali Walters on court five. The win was Oyen’s eighth straight, as she remained perfect in dual match action this season.
Janowciz dropped her first set against Megan Moore, but came back strong in the final two sets to capture the 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory. Mather then followed with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win against Lorraine Guillermo, before Cercone capped the dual match results with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Arianna Colffer on court four.
Florida returns to action, continuing its two-match road swing on the West Coast, as the Gators battle second-ranked Stanford on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. It will be a rematch of the 2011 NCAA Championship team final also played at the Taube Tennis Center and won by Florida, 4-3.
“I’m very excited about the challenge,” Thornqvist said of Sunday’s match against the Cardinal. “Stanford’s a great team. I think they’re healthy now. We certainly have our work cut out for us.”
Hogs win fifth straight with 5-2 win over OU
FAYETTEVILLE – From start to finish, the 32nd-ranked Razorback women’s tennis team was in control of its match with the 31st-ranked Sooners of Oklahoma and earned the 5-2 victory on Friday afternoon at the Billingsley Tennis Center. Arkansas earned a tough doubles point after it came down to the final match, before winning four singles matches, all in straight sets.
“We’re continuing to get better starts,” head coach Michael Hegarty said. “Our intensity level today was our best of the season. That’s something that’s really making a difference for us. We have continue to build on it as we have another tough match on Sunday with Yale.”
During the doubles matches, it looked like Arkansas and Oklahoma would be in for a fight to the finish. That theory held true as Oklahoma won the first doubles match at court three, followed by Arkansas winning at court two. Seniors Emily Carbone and Stephanie Roy battled Oklahoma’s Nicole Long and Whitney Wofford for the entire match, before finally breaking OU’s serve and getting that cushion needed to win the match by a score of 8-5.
With one doubles win each, the first team point came down to the top court. Sophomore Laurie Gingras and junior Claudine Paulson were facing the No. 22 team of Marie-Pier Huet and Whitney Ritchie and were giving one of the top teams in the country a solid match. Much like court two, game-winners went back and forth before the Hogs found the opening they needed to break the Sooner’s serve. Paulson and Gingras took the 8-6 win for their first victory over a ranked team this year and gave Arkansas the early 1-0 lead.
In singles, the Hogs were in good position to get their fifth straight win after clinching the doubles point and got off to a fast start with wins at courts one and six. Carbone won her second match as the Hogs number one player with a straight set, 6-3, 6-3, win over Huet. The win was not only her second at the top spot, but also her ninth of the year overall. Soon after at court six, Gingras was dominate in her match from start to finish as she dispatched Wofford, 6-3, 6-2. The win was her tenth of the year and makes her the second Razorback behind Paulson with 10 singles wins this season.
“Laurie has done a lot of good things so far this year,” Hegarty said. “She’s played with a great spirit and its great to see her blossoming and winning matches as a result of that.”
With those first two singles wins now in their back pockets, the Hogs were sitting on a nice 3-0 lead needing only one more singles win to take the team match. Oklahoma started to make its comeback at court two as Ritchie defeated Roy, 6-1, 6-3, but the Hogs were already in control at court four with Lukomskaya. The Hog senior was actually down in her first set, 5-2, with Abbi Melrose before she started her comeback. Game by game Lukomskaya crept back in before finally she found herself with the 6-5 lead. She went on to win the set, 7-5 and then nearly shutout the second set, 6-1, to give Arkansas the victory. With the win, Lukomskaya now sits on the .500 mark for singles wins as she is 8-8 on the year.
Arkansas finished the scoring with one more singles win at court five from freshman Catherine Parenteau, who defeated Nicole Long, 7-6(5), 6-3, for her ninth win overall and sixth of the dual season. Parenteau now sits tied at the top of the team with those six dual wins.
The Razorbacks will return to the courts on Sunday when they take on 25th-ranked Yale at 11 a.m. in the Billingsley Tennis Center. Live stats and the live blog will be available during the match. A full recap and complete results will be posted online following the match.
#17 Lady Vols Blank #5 Baylor, Advance to National Indoors Quarterfinals
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - For the fourth time in school history, the 17th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vol tennis team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, upsetting third-seeded and fifth-ranked Baylor, 4-0, on Friday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
“I think our team came into the tournament confident, especially after beating Michigan,” co-head coach Sonia Hahn-Patrick said. ”They just all believed they could win today and that made a huge different. If you don’t have a full team that believes in themselves, it doesn’t matter. I’m just so proud of them. They played great and competed really hard.”
The win marks Tennessee’s fifth in a row after dropping the first two matches of the season, in which the Lady Vols were shorthanded.
