Friday Men's Recap - LSU and Oregon Pull Off Seeding Upsets

The opening day of the NCAA Tournament is in the books and as you can see from the scores below there were a few surprises. All the top seeds cruised with only Illinois yielding a point while a pair of 33-48 seeds pulled off mild upsets.

Friday Finals:
[3] UCLA def. