Kentucky Men’s Tennis Rolls No. 11 Texas A&M to Advance to Quarterfinals
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Behind a dominating performance in both doubles and singles action, the No. 6 University of Kentucky men’s tennis team posted an impressive 4-0 victory over No. 11 Texas A&M on Friday, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men’s Team Indoor Championships at the Boar’s Head Sport Club in Charlottesville, Va.
Kentucky (10-0) will face No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday at 9 a.m. ET in the quarterfinal matchup. The two schools have met annually since 2009 with the Buckeyes earning 5-2 wins in both 2009 and 2010. Last year, then-No. 12 Kentucky fell in a dual match to third-ranked Ohio State 4-3 in Lexington. The all-time series between the two schools is tied 11-11, dating back to the first meeting in 1933.
The Wildcats started the match against Texas A&M (5-3) by claiming the doubles point with two wins over ranked tandems. UK’s top doubles duo of senior Eric Quigley and sophomore Panav Jha, who are ranked 55th in the nation in doubles, started the winning with a 8-6 victory over No. 55 Jackson Withrow and Junior Ore. Kentucky would clinch the doubles point at court two, when sophomore Tom Jomby and junior Anthony Rossi took down No. 36 John Lewis and Colin Hoover in extra frames 9-7. Play at No. 3 doubles was in a tiebreaker when UK clinched the doubles point.
“The doubles point was the key to the match,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “We have struggled at times this season in doubles, dropping some tight doubles points, so it was big for us to win a tight doubles point today. That really gave us a shot of adrenaline. I thought that was the best doubles we have played all year.”
UK continued to perform well in singles action, winning first sets on four of the six courts. Sophomore Alejandro Gomez, who is ranked a career-best 87th in the nation in singles, gave UK a 2-0 lead in the match with a dominating 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles over Lewis. A few moments later, fellow sophomore No. 79 Jomby put Kentucky up 3-0 with a straight-sets 6-4, 6-3 win over Jeremy Efferding at No. 4 singles. Rossi, who is ranked a career-best 13th in the nation in singles, clinched the decisive fourth point for Kentucky when he defeated Ore 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
Play on the other three singles courts was halted when Rossi clinched the match. Quigley, who is ranked sixth in nation in singles, was in a decisive third set at No. 1 singles with No. 15 Alexis Klegou, while No. 20 Alex Musialek had won his first set and was up 3-2 in the second over Hoover. Texas A&M led on court six as Withrow had taken the first set from Jha 6-4.
“When we play that well in singles, especially at courts four and five, we are very difficult to beat,” Emery said. “It really puts the pressure on their guys at 1-3 to have to beat our guys, who are all top 20 players.”
Kentucky earned its berth into the event with a victory over No. 22 Tulsa in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. This is the third straight year UK has played in the National Indoor Championships. Last year, UK lost to No. 5 Texas in the opening round before defeating top-15 ranked Texas Tech and top-30 ranked Washington in the consolation bracket. In 2010, Kentucky lost to No. 3 UCLA in the first round before taking down No. 13 Illinois in the second round. UK would finish the event with a loss to top-10 ranked Stanford.
On Tuesday, the ITA announced the latest edition of singles and doubles rankings with UK represented well. Kentucky is one of only two schools in the nation to have six singles players ranked with the other Southern California, who is ranked first in the nation. Three UK players are ranked in the top 20 in the nation in singles, marking the first time in school history the Wildcats have accomplished that feat.
Texas A&M (5-3) entered the weekend ranked 11th in the nation having already taken down one SEC foe this season in No. 14 Mississippi State. A&M has also defeated No. 14 Texas, No. 67 Purdue, Louisiana-Lafayette and UT-San Antonio. Kentucky is now 1-2 all-time against Texas A&M dating back to the two school’s first meeting in 1983.
The 2012 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship, the signature indoor team tournament of the college tennis season, features 16 of the top men's programs in the nation. Joining UK at the event are each of the top-14 teams in No. 1 USC, No. 2 Virginia, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Baylor, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Stanford, No. 10 Duke, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 12 Pepperdine, No. 13 California and No. 14 Texas. No. 16 Auburn has the 15th seed in the event, while No. 20 Tennessee is the 16th seed.