UT (5-2) will play No. 16 USC, who defeated No. 8 North Carolina in the first round, at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
“We played good doubles today,” co-head coach Mike Patrick said. “It is an important point, but we won it against them last year, so we knew we had to come out and play just as well in singles. We have played indoors a lot more than they have this season, and we have played a very strong schedule. I am really proud of our kids.”
For the seventh time in as many matches, Tennessee tallied the doubles point. Natalie Pluskota and Caitlyn Williams improved to 5-2 with an 8-1 win over Baylor’s Jordaan Sanford and Diana Nakic, while No. 18 Sarah Toti and Brynn Boren won their 10th consecutive match together, defeating Megan Horter and Nina Secerbegovic, 8-5.
Toti and Boren, now 7-0 in dual-match play, have clinched the doubles point in five of seven matches.
“Especially, when you play teams in the top 10 or top 20, it’s paramount that you win the doubles point,” Hahn-Patrick said. “It carries the momentum on into the singles. It just gives you a lot more confidence and just lets you relax a little bit more in the sense that you know you have to get three points opposed to your opponents having to get four.”
The Lady Vols used singles victories via Caitlyn Williams, Kata Szekely and Boren to record the win, two of which came against Baylor (9-2) players that were 10-0 in dual-match action heading into the contest.
Williams, yet to lose consecutive matches this season, was the first to the finish line in singles, recording a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Jordaan Sanford, who came into the match with a 14-5 (6-1) record.
After trailing 1-2 in her first set, Szekely caught fire en route to remaining undefeated (5-0) in dual-match play. After winning five of the next six games in set one, Szekely rolled to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Sona Novakova, who entered Friday 11-1 (10-0).
Leading 3-0, it was a race between doubles partners Boren and Toti to clinch Tennessee’s win, with both a game away from clinching their matches.
Boren, ranked 27th, won the race -- and her fifth consecutive match, knocking off Nina Secerbegovic by a score of 6-0, 6-3. Secerbegovic also came in with an impressive 10-1 (10-0) record. Boren’s fifth-straight win matches a season-high, and she leads the Lady Vols with 13 overall wins.
The Lady Vols have never advanced to the National Indoor semifinals, and can do so with a win vs. USC Saturday. UT is 0-2 all-time against USC, the last meeting coming in the 2000 ITA National Indoors.
Hogs suffer first loss at hands of Purdue
FAYETTEVILLE – The No. 72 Razorback men’s tennis team had an opportunity to win its sixth straight match Friday evening, but could not capitalize on winning the doubles point and dropped its match with Purdue, 5-2, at the Billingsley Tennis Center. Arkansas had the early 1-0 lead after winning two doubles matches, but then was able to only score one singles win from senior Matt Walters for its only other point of the match.
“Hats off to Purdue,” head coach Robert Cox said. “We had them down early and couldn’t take advantage of it. They battled back to win the match and we showed our immaturity today. We have to learn how to close out matches and we obviously didn’t do that today. I’m proud of our guys in how they didn’t quit and they kept playing to the very end. Our guys will bounce back against Stetson on Sunday. I have full confidence in them.”
Arkansas clearly had the momentum early during the doubles matches. With a raucous crowd behind them, the Hogs bounced back from a tough loss at court three to win at court two. Junior Gregoire Lehmann and senior Nikolas Zogaj handedly defeated Pawel Poziomski and Evan Hawkins, 8-3, for their second win of the year. With both teams earning one doubles match each, the first team point came down to the epic match at court one.
Junior Hall Fess and Walters were going for their twelfth win of the year and twelfth win in their last 13 matches, but were given quite the match from Szymon Tatarczyk and Aaron Dujovne. Back and forth the match went until it was eventually tied at 7-all. Needing to win by two, Fess and Walters buckled down and broke Purdue’s serve in the next game to take the 8-7 lead. From there, Fess and Walters cruised in the sixteenth game to win the match, 9-7, and give Arkansas the 1-0 lead.
As the Razorbacks took the early lead, it seemed early in the singles matches that the Hogs were in control. Winning first sets on courts two, three and five, Arkansas was in good position to possibly win those three matches in straight sets. Unfortunately, Purdue was able to force third sets in two out of those three matches with the only straight set winner for Arkansas coming at court three from Walters. His 6-3, 6-2 win over Dujovne was good for his 11th of the year and the reigning SEC Player of the Week is now 11-2 in singles overall.
Purdue went on to win the remaining five matches taking five straight points from Arkansas for the win. The loss drops Arkansas to 5-1 on the year and moves Purdue up to 4-2. Arkansas will get short rest before its next match on Sunday afternoon against Stetson. That match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and will be played at the Billingsley Tennis Center. Live stats and the live blog will be available during the match. A full recap and complete results will be posted online following the day’s play.