#10 LADY VOL TENNIS BUILDS LEAD, WINS AT #64 OHIO STATE, 4-3
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 10th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vol tennis team tallied the first four points to clinch its eighth win in nine tries, defeating No. 64 Ohio State, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Varsity Tennis Center.
“They did what they needed to do to win,” co-head coach Sonia Hahn-Patrick said. “It’s been a long couple weeks for us travel-wise. Everyone gave great effort. When you’re playing this many matches on the road, sometimes your execution is not where you want it to be. They did what they needed to do and came out on top.”
Despite moving up a spot in the lineup for the second consecutive match, Tennessee’s (8-3) top half (No. 34 Brynn Boren, No. 37 Kata Szekely and Caitlyn Williams) all won for the second time this weekend to secure the victory over the Buckeyes (3-5).
As Ohio State controlled the bottom three courts, Williams provided the clinching point for the second consecutive match.
“They did great,” Hahn-Patrick said. “I think it shows the experience of the top of the lineup. Although Caitlyn is a freshman, she had a lot of international experience. She’s played a lot of different players and understands what she needs to do on the court. I think that showed.”
With senior Natalie Pluskota sidelined with a foot injury, Tennessee’s doubles teams were also bumped up a spot again, but had the Lady Vols remained dominant in the initial point.
Extending their program record, the Lady Vols got on the board first by securing the doubles point for the 11th-straight time to open the season.
Brynn Boren and Sarah Toti continued to show why they’re ranked second in the country, recording an 8-0 victory over OSU’s top duo of Kara Cecil and Kelsey Dieters.
For the pair, it was just another day at the office, improving to an SEC-best 11-0 in dual-match play and winning their 14th consecutive overall. But for Toti, this one carried increased significance.
With 22 overall doubles wins, the three-time SEC Freshman of the Week has already moved into UT’s Top 10 for doubles victories as a rookie. Alison Ojeda and Meiling Parks are also tied for 10th with 22 wins as freshmen.
Szekely and Joanna Henderson notched their third doubles-point clincher of the season with an 8-3 victory over Kelsey Haviland and Noelle Malley. Williams and Jesse Grace fell, 8-4, to Fidan Manashirova and Gabby Steele after the point had been decided.
For the second time this weekend, Szekely cruised in singles. After recording a 6-3, 6-1 win at Indiana on Friday, the junior made it even easier Sunday, defeating No. 123 Fidan Manashirova 6-1, 6-2. Szekely is 7-2 against ranked opponents in 2011-12.
Sporting a 2-0 lead, the Lady Vols’ next two points came in almost simultaneously. Boren finished first with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Cecil, while Williams clinched Tennessee’s eighth win with a 6-1, 6-2 tilt over Haviland.
Boren leads the team with 15 overall singles wins, and has won consecutive matches from the No. 1 position after coming into the weekend with a two-match losing skid.
Williams, meanwhile, maintained her team-high three-match winning streak and is 2-0 from the third spot in the lineup.
With a 4-0 lead and the match in hand, the Lady Vols dropped contests on courts four, five and six. Henderson lost her second straight after winning five in a row, Toti lost for just the second time in eight matches and Grace fell to 0-2.
Although the Buckeyes finished strong, Tennessee returns to Knoxville as winners of its first two road matches.
“I think it was a matter of just being mentally tougher and just trying to be more consistent,” Hahn-Patrick said. “Ohio State is a very athletic team. You just have to kind of weather the storm and get past the first few balls with them. Once we got through the first few shots, they started to break down. “
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Georgia Falls To USC At National Indoors
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. --- The No. 4 Georgia men’s tennis team won the first set in four of six singles matches against top-seeded and top-ranked Southern California, but the loss of the doubles point and a late rally by the Trojans proved too much as the three-time defending NCAA champions bounced the Bulldogs in the ITA National Indoor semifinals Sunday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Georgia (8-1) will return from Charlottesville to open the outdoor portion of the 2012 season next Monday.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the loss, but I am very encouraged,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “I am happy with the way we fought and competed. USC really came out strong in doubles, and the last couple matches we haven’t played as well in doubles as we have been, and we’ll need to take a look at that. Even when we lost the doubles point, we came out and won the first set in four singles matches and had a lot of momentum. We just needed to close a little stronger. We had momentum, but we did not put USC in the hole. We had a quick win at No. 6 to tie it, but we didn’t make them trail again after that. That’s something we can do a better job of, but we’re encouraged because I think we know by now that we have what it takes to beat anybody in the country. We can compete with any team for our conference championship and for the NCAA championship in May.”
Southern Cal raced out in doubles on its way to snagging the early point with wins on courts 1 and 2. First off was the 28th-ranked tandem of Steve Johnson and Yannick Hanfmann, who went 8-3 over No. 7 Wil Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux at the top position. They were followed by a win on court two, as Daniel Nguyen and Ray Sarmiento defeated Sadio Doumbia and Hernus Pieters, 8-2, to claim the all-important doubles point. Georgia’s third team of Ignacio Taboada and Nathan Pasha were leading Emilio Gomez and Roberto Quiroz 7-6 at the time, but the match was called after the Trojans clinched to take the early 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs responded in a big way, however, claiming first-set victories on courts 2, 3, 4, and 6 to take back the momentum. The freshman Pasha, who went 3-0 on the weekend including two match-clinching victories, didn’t need as much time on Sunday as he finished his match 6-3, 6-1 over 86th-ranked Quiroz on court six to tie things at 1-1.
Georgia still had leads on three of the five other courts, but Southern Cal was the next winner as No. 36 Hanfmann defeated No. 72 Pieters, 6-3, 6-4, to push the Trojans back in front, 2-1. At No. 4, Gomez rallied from a 6-3 loss in the first set to take next two over Taboada, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to give USC a 3-1 lead, and 11th-ranked Steve Johnson – the defending NCAA singles champion – completed his 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 21 Doumbia at No. 1 singles, using a late break in the second set to secure Southern Cal’s final point to seal the 4-1 victory.
The Bulldogs had their chances on the remaining courts, with KU Singh up a set and 5-1 in the second on No. 3 and Spencer in the third set with Ray Sarmiento, but the Trojans pulled out the win before Georgia could make it any closer.
Georgia leaves Charlottesville with a 2-1 record on the weekend following wins over No. 13 California in the first round and No. 5 Florida in yesterday’s quarterfinal match, standing at 8-1 on the season.
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Alabama Women’s Tennis Sweeps SMU
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The 21st-ranked Alabama women’s tennis team defeated the SMU Mustangs, 7-0, on Sunday at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility. With the win, the Crimson Tide moves to 3-1 on the season, while the Mustangs fall to 0-4 on the year.
In doubles play, Alabama started off strong with an 8-0 win on court three by freshman Yasmine Ebada and senior Taylor Lindsey over SMU sophomore Kris Roberts and freshman Perri Anderson. The Tide clinched the doubles point on court one where junior Alexa Guarachi and senior Courtney McLane downed Mustang junior Edyta Cieplucha and senior Heather Steinbauer, 8-4. Court two finished moments later where Alabama sophomore Mary Anne Macfarlane and junior Antonia Foehse completed the sweep with an 8-1 victory over SMU freshman Elena Fayner and senior Ashley Turpin.
In singles play, freshman Yasmine Ebada continued her undefeated run with a 6-0, 6-0 win on court six over SMU sophomore Erika Marschall. Alabama freshman Emily Zabor put the Tide up 3-0 with her 6-0, 6-0 win on court five against Mustang freshman Perri Anderson. Guarachi clinched the match for Alabama with a 6-1, 6-2 win on court two against Steinbauer. Tide sophomore Alex Clay finished next with a 6-1, 6-3 win over SMU sophomore Kris Roberts. Despite a late rally by Fayner on court three, McLane grinded out a 6-1, 7-5 victory to put the Tide on top 6-0. Macfarlane rallied from losing the first set 6-2, and down love-40 in the final game to win the final two sets against Cieplucha 6-3, 6-4 to give Alabama the 7-0 victory against SMU.
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Austin clinches match against UAB
Despite being down match point in the deciding match, the Vanderbilt Commodores held on for a 4-3 win over the UAB Blazers Sunday afternoon, with Gonzales Austin clinching the win in a third set.
“Clearly, we are learning from past experiences,” said Head CoachIan Duvenhage. “Just because we were down matchpoint, doesn’t mean it’s over. We’ve been on the other side before, and it’s awesome to see the guys stick it out today. We’re learning.”
The Blazers got out to an early lead over the Commodores, winning the doubles point on courts two and three, but Austin and Anton Kovrigin prevented the sweep in doubles, beating Tom Puetz and David Zimmerman 8-6 on court one. The pair came back from being down 4-5 in the set.
But the Dores shook off the rust for their singles matches.
Charlie Jones extended his winning streak to six matches, and twelve straight sets with his 6-0, 6-2 win over David Zimmerman in the No. 1 position. Jones evened the match up at 1-1 for the Commodores, getting them on the board quickly in singles.
Freshman Jeff Offerdahl followed Jones, extending his own winning streak to five straight matches with his 6-3, 7-5 win on court four. Joe Dorn followed up, building the Vanderbilt lead to 3-1 with his 6-4, 7-5 win.
UAB pushed the Dores to 3-2 when Chris Helliar defeated Anton Kovrigin in two 7-5 sets, leaving the match up to Austin and Suresh Eswaran. Eswaran, getting his first collegiate duals action, dropped his match 6-2, 6-2 against junior Tom Puetz.
Meanwhile, Austin, who dropped his first set 6-4 and was behind in his second set, forced a tiebreaker. He found himself down 5-3 in the tiebreaker, but battled back to win 7-6(9-7), forcing a third set.
Austin, tied 1-1 in his third set, broke serve to go up 2-1. He took the next three games to go up 5-1. Manlow then held serve to make it 5-2. And with the match down to the wire, Austin clinched the win for the Dores with a 6-2 third set.
“I believed in my game, and I knew that if I stuck it out when I was down match point, I could win for my team,” said Austin. “I’m glad I could contribute for the team today, and I’m proud of the way the other guys played.”
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Gators fall to Duke to Wrap-Up ITA National Indoor Championships
Charlottesville, Va. – The fifth-ranked University of Florida men’s tennis team wrapped-up play at the 2012 ITA National Indoor Championships with a 4-0 loss to the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils, this afternoon at the Boar’s Head Tennis Club in Charlottesville, Va.
The Gators fell behind early 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles, Duke’s Henrique Cunha and Fred Saba made quick work of Nassim Slilam and Billy Federhofer, 8-3. The other two doubles bouts were tight, back-and-forth affairs, however UF could not come out on top as the No. 3 doubles team of Andrew Butz and Bob van Overbeek fell by a narrow 8-6 margin to wrap-up the doubles point for the Blue Devils. UF’s No. 2 doubles team of Tripper Carleton and Spencer Newman were left on the court trailing by a 6-5 margin.
In singles, Duke again got off to a fast start winning at No. 1 and No. 2 singles in straight-sets as van Overbeek and Carleton fell to top-20 opponents by the scores of 6-2, 6-0 and 6-4, 6-2, respectively.
Duke closed out the match shortly thereafter as Torsten Wietoska beat Slilam, 6-4, 6-3, at the No. 3 singles spot. The Gators were trailing in the three matches still on the court as play was halted.
With the loss the Gators fall to 7-3 in dual action, while the Blue Devils improved to 9-1.
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VOLS LOSE HEARTBREAKER TO PEPPERDINE
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Tennessee Volunteers’ bid for their first win against a top-20 opponent began slowing down once the match hit the four-hour mark at Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The Vols grabbed a close doubles point and Taylor Patrick won at the bottom of the lineup, but Pepperdine turned the tide by taking four three-setters to beat Tennessee 4-2 in consolation at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
The match ended Tennessee’s 0-3 stay at the national tournament.
The doubles point was close from the start. Freshman duo Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reesee beat Finn Tearney and Alex Llompart 8-5 on court 1, but Pepperdine equalized the score with a 9-8 win by Hugh Clarke and David Sofaer against Jarryd Chaplin and Peter Nagovnak.
Like Saturday, everything came down to Edward Jones and Brandon Fickey on court 2. Against UCLA, Jones and Fickey lost in a tiebreaker, but this time the story was different as Tennessee’s No. 2 team beat Sebastian Fanselow and Jenson Turner 9-8 (4).
The Vols started off solidly in singles, taking three of six first sets, including Fickey against No. 26 Tearney on court 2. Patrick extended Tennessee lead to 2-0 with a quick 6-1, 7-5 victory against Turner on court 6, snapping a five-match losing streak.
Once Patrick left the court, all five remaining matches went three sets as Libietis, Chaplin and Reese rallied to win their second sets on courts 1, 3 and 4.
Tearney rallied to beat Fickey 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to put Pepperdine on the board. The Waves tied the match a few minutes later as Fanselow broke Libietis early in the third set to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on court 1.
From there, Pepperdine took the lead when Llompart defeated Chaplin on court 4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. Mousheg Hovhannisyan, ranked No. 58 nationally, clinched the match for Pepperdine by beating Reese 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 on court 3.
Jones was serving at 5-5 in the third set on court 5 against No. 78 Hugh Clarke when the match ended. Jones had match points at 5-4 also served for the match in the second set.
The road gets no easier for the Vols as the team heads to the annual Blue-Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala. In the team’s first outdoor event, the eight-team event is stacked with solid teams including Auburn, Mississippi State, Boise State, Clemson, Cornell, Alabama and Texas Tech.
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Stephen F. Austin Edges Past MSU 4-3 In Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Despite pulling out some hard-fought victories in singles late in the match, Mississippi State's Lady Bulldog tennis was unable to overcome Stephen F. Austin Sunday afternoon, falling 4-3.
Sunday's competition began on a high note with an impressive doubles win as Alexandra Perper and Olesya Tsigvintseva paired up to notch an 8-5 win against the nation's 17th-ranked duo of Jithmie Jayawickerema and Alina Shazhko at the No. 2 position. The SFA duo was previously undefeated in seven matches this season.
Unfortunately, the remainder of the doubles competition did not follow suit and for the first time this spring MSU was unable to claim the doubles point. On court 1, Ekaterina Iakovleva and Naomi Tran fell 8-5 to Tereza Bekerova and Malena Gordo of SFA. Roseline Dion and Petra Ferancova also fell 8-5 against Antonia Kolovou and Elena Kordolaimi for the Jacks at
No. 3.
In singles play, things were pretty close early on in several of the matches, but SFA gained early momentum as MSU's Ferancova fell 6-1, 6-0 to SFA’s Kolovou at No. 5. The 'Jacks followed that with another victory as Shazhko took down MSU’s previously undefeated freshman Tran 6-2, 6-2 on court 4, giving the Jacks a 3-0 lead.
Competition stiffened greatly on the remaining four courts, as tiebreakers were played in the first sets on courts one, two, and six.
The tiebreaker on court six resulted in a 7-6(4) first-set loss for Lady Bulldog Dion. Dion then ended up falling 6-1 in the second set, allowing Stephen F. Austin to clinch the day’s victory over the Lady Bulldogs at 4-0.
As play continued, State got its first point of the afternoon when Tsigvintseva finished off a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jayawickerema at the No. 3 spot.
To end the day, MSU would claim three-set wins at the top two positions in the lineup. At No. 2, Iakovleva rallied from a one-set deficit to win 6-7(6), 6-1, 1-0(2) over Kordolaimi. At No. 1, Perper held off a challenge from Bekerova to post a 7-6(5), 4-6, 1-0(4) triumph.
When asked about today’s mach, head coach Daryl Greenan replied, “Our top three did a great job today picking up solid wins. Unfortunately we came up one match short. We had our chances in doubles but didn't capitalize. Les and Sasha played with the right kind of energy in doubles today and it paid off with a nice win over a ranked team.”
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Lady Tigers Tennis Continues Winning Streak at San Diego
SAN DIEGO -- The LSU Lady Tigers Tennis team (4-2) won its third consecutive match this season over the University of San Diego Toreros (1-5) in a 4-3 result that came down to a third-set tiebreaker, won by Ebie Wilson, on the deciding court Sunday at the Hogan Tennis Center.
I am very proud of the way this team played today,” LSU head coach Tony Minnis said. “The way they fought back from being against the ropes on multiple courts was commendable. This is a great win against a really good San Diego team, so hopefully it gives us the confidence we need going into the rest of the season as we look to keep improving.”
Olivia Howlett and Yvette Vlaar started things off on a positive note in doubles as they rolled 8-1 over Cara Brown and Idil Haciriafoglu on court two.
Whitney Wolf and Keri Frankenberger battled back from a 3-5 deficit to clinch the doubles point and win their third consecutive match together 8-6 against Stephanie Hoffpauir and Juliette Coupez on court one.
Kaitlin Burns and Ariel Morton then fell to Anna Depenau and Maja Sujica 8-4 on court three.
Yvette Vlaar kept the momentum going in singles as she cruised 6-2, 6-4 over Haciriafoglu.
Kaitlin Burns then lost 6-2, 6-4 to Depenau on court three and Keri Frankenberger was defeated by Sujica on court five 6-3, 6-1 to even the match at two points all.
Coupez took out Wolf on court two 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 giving San Diego a 3-2 advantage.
Howlett battled back from a set down to vanquish Hoffpauir in her first career court one match 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to even the match at 3-3. The senior has won 12 of her last 16 matches dating back to October 2011.
It all came down to court four, which had already entered a third set when Howlett finished things off on court one. Wilson outlasted Marite Raygoda 4-6, 7-5 (3) 7-6 (5) in a match filled with multiple breathtakingly long rallies as the Mobile, Ala., product overcame falling down an early minibreak in the final set tiebreaker to give LSU the match victory in dramatic fashion.
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No. 6 UK Ends National Indoors with Loss to No. 9 Stanford
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The sixth-ranked University of Kentucky men’s tennis team received an impressive singles win from junior No. 13 Anthony Rossi, but could not overcome dropping the doubles point and a slow start in singles, falling to No. 9 Stanford 4-1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men’s Team Indoor Championships on Sunday. The tournament is being played at the Boar’s Head Country Club in Charlottesville, Va.
The loss completes a 1-2 weekend for Kentucky (10-2) at the national event. UK earned a win in the opening round, defeating No. 11 Texas A&M 4-0. The Wildcats dominated the match with the Aggies, taking the doubles point and getting singles wins from Rossi, Tom Jomby and Alejandro Gomez. The win punched Kentucky’s ticket to the quarterfinals of the event for the first time since it advanced to the semifinals in 1997. UK would fall in the quarterfinals in heartbreaking fashion, dropping one of the closest matches of the tournament to No. 3 Ohio State 4-3. The Buckeyes advanced to the finals of the event Sunday when they defeated four-time defending champion No. 2 Virginia.
“Very disappointing loss for us,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “We felt like we were as good as Stanford but they just played better than we did tonight. That is very difficult for us to accept. You like your chances in the match when your No. 3 player defeats a former NCAA Singles champion, but we couldn’t finish off the win tonight. We had some opportunities in doubles again, but weren’t able to close the door and then we got off to a slow start in singles on courts four, five and six. That really put us in a deep hole and we weren’t able to do what we had to do to get out of that.”
Rossi was the highlight of the match for the Wildcats, posting an impressive 6-4, 6-4 win over Bradley Klahn, who is a two-time singles All-American and the 2010 NCAA Singles champion. Rossi, who is ranked 13th in the nation in singles by the ITA, went 3-0 in singles action on the weekend after defeating Junior Ore of Texas A&M and Peter Kobelt of Ohio State in straight sets. The native of Marseille, France is now 26-2 on the season for Kentucky, and has won 16 consecutive singles matches dating back to the fall season.
While Rossi earned the lone point in the match for UK, the Wildcats were in position to post wins on courts one and two when Stanford earned the decisive fourth point of the match. Senior No. 6 Eric Quigley had dropped the first set in a tiebreaker to No. 29 Ryan Thacher, but was up 6-5 in the second set. Fellow senior Alex Musialek lost his first set but was dominant in the second set and up 5-4 in the third set at No. 2 singles over Matt Kandath.
Stanford’s Denis Lin, John Morrissey and Robert Stineman won their matches at courts four, five and six, respectively, to give the Cardinal the win.
Stanford claimed the doubles point over the Wildcats behind wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. The Cardinal used a come-from-behind effort at No. 1 doubles when the duo of Ryan Thacher and Klahn, who advanced to the NCAA Doubles finals last season, won five consecutive games to earn an 8-5 win over Quigley and Panav Jha. Kentucky would earn its lone doubles point when Musialek and Gomez scored a dominating 8-4 win over Morrissey and Stineman at No. 3 doubles. The doubles point would hinge on play at court two between Rossi and Jomby and Stanford’s Kandath and Lin. Both teams held serve for much of the match, until Kandath/Lin grabbed a break at 7-7 and then held serve to earn the 9-7 win.
Stanford is now 8-4 on the year with wins over several top teams, including No. 7 Baylor in the first round Friday. The Cardinal lead the all-time series with Kentucky 9-3 dating back to their first meeting in 1987.
“We have worked really hard over the last four years to put ourselves in position to compete for national championships,” Emery said. “We are going to have to think about how we will approach some of the opportunities we missed this weekend and get them corrected moving forward.”
UK 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 Thursday, 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 being Southern California, the top-ranked team 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.
The 2012 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships, 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.