Georgia Men’s Tennis Opens National Indoors With Win
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. --- The fourth-ranked Georgia men’s tennis team kicked off its stay at the 2012 ITA National Team Indoor Championship with a rout of No. 13 California Friday afternoon at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va. With the win, the Bulldogs advance to the quarterfinals vs. the winner of today’s match between Florida and Pepperdine.
“I feel great about today,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “We really got pushed – Cal is a great team, very deep, and they have lots of weapons. Their doubles is very good at all three positions, so I think our guys just really played a great match today. Hopefully we will keep this level of tennis going forward. What impressed me the most was how we were embracing the fact that Cal was a big challenge. We played a talented team and played well against them. Tomorrow we have a great challenge either way, so we will regroup and rest. I know our guys are excited about the opportunity and we want to see them perform at their best.”
The Bulldogs (7-0) won doubles for the seventh time this season before snagging three quick singles victories for the clinch. Georgia drops Cal to 4-3 on the season. The Bulldogs today evened the all-time series to 3-3 between these teams, with today marking their first meeting since the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
Doubles began with an 8-4 win at No. 3 for the team of Nathan Pasha and Ignacio Taboada over Andrew Scholnick and Riki McLachlan. That duo is now 5-0 on the season. The clinching win then came by the same 8-4 score at No. 2, as Hernus Pieters and Sadio Doumbia beat 16th-ranked Carlos Cueto and Ben McLachlan to move to 4-0 as a team.
The match on court No. 1 between seventh-ranked Wil Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux and fourth-ranked Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt was suspended at 5-5 after Georgia pulled out the point.
The Bulldogs then turned to singles, where No. 43 Taboada was the first to finish as he defeated Konigsfeldt, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 4 to give Georgia the 2-0 lead. The lead stretched to 3-0 just moments later when 55th-ranked KU Singh posted a 6-1, 6-4 decision over No. 44 Ben McLachlan. The victory was sealed by the freshman Pasha at No. 6, as he defeated Ahmed Ismail, 7-5, 6-3, for his first match clincher of his career as Georgia walked away with the 4-0 shutout in the opening round.
Doumbia was close to earning a win of his own at No. 1 singles as he led Andrews, 6-1, 5-2, and was serving when the match was suspended. Also unfinished were Spencer at No. 2 vs. 67th-ranked Cueto and Pieters at No. 5 vs. Gregory Bayane.
The Bulldogs are in search of their third National Indoor title and ninth national championship overall. Georgia last won this event in 2007.
Georgia will play either Florida or Pepperdine tomorrow at noon in the quarterfinals. Live scoring and the live chat will be up and running beginning just before first serve.
#10 Lady Vol Tennis Cruises at Indiana, 5-2
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The number that precedes `Tennessee' has gotten lower, but that didn't change the recent trend of results as the Lady Vols played their first match as the 10th-ranked team in the country.
Tennessee (7-3) won for the seventh time in its last eight matches, defeating Indiana, 5-2, Friday afternoon at the IU Tennis Center.
"They played very prepared," co-head coach Sonia Hahn-Patrick said. "When we've come to IU, it's been a difficult place to play on the road. I thought they were all mentally prepared to come out and compete hard."
The Lady Vols endured several other firsts against the Hoosiers (7-2) on Friday, also playing their first true road match, their first contest against an unranked opponent and their first with this lineup (Boren-Szekely-Williams-Toti-Henderson-Grace).
With senior Natalie Pluskota sidelined Friday with a foot injury, UT's lineup shifted ahead a spot in both singles and doubles - and gave freshman Jesse Grace the opportunity to make her debut.
"I think it definitely gives the younger ones a lot of confidence," Hahn-Patrick said. "It's not something they've had to experience, having a person at the top of the lineup having to go out. Our older ones understand that. They came prepared and I think they did a good job of helping our freshmen get prepared. I think they did well today."
Extending their program record, the Lady Vols got on the board first by securing the doubles point for the 10th-straight time to open the season.
