Coaching Updates & Other News & Notes

Southern Illinois women's head coach Audra Anderson was promoted to the Director of Tennis and will now assume the role as the new men's head coach after the departure of Dann Nelson to UTRGV. Anderson has gone 140-83 (.627) in nine seasons at SIU which gives her the best winning percentage in school history. Jonny Rigby, who graduated this past May, will serve as a graduate assistant for a program that is now going year-to-year due to the financial woes in the state of Illinois. Normally I add a picture when the school puts its news release on Twitter or Facebook but as far as I can see they didn't put it on social media anywhere which is pretty poor considering how quiet things are this time of year.

Coaching Changes, Kentucky Planning a $20M Facility, Pro Circuit Update

Friday was a busy day for the coaching carousel with Cal Irvine, Old Dominion, and Iowa each announcing head coaching hires.

UC Irvine announced that Mike Saunders, who served as the interim men's head coach last season, has been named as the permanent men's head coach. Saunders, who is a 1990 UC Irvine graduate, took over as the interim coach last October after Trevor Kronemann, 117-126 (.481), stepped down to become the Director of Junior Tennis at the Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA). Saunders led the Anteaters to a 17-9 record last season before they bowed out to UCSB in the Big West semifinals.

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

Thursday Conference Tournament Results

Several conference tournaments got underway on Wednesday, with an abbreviated schedule, but they really got going on Thursday with the ACC and SEC having four matches each.

All four matches at the SEC Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina, were hotly contested with South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Kentucky the day's winners.

The four matches at the ACC were quite as suspenseful with Virginia Tech rolling over Miami 4-0, Georgia Tech pulling away from Louisville 4-1, Notre Dame holding off Duke 4-1, and NC State edging Clemson 4-2.

Both of the matches in Ojai were 4-0 shutouts with Cal and Stanford overwhelming Washington and Oregon.

Friday Recap: UVA Too Strong For Wake, UGA Rolls Arky, UNC Holds Off GT

The two biggest matches of the day didn't end up being as close as I thought with both No. 1 Virginia and No. 6 Georgia rolling to victories over No. 7 Wake Forest and No. 12 Arkansas.

Virginia won its 13h straight regular season ACC Championship with a 5-2 win over Wake Forest in front of over 1100 fans. It looked like Wake Forest might take the early lead but Virginia was able to hang on in doubles. Wake's Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky won 6-2 at No. 3 but Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger would break on the deciding point to go up 5-3 at No. 2. Kwiatkowski went up 40-0 on his 5-3 service but would double fault two times in a row to make it 40-30. Kwiatkowski would land a first set and then a Styslinger volley at the net would force a Wake error to clinch the 6-3 win.

Sunday: TCU and OU Win Big, South Florida Trumps Tulane, LSU KO's Kentucky, Lobos Tear-Up Tulsa, UMKC Wins 6 Hour Thriller

Sunday may not have been the most scintillating day of tennis, compared to say Friday, but there were still plenty of storylines to keep us all entertained.

Two of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference tangled on Sunday in New Orleans as No. 27 Tulane hosted No. 22 South Florida. South Florida picked up a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles while Tulane won 6-3 at No. 2. South Florida served for the match at No. 3 doubles up 5-4 but Tulane's Alex and Ian Van Cott broke and then held for 6-5. South Florida's Robert Cid and Ignacio Gonzales-Muniz held for 6-6 and then the Bulls duo broke a 4-4 tie in the breaker by winning the final 3 points to take it 7-4.

What A Night - #55 Notre Dame Stuns #1 UNC, TCU & Kentucky Win 4-3 Thrillers, Georgia Rallies Past Florida, & More

Just when you think you've seen it all you get a day like today with one thrilling finish after another. Before I can even talk about all the 4-3 matches I got to give a shoutout to No. 55 Notre Dame who absolutely stunned top-ranked North Carolina in one of the biggest upsets, in terms of ranking, in college tennis history.

The Fighting Irish entered the night with a 12-12 record, and that was after beating Chicago State twice last Sunday, so most people probably figured at best they'd win a set or maybe a court but surely not the match. It was the final home match of the season for Notre Dame which meant it was the swan song for the five seniors on the roster. Four of the seniors (Monaghan, Lawson, Sabacinski, Montoya) would start and they would each play a role in the upset victory.

Wednesday Recap: Buckeyes Tame The Cats, Cavs Too Strong For Gators, TCU Wins The Skillet

Usually we have to wait until the weekend to see top-25 matchups but we got a mid-week treat on Wednesday with three top-25 teams playing each other along with two other top-75 matchups.

The day started off in Lexington with No. 20 Kentucky and No. 5 Ohio State playing indoors due to high winds and the chance of rain.

Ohio State was able to claim the doubles point for 19th time in 23 tries after picking up wins at No. 1 and No. 3. The Buckeyes duo of Matt Mendez and Hugo Di Feo fell into an early 3-0 hole at No. 3 but rallied to take the next six games to close out Austin Hussey and Ryotaro Matsumura 6-3. Ohio State's Mikael Torpegaard and Martin Joyce led Nils Ellefsen and Enzo Wallart 5-3 at No. 1 but the Kentucky duo won the next two to even it at 5-5. Torpegaard and Joyce would take the next two games to close it out 7-5. The match at No. 2 was abandoned with Kentucky leading 6-5.

Who Let the Heels Out - UNC Takes Out UVA Again & UGA TKOs aTm

When North Carolina defeated Virginia to win the National Team Indoors back in February many thought that win wiped out all the streaks that Virginia had over North Carolina. It turns out there was another streak that was still intact going into today's match and that was the fact that Virginia had won the doubles point over North Carolina in 18 straight matches dating all the way back to April 3, 2004. Well that streak was broken today when North Carolina found a way to pull out the point in dramatic fashion.

Virginia's Collin Altamirano and JC Aragone didn't waste any time at No. 3 as they ran all over Ronnie Schneider and Andrew Gores 6-0.

North Carolina's No. 2 team of Brayden Schnur and Jack Murray took their first lead of the match when they broke to go up 4-3 and then Murray held for 5-3. Virginia's Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwaitkowski would hold for 4-5, break Schnur for 5-5, and then hold for 6-5. Murray held to send it to a tiebreak and in the tiebreak the UNC pair jumped out to a 5-2* lead. UNC served up 6-4 but UVA got the mini-break back only to see UNC take the next point to win it 7-6(5).

Sunday Recap: Owls Shred #9 Texas Tech, Hogs Tops Rebs, USC Survives Oregon, Dawgs Tame the Cats

Rice was looking to win the Rice Invitational for the ninth year in a row but to achieve that feat it'd have to find a way to beat a top 10 team for the first time in 10 years. Both Rice and Texas Tech beat William & Mary and Drake on Saturday so both were playing well coming into today's finale.

Texas Tech's Felipe Soares and Hugo Dojas won 6-4 at No. 1 doubles but Rice's Jake Hansen and Emanuel Llamas came back from *1-4 down to win 7-5 at No. 3.  Rice's Jamie Malik and Adam Gustafsson trailed 6-3 in the tiebreak at No. 3 but would fight off a total of five match points to win a marathon tiebreak 14-12 to give Rice the doubles point and early 1-0 lead.

Friday Recap: Mayhem in Music City, Nuts in the Emerald City, Gators Win In Starkville, Cal Survives, UAB, LMU, & UNLV Beat Ranked Teams

Another Friday brought us another round of stunning upsets as a pair of top 10 teams went down on the road.

Vanderbilt won its third consecutive match by a 4-3 score as it stunned No. 7 Texas A&M 4-3. The Commodores took the doubles point when Tate Allwardt and Baker Newman knocked off Max Lunkin and AJ Catanzariti 7-6(5) at No. 2.

Tuesday Recap: TCU Slides Past Northwestern, Kentucky Stuns Illinois, Drake Beats Oregon, Tulsa Tops Dartmouth

Usually Tuesdays are reserved for the the release of the rankings, but today should have been renamed 4-3day with one match after another going down to the wire.

TCU and Northwestern were originally supposed to meet a few weeks ago in Evanston but due to bad weather TCU's flight was cancelled so they made up the match up today in Fort Worth. Today in Fort Worth there were high winds anticipated so play was moved indoors though evidently it never got as windy as forecasted.

Kentucky Holds Off Bama, FSU Slides Past Duke, Wisconsin Wins In Des Moines, Georgia Tech Tops NC State

Friday and Saturday brought us a ton of upsets but things leveled out on Sunday with most higher ranked teams holding court and getting the win.

Florida State capped off a nice weekend by defeating No. 66 Duke 5-2. The Seminoles claimed the doubles point by sweeping all three courts and then it took four opening sets in singles.

Friday night's hero, Marco Nunez, was first off the court with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Vincent Lin at No. 2 and his teammate Jose Gracia would put the Noles up 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ryan Dickerson at No. 5.

More Upsets - Northwestern Beats #8 Illinois For First Time Since '97, Mississippi State Blanks #12 Kentucky & More

The weekend of upsets continued on Saturday with three higher ranked team going down on top of the seven that were upset yesterday. The biggest upset in terms of ranking took place in Starkville but I'll start off in Evanston where Northwestern was looking to snap a 27-match, 19 year, losing streak to in-state rival Illinois.

Even though Northwestern was shutout by the Illini earlier this season it had to be optimistic with a big home crowd on hand. Northwestern got things started off on the right foot by claiming the doubles point for the 12th time in 14 tries with a 6-4 win at No. 2 and a 6-3 win at No. 3.

Sunday Recap: Texas A&M Holds Off Florida, NC State Upsets Wake, Ohio State Wins At OU & More

In what had to be the match of the day it was No. 8 Texas A&M outlasting No. 30 Florida 4-3 in 3 hours and 51 minutes. Florida jumped out to the early lead by taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but Texas A&M came out ready to go in singles and took five opening sets.

Jordi Arconada was off the court first with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Chase Perez-Blanco at No. 3 but Florida's Gordon Watson answered with a 6-4, 6-4 win over AJ Catanzariti at No. 5.

Texas A&M senior Jackson Withrow evened the match at 2-2 with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Florida freshman McClain Kessler at No. 6 but Florida retook the lead when freshman Alfredo Perez rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Texas A&M senior Harrison Adams.

Friday Recap: Drake Raps Past Iowa, SEC & ACC Play Underway, Lobos Top BYU

While conference play got underway in the SEC and ACC there was a non-conference battle brewing in Des Moines between #36 Drake and #33 Iowa. The two schools, separated by just 115 miles, are the only two schools in the state of Iowa that play Division 1 men's tennis so bragging rights were at stake Friday night. A boisterous crowd of close to 200, with a decent amount of black and gold, was on hand to see if Drake could make it five in a row over the Hawkeyes.

Drake got off to a good start at #3 doubles when Ben Stride and Calum MacGeoch jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Iowa's Robin Haden and Nils Hallestrand. Drake would hold on the deciding point to stretch the lead to 4-1 and then break again for 5-1. MacGeoch would serve it out from 40-30 to give Drake the 6-1 win in 24 minutes.

SC Stomps Stanford, Michigan Tops Washington, Texas Tech Beats the Pack, & More

The featured match of the day took place in Palo Alto with Stanford hosting USC in a non conference matchup. Stanford had dropped the doubles point in three consecutive matches and it didn't get off to the best start after USC's Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine picked up a quick 6-2 win at #3. However a short while later Stanford's Nolan Paige and David Wilczynski would win 6-3 at #2 and then Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz sealed the doubles point with a 6-4 win at #1.

USC quickly turned things around in singles by taking five opening sets and Nick Crystal needed just over an hour to finish off David Wilczynski 6-3, 6-1 at #2. Stanford would end up being just as dominant in the second set as USC was in the first because the Cardinal took four second sets while USC's Jack Jaede forced a split at #5.

Sunday Recap: Texas A&M Wins At Illinois, Ohio State Outlasts Florida, Memphis Wins in Oxford, & More

Texas A&M had been on the road for the last week and a half, and had lost its last three, but it managed to come from behind today to beat Illinois 4-2 despite playing without one of its top starters. Texas A&M senior Shane Vinsant missed today's match against Illinois due to a blister on his foot but the Aggies managed to stay focused in his absence and the team performed much better in singles than it did in doubles. The weather was right around 50 degrees outside but they played it indoors anyway. I was a little surprised at the lighter turnout of around 175 because I've been to Atkins in the past for some big matches and have seen well over 500 on hand.

Kentucky Upsets #13 Duke, Washington Too Much for #12 Texas, Northwestern Rolls

Well that didn't take long - on the first weekend of the season a pair of Top 15 teams got upset as unranked Kentucky went into Durham and beat #13 Duke 4-3 and #62 Washington rebounded from a Friday loss to UCSB and knocked off #12 Texas by a 4-3 score. As I mentioned when the preseason rankings came out a week ago, the rankings didn't really take into account the number of starters that some teams lost and thus ranked a few of them way too high. Both Texas and Duke fell into that category because each team had to replace 4 starters and most of the replacements were freshman.

Anyway back to the day's events starting first in Durham. Duke and Kentucky battled it out in doubles with all 3 matches going back and forth. Kentucky went up an early double break at #1 and led 3-0 but Duke would claw back and end up taking it in a tiebreak. Duke had the break lead at #2 but lost it only to break late and take it 7-5. Duke also had the early break lead at #3 but Kentucky came back to forth a tiebreak which Duke ultimately won.

Sunday Recap: Kentucky Finishes Strong, Sarkissian Wins Again, Futures Action Continues in CA & FL

The final day of the FGCU Invitational was cut short a little with LSU and Memphis leaving after doubles due to a 6-hour rain delay. Kentucky waited out the delay and played singles with the host Florida Gulf Coast with Kentucky winning 4 of 6 matches. Kentucky ended up the big winner during the 3-day tournament winning 15 of 21 singles matches and 6 of 10 doubles matches. Kentucky's Jake Stefanik, Gus Benson, and Kevin Lai each went 3-0 in singles while Ryotaro Matsamura went 2-0. Memphis's Ryan Peniston, Andrew Watson, Kai Lemke each went 2-0 as did LSU's Gabor Csonka.

Sunday Results Singles/Doubles
Kentucky 4-2/2-0
Memphis 0-0/2-1
LSU 0-0/1-2
FGCU 2-4/1-2