David Macpherson Hired at GW, Meister/Quigley Win USONP Dubs, US Open Qualies Update, & More

George Washington Director of Athletics Patrick Nero announced the hiring of David Macpherson as the Colonials new men's tennis coach. Macpherson had been the Bryan Brothers coach since 2005 after having a successful pro career that lasted almost 20 years. Macpherson replaces Greg Munoz who resigned in the middle of his 10th season to become the Tennis Director at the Jakarta Tennis Academy in Indonesia. Torrie Browning, who recently became the women's head coach at GW, served as the interim coach and guided the team to a third straight conference title.

NCAA First/Second Round Previews: Ohio State & Texas A&M Regionals

Ohio State Regional
Stickney Tennis Center (Varsity Courts) - Columbus, OH

[5] Ohio State Buckeyes (30-2) vs. [49-64] Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (15-6) - Saturday 1pm ET - Ohio State earned the Big Ten's automatic berth after defeating Illinois in the finals of the conference tournament while Tennessee Tech earned the Ohio Valley's automatic berth after knocking off Eastern Kentucky in the finals. TTU will be playing without its No. 2 singles player, Alex Arovin, who was defaulted in the finals of the conference tournament so I'm guessing whatever he did must have carried at least a two-match suspension - rough way to end your collegiate career. 

Doubles Records: Ohio State 28-4, Tennessee Tech 11-10

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Ohio State 85, Tennessee Tech 74

Sunday Recap: UCLA Over USC, Texas Tech Takes Out OU, Columbia/George Washington/Jackson State NCAA Bound

Sunday was a tremendous day for college tennis with five matches broadcast on National TV. The day started off with Fox College Sports Pacific/Fox Sport Oklahoma showing the Oklahoma/Kansas women's match. Then you had Fox Sports 2 showing a doubleheader in Stillwater with the Oklahoma State women hosting TCU while the Oklahoma State men hosted Baylor. Lastly you had the Pac-12 Network showing a UCLA/USC doubleheader with the men playing first and then the women second.

Despite these matches being on television the stands were packed and the crowds were loud which made for a great environment for those of us that watched from home. I hope today was a glimpse into the future and not just a once a year thing. I'd love to be able to watch multiple matches every weekend and I want to applaud both Fox Sports, the Pac-12 Network, and ESPN for getting matches on its different platforms. The Tennis Channel broadcasted the finals of the Oracle/ITA Masters back in September but I don't believe they've had any college tennis on since so maybe that's something that will change in the future.

NCAA 1st Round Previews: TCU & Wake Forest Regionals

TCU Regional
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center - Fort Worth, TX

[5] TCU (21-7) vs. [49-64] Marist (15-7) - Friday 6pm - #6 TCU got in as an at-large after falling to #2 Baylor 4-3 in the Big 12 Semifinals while Marist is back in the NCAAs for the 3rd year in a row after beating Monmouth 4-2 in the MAAC Championship. 

Doubles Records: TCU 14-11, Marist 13-6

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: TCU 84, Marist 71

Championship Sunday Recap

I didn't think Oklahoma and Baylor could top some of their previous meetings but they sure tried their best today.  In a match that was delayed multiple times by weather it was #1 Oklahoma doing the unthinkable and beating #2 Baylor for the 4th time this year and for the 2nd time in Waco.

Baylor came out strong in doubles and jumped out to early break leads at 1 and 3 while Oklahoma got the early break lead at 2.  While Baylor's #1 team of Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano would pull away for a quick 6-1 win its #3 team of Vince Schneider and Felipe Rios would lose its early 3-1 lead and would find itself down 4-3.  After an exchange of holds Oklahoma's Jose Salazar and Axel Alvarez would break the Vince Schneider serve from 15-40 to take the match 6-4.  Schneider actually double faulted on match point.