The second-ranked duo of Brynn Boren and Sarah Toti, along with Joanna Henderson and Kata Szekely, both won to put Tennessee in front, 1-0.
UT also recorded straight-set victories in singles from Boren, Szekely, Toti and Caitlyn Williams as the Lady Vols scored the first five points of the contest.
Henderson and Szekely inserted the first piece of the puzzle, defeating Kayla Fujimoto and Evgeniya Vertesheva, 8-1, to improve to 6-1 on the season. IU's No. 2 tandem entered the match 20-4 (6-2).
Grace and Caitlyn Williams, playing their first match together at the No. 3 position, fell 8-2 to Leslie Hureau and Alecia Kauss, leaving the doubles point up for grabs.
For just the third time this season, the doubles point came down to the final court and for the second time the pressure was on the second-ranked pairing in the country.
No problem for Boren and Toti, who won their 13th consecutive match together and improved to 10-0 in dual-match play with an 8-4 advantage over Carolyn Chupa and Katie Klyczek. Boren and Toti have notched a team-high seven doubles-clinching points.
While Toti finished last in doubles, it was just the opposite in singles. The reigning three-time SEC Freshman of the Week won her sixth match in seven attempts, elevating the Lady Vols to a 2-0 lead. With a 6-3, 6-3 win over Carolyn Chupa, who was ranked 79th to open the season, 10 of Toti's 12 wins as a freshman have been in straight sets.
Coming off consecutive losses for the first time this season, Szekely returned to her winning ways, improving to 3-0 this season from the No. 2 position. Szekely defeated Evgeniya Vertesheva 6-3, 6-1 to give Tennessee a 3-0 advantage.
Complying with the theme of the day, Williams notched her first career match-clinching point, defeating Katie Klyczek 6-2, 6-3, to ensure UT's seventh overall win. Winning consecutive matches for the first time this season, Williams is 4-0 in weekend openers.
After the match was decided, Boren won her first career contest from the No. 1 spot, also snapping a two-match losing skid. Boren increased her team-high in singles wins with her 14th against Leslie Hureau (6-2, 6-2).
Indiana scored victories on courts five and six, providing a final score of 5-2. Six of UT's seven wins have come by at least three points.
The Lady Vols continue their weekend road trip through Big Ten country with a drive up to Columbus, Ohio to take on 64th-ranked Ohio State on Sunday (Noon ET). Tennessee has defeated OSU on 10 consecutive occasions, and is 14-1 all-time against the Buckeyes.
Ohio State is led by 123rd-ranked Fidan Manashirova in singles.
"We just need to be mentally prepared and play aggressive like we did today," Hahn-Patrick said. "They're a good team and a different kind of team than Indiana. We're just going to have to come ready to play."
Gators Drop Pepperdine 4-3 in Opening Round of ITA National Indoors
Charlottesville, Va. – The fifth-ranked University of Florida men’s tennis team used a pair of straight set victories by Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) and Mike Alford (Tampa, Fla.) to earn a hard fought, 4-3, victory over No. 12 Pepperdine in the opening round of ITA National Indoors this afternoon at the Boar’s Head Sports Club on the University of Virginia campus. With the victory, UF improves to 5-1 on the season and will advance to the quarterfinals tomorrow afternoon.
“We have had a good start to the season, but we don’t have a win that is better than this one,” said head coach Andy Jackson. “Pepperdine is a good team, and they will have a good season. They have several losses this season, but they have all come to upper echelon teams. I am pleased to have such a good win like this one.”
The Orange and Blue got off to a quick start on the day as the No. 2 doubles team of Tripper Carleton (Naples, Fla.) and Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) earned a quick 8-3 victory over Sebastian Fanselow and Jenson Turner.
Despite the quick start in doubles, the Gators dropped the next two doubles contests as Slilam and Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) dropped a close 6-8 decision at No. 1 doubles and Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) fell in a tiebreaker 8-9 (4-7) to give the doubles point to the Waves.
“I told them the same thing I would have said to them if we had won the doubles point: there are still six points available in singles,” Jackson said. “We played well in doubles, and I thought we did a good job of not getting discouraged.”
