Each player had to play in at least 3 matches to qualify and to make the All Tournament Team each player's team had to at least advance to the quarterfinals (similar to the ITA's rules for its All Tournament Team). FYI, DNF = Did Not Finish.
College Tennis Today All Tournament Team:
Singles:
MVP: Alex Ghilea (Oklahoma) - he clinched the semifinal win against Baylor by coming back from a set and 5-2 down and clinched the championship against USC by knocking off the guy, Max De Vroome, that finished their season the year prior in the NCAA Championship. 1 of only 2 guys that went 4-0 on the weekend in singles (Eric Johnson was the other).
1. Yannick Hanfmann (USC) - The Trojan senior went 2-0 with 2 DNFs and is now 7-0 in dual match play and 14-2 overall since the fall.
vs. #26 Andrew Harris (OKLA) 4-6, 6-4, 4-4 DNF
vs. #17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) 4-6, 6-3, 1-4 DNF
def. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU) 7-6(4), 6-1
def. #81 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) 6-1, 7-6(4)
2. Axel Alvarez (Oklahoma) - The Sooner junior went 3-0 with 3 ranked wins and 1 DNF and only dropped 1 set and is now 9-0 in dual match play and 22-4 overal since the fall.
def. #24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
def. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) 6-4, 6-4
def. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
vs. #78 Stefan Lindmark (Miss) 3-6, 6-4, 5-6 DNF
3. Dane Webb (Oklahoma) - The Sooner senior went 3-0 with 1 DNF and only dropped 1 set and is now 9-0 in dual match play and 17-5 overall since the fall.
def. #20 Jonny Wang (USC) 6-0, 6-4
def. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU) 6-4, 6-0
vs. Brett Clark (UNC) 6-4, 3-6, 3-0 DNF
def. Gustav Hansson (Miss) 6-2, 6-4
4. Eric Johnson (USC) - The Trojan senior went 4-0 without dropping a set and is now 8-1 in dual match play and 12-7 overall since the fall.
def. Spencer Papa (OKLA) 6-4, 6-1
def. Nick Wood (UGA), 6-1, 6-1
def. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 7-5, 6-4
def. Roman Trkulja (PSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Alex Ghilea (Oklahoma) - The Sooner sophomore went 4-0 and clinched the team's final 2 matches and is now 7-0 in dual match play and 23-4 over since the fall.
def. Max De Vroome (USC) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
def. Mate Zsiga (BU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0
def. #104 Jack Murray (UNC) 7-5, 6-1
def. Zvonimir Babic (Miss) 7-5, 6-3
6. Nick Crystal (USC) - The Trojan sophomore went 2-0 with 2 DNFs and runs his dual match record to 7-0 and overall record to 18-3.
def. Jose Salazar (OKLA) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4
def. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA), 6-2, 6-4
vs. Kevin Metka (OSU) 6-7(5) 3-2 DNF
vs. Thomas Hanzlik (PSU) 6-2, 5-3 DNF
Doubles:
1. Ben Wagland/Austin Smith (Georgia) - This Bulldogs duo had only played together once before this weekend (2/25/13) and yet they managed to beat the #1, #11, and #12 doubles teams in the country.
def. #1 Hanfmann/Quiroz (USC), 6-4
def. #11 Tim Kopinski/Ross Guignon (Illinois) 7-6 (4)
def. #12 Max Schnur/Ashok Narayana (Columbia) 6-3
2. Max De Vroome/Eric Johnson (USC) - The Trojan duo went 3-0 with 1 DNF and is now a perfect 6-0 on the year during dual match play.
def. Spencer Papa/Andrew Harris (Oklahoma) 6-1
vs. Eric Diaz/Nathan Pasha (Georgia) 5-5 DNF
def. #36 Hunter Callahan/Chris Diaz (Ohio State) 6-2
def. Alex Fennell/Matt Barry (Penn State) 6-4
3. Vince Schneider/Felipe Rios (Baylor) - This Bear pair is now 9-1 on the year and 5-1 in dual match play.
def. Jose Salazar/Alex Ghilea (Oklahoma) 6-1
def. Mitchell Frank/Collin Altamirano (Virginia) 6-3
def. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DUKE) 6-2
Poll Results - Who Was the MVP of the NTIs
14 (46%)
|
12 (40%)
|
4 (13%)
|
Votes so far: 30
Honorable Mention
1. Soren Hess-Olesen (Texas) - The Longhorn senior went 3-0 without dropping a set.
def. #13 Winston Lin (Columbia) 6-2, 6-1
def. #13 Winston Lin (Columbia) 6-2, 6-1
def. #81 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) 7-5, 6-2
def. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU) 6-4, 6-2
1. Nicholas Alvarez (Duke) - The Blue Devil freshmen went 2-0 with 1 DNF. Both wins were over top 18 guys.
vs. #59 Nicholas Scholtz (MISS) 6-4, 3-4 DNF
def. #18 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
def. #10 Julian Lenz (BU) 6-4, 6-2
1. Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) - The Bruin sophomore went 2-0 with 1 DNF but was up a break in that one.
def. #18 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
def. #59 Nicholas Scholtz (MISS) 7-5, 6-3
vs. #6 Brayden Schnur (UNC) 6-2, 6-7(3), 4-3 DNF
2. Ryan Shane (Virginia) - The Cavalier junior went 3-0 and only dropped 1 set in beating 3 top 67 opponents.
def. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) 6-3, 6-4
def. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
def. #48 Nick Chappell (TCU) 7-6(1), 6-3
2. Jared Hiltzik (Illinois) - The Illini junior went 2-0 with 1 DNF. Both wins were over top 30 players.
def. #30 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) 6-2, 6-4
def. #21 Austin Smith (GA) 6-1, 6-1
vs. #114 Filip Bergevi (CAL) 3-6, 5-4 DNF
3. Nathan Pasha (Georgia) - The Bulldog senior with 2-0 with 1 DNF.
vs. #20 Jonny Wang (USC), 3-6, 6-2, 3-3 DNF
def. #37 Tim Kopinski (ILL) 7-5, 7-5
def. Max Schnur (CU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Adrien Berkowicz (Texas) - The Longhorn senior went 3-0 only dropping 1 set which was in a tiebreak.
def. Max Schnur (Columbia) 6-2, 6-3
def. Matt Barry (PSU) 6-2, 6-4
def. Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2
4. Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) - The Illini freshman went 3-0 without dropping a set and clinched against Illinois.
def. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 6-4, 6-4
def. Nick Wood (GA) 6-2, 6-4
def. JT Nishimura (CAL) 7-5, 6-1
5. Aleks Vukic (Illinois) - The Illini freshman went 2-0 with 1 DNF and had match point in the DNF.
def. #110 Hunter Callahan (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
vs. Ben Wagland (UGA) 6-1, 4-6, 6-6 (6-5) DNF
def. Oskar Wikberg (CAL) 6-1, 6-4
6. Kevin Metka (Ohio State) - The Buckeye senior went 2-0 with 1 DNF and clinched the Round of 16 match.
def. Brian Page (ILL) 6-3, 6-2
vs. #49 Nick Crystal (USC) 7-6(5) 2-3 DNF
def. John Mee (Texas) 5-7, 6-1, 7-5
6. JC Aragone (Virginia) - The Cavalier sophomore went 2-0 with 1 DNF and that one came at #5 singles.
def. #75 Robert Kelly (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
def. Vince Schneider (BU) 6-3, 6-4
vs. #85 Facundo Lugones (TCU) 6-4, 4-6 DNF (#5 singles)
Thoughts From The Days I Attended (Saturday/Sunday)
Positives;
- Parking was plentiful and free
- Very nice facility with 10 times the seating that was available in Houston
- The seats with chair back were very comfortable and you could easily follow the 2 immediate matches in front of you which were either #2 and #3 or #4 and #5 depending on which set of seats you were in (grandstand seating was just set up on courts 1-6)
- The video qualify was pretty good on the 6 courts and having sound is always a major plus.