UF picked up a quick point to even the match at No. 4 singles as Florent Diep (Paris, France) made quick work of Alex Llompart 6-4, 6-0. The Waves regained the advantage as Fanselow defeated van Overbeek at No. 1 singles 6-4, 6-2. The Gators quickly took back momentum after Newman earned a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Hugh Clarke at No. 5 singles.
The Florida momentum was short-lived as No. 26-ranked Finn Tearney handed Carleton his first dual loss of the season at 6-0, 6-3 to give the Waves a 3-2 lead with two matches left on the courts.
The Gators drew even when Slilam won a hard fought 6-3, 7-5 victory at No. 3 singles over 58th-ranked Mousheg Hovhannisyan, making the contest at No. 6 singles the dual deciding match.
At No. 6 singles, Alford took the first set by a tight 6-4 margin. The second set was a back and forth affair with Alford eventually coming out on top with a 7-6 (4) victory to clinch the match for the Orange and Blue.
The Gators return to the court tomorrow at noon when they face No. 4 Georgia in the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs advanced to the quarters after a 4-0 victory over No. 13 Cal.
Tigers top Dores, 4-3
The No. 37 Memphis Tigers forced the Dores to the last court on Friday, defeating the No. 43 Vanderbilt Commodores 4-3 in a dog fight of a match.
Memphis took an early lead, sweeping the three doubles matches. Johnny Grimal and Leon Nasemann set Vanderbilt back early with an 8-6 win over Alex DiValerio and Jeff Offerdahl. The Tigers clinched the point just a few minutes later, stopping a rally attempt by Charlie Jones and Anton Kovrigin.
Blake Bazarnik and Gonzales Austin, battling it out on the first court, but were bested in the end 8-5.
With the Tigers leading 1-0, the teams headed to singles play. Jones swiftly tied things up with his 6-0, 6-2 win over David O’Hare.
Austin gave the Dores the edge, winning in split sets over Joe Salisbury to give Vanderbilt a 2-1 lead. But Memphis tied the match as Connor Glennon beat Kovrigin in straight sets, taking the second in a 7-5 tiebreaker.
Offerdahl, taking the court in the No. 6 position, followed in Jones’ shoes, netting back-to-back sets for a 6-1, 6-0 win.
Now up 3-2, it came down to freshman Joe Dorn and sophomore Bazarnik’s courts.
Dorn battled back after dropping his first set 6-1 to even his match with a 6-2 second set. Dorn forced a third set tiebreaker, before losing the last two points 9-7.
With the match tied 3-3 and the win on the line, Bazarnik went into his third set, but the grueling match took its toll and he dropped it 6-1.
Memphis remains perfect on the season, extending their record to 6-0, while the Commodores fall to 4-4.
Vanderbilt will host UAB on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
Gamecocks Register 5-2 Win at San Diego
SAN DIEGO (Feb. 17, 2012) — After nearly three weeks off from competition, the No. 26 South Carolina women's tennis team (3-1) registered a 5-2 win at No. 35 San Diego (1-4) on Friday at the Hogan Tennis Center in San Diego.
“I knew it was going to be tough; they’re a good team,” associate head coach Katarina Petrovic said. “They were really feisty and they fought a lot, but I felt confident throughout the whole match. I thought we had the whole match under control.”
South Carolina claimed the doubles point thanks to wins on courts one and two. Jaklin Alawi and Dijana Stojic finished first on court one with an 8-2 triumph over Stephanie Hoffpauir and Idil Haciraifoglu. After Alawi and Stojic held a 3-2 lead after five games, the duo ran off five straight games to pick up the win and stay undefeated this spring. The Toreros answered quickly with Maja Sujica and Anna Depenau’s 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles versus Adriana Pereira and Katerina Popova.
At two, Dominika Kanakova and Anya Morgina held a 6-4 advantage over Laura Claus and Juliette Coupez after 10 games. USD managed to hold serve and then got a break against Morgina to make it 6-all and seize the momentum. The Gamecocks, though, regrouped and broke serve for a 7-6 lead heading to the changeover. Carolina got up 40-30 on Kanakova’s serve after Morgina hit a forehand volley winner at the net. On match point, Kanakova ripped a forehand winner crosscourt after Coupez tried to poach the net looking for a ball down the line.
Stojic grabbed the Gamecocks’ second point of the match, winning 6-2, 6-4 against Coupez at the No. 3 position in singles. Stojic actually trailed 3-0 to start the second set before coming back to win it 6-4. Morgina put South Carolina ahead 3-0 after winning 6-4, 6-4 against Hoffpauir on court one to remain perfect in 2012.
San Diego rallied to win the next two matches on court, first taking the No. 6 singles match with Maja Sujica’s 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Pereira. Next, Depenau defeated Popova in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to cut the deficit to just one.
Kanakova stepped up to provide the Gamecocks with the fourth and clinching point for the match at No. 5 singles against Marite Raygada. After winning the first set 6-3, Kanakova took a commanding 5-2 lead in the second, but Raygada came back to make it 5-4. Kanakova then regained her composure and served out the match to move to 3-0 this spring.
“I think we were fighting a lot,” Kanakova said. “We had to deserve the points we won. I felt from the beginning of today that we were going to win because there was a good, pumped up atmosphere. I had fun and I’m glad we are finally playing some matches again.”
The final match at No. 2 singles saw Alawi defeat Claus in a third set super tiebreaker. Alawi won the first set 7-5 despite trailing 5-4 and then Claus answered with a 6-4 win in the second that came just minutes after Kanakova secured the team victory. In the super tiebreaker, Alawi dominated from the opening point, cruising her way to a 10-2 win.
The Gamecocks will be back in action Saturday in San Diego when they take on Loyola Marymount at 4 p.m. ET at the Hogan Tennis Center.
Hogs scratch across one, but fall to No. 23 Tulsa
TULSA, Okla. – Junior Mike Ward scratched across the only point for the No. 72 Razorback men’s tennis team Friday night as the team suffered its second loss of the season with a 6-1 setback at 23rd-ranked Tulsa. Ward played his second straight match at the No. 4 position and ended up a winner again after outlasting Tristan Jackson, 6-7(4), 6-4, 1-0(4).
Ward’s win is his seventh of the year and fourth in dual play. The England native has quietly built up a solid spring record so far as he only has one loss which came in the Razorbacks’ defeat at the hands of Purdue a week ago. With the loss, Arkansas falls to 6-2 and Tulsa moves up to 5-5 with the win.
The Hogs were facing one of the best all-around doubles teams in the nation in the Golden Hurricane and early on it seemed Tulsa would be the one to easily secure the first point with a win at court two. However, with that win, the final two courts were as close as could be. Both courts traded games and matched each other point for point and both eventually were taken into tie-breakers.
The Hog duo of junior Hall Fess and senior Matt Walters, who had won nine straight coming into today’s match, took the 3rd-ranked team of Ashley Watling and Clifford Marsland to 8-all, but could not come out on top in the final game as they lost 7-2 to drop the match at court one and give Tulsa the doubles point. Even with the loss, Fess and Walters still hold a stellar record this season at 13-2 and are winners in nine of their last ten.
Even with the doubles point already decided the final match at court three was played out and it was also locked in a tie-breaker. Sophomores Mike Nott and Manfred Jeske prevented the doubles sweep and gave Arkansas their first win of the night with a 9-8(5) win over Japie De Klerk and Lucian Gheorghe. Nott and Jeske are now 6-1 this season and have four wins in dual play.
Unfortunately, with any momentum that Arkansas had from that doubles match win, Tulsa had an answer at the start of singles. The Golden Hurricane went on to win five straight singles matches and clinched the match at court three. Walters was prevented of extending his win streak to more than seven matches with his loss at No. 3, but he will continue to lead the team in wins as he is 12-3 on the year and 6-1 in dual play. The Hogs did not go home empty handed with Ward’s win on the final court and prevented the sweep of the overall match.
The Razorbacks do not have another match until next Friday when they travel to Santa Clara, Calif., to take on the Broncos on Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. They will face Pacific University on the following day at noon.