- The volunteers that were working in the lobby and between the courts were very friendly and attentive.
- Ball kids were in place to keep the balls moving
- Nice to see such large crowds on both Saturday and Sunday during all the matches - easily 5 times the turnout from 2014 in Houston.
- The matches moved along very quickly since there was just 5 minutes of downtime between doubles and singles along with the no-ad, no warmup rules in place. (Also listed under negatives depending on your point of view)
Negatives:
- There wasn't enough adequate communication/knowledgeable volunteers in place to relay scores from court-side to the main desk so live scoring could be updated in a timely manner. As a result of this the live scoring was slow to update on several courts and could be as many as 3 or 4 games behind and on a few occasions the live scoring had the wrong person winning sets only to only get corrected as the match finished up.
- With video set up on 6 courts it was surprising that they couldn't use those 6 courts for the finals so that way all 6 singles matches could have been shown. I get the logistics with moving some of the seating but still one had to wonder.
- The matches played on courts 9-14 had minimal seating which was more of a space issue that anything but if you wanted to watch those matches you had to secure 1 of about 10 chairs beside #1 singles or #4 singles.
- If you wanted to watch #5 and #6 singles on the back 2 courts the only way you could reach those courts was to cut between courts 2 and 3 and you could only do that when both were on a changeover. I believe this was the main issue on why scores weren't being reported very frequently on those 2 courts.
- The matches moved along very quickly since there was just 5 minutes of downtime between doubles and singles along with the no-ad, no warmup rules in place. It seemed like 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes was kind of the average if I had to ball park it.
As I was thumbing through the program and looking over each team's profile it was interesting to see the tenure that each coach has - here is the list below sorted by the most senior to the least senior:
Bid Goswami (Columbia) - 32nd year
Manny Diaz (Georgia) - 27th year
Manny Diaz (Georgia) - 27th year
Peter Wright (California) - 22nd year
Billy Martin (UCLA) - 22nd year
Billy Martin (UCLA) - 22nd year
Sam Paul (North Carolina) - 21st year
Matt Knoll (Baylor) - 19th year
Ty Tucker (Ohio State) - 16th year
Michael Center (Texas) - 15th year
Brian Boland (Virginia) - 14th year
Peter Smith (USC) - 13th year
Brad Dancer (Illinois) - 10th year
Ramsey Smith (Duke) - 7th year
John Roddick (Oklahoma) - 6th year
David Roditi (TCU) - 5th year
Jeff Zinn (Penn State) - 4th year
Toby Hansen (Ole Miss) - 1st year
3 comments:
If there was All-tournament doubles "team", then would nominate Baylor after winning doubles point against Baylor, Virginia, and Oklahoma
Biggest overall negative: God it was cold!!!!! Brutal weather. Would have liked a coatroom to put all the coats and jackets in.
I loved overhearing all the comments at how good the players were, how hard they hit, how well they covered court, etc. A lot of entertaining close matches, more than I can remember from past three tournaments. There were alot of people unfamiliar with college tennis, a number of people seeing their first high level tennis matches and the tournament really put on a good show for them. I really think college tennis can escape its invisible niche as fans love to cheer for a team. College tennis is truly the only avenue in tennis where that happens. (WTT is just a glorified exhibition with no real stakes.) But you're right. They really need to get the scoring right. Can't see why it can't be done like the futures and challengers where the umps login the scores and it is then transmitted to central webpage. Also there should be a physical scoreboard so you don't need to keep looking at your phone.
Columbia's coach has been there 32 years, btw. Great job on your blog. Hope you can keep it up, because it is a tough grind.
You're correct about Goswami - I was looking at the program and it was incorrect showing 12 years. That's what I get for relying on the program - just like live scoring - you never know if what's printed on the book/screen is really correct.
The weather on Saturday was really, really bad - it only took 30 seconds to get to my car but it took a good 10 minutes before I could feel my fingers again.
Thanks for reading, I figure once the NCAAs are over in May I'll go from posting daily to maybe weekly since there won't be much news between late May and late August.
Post a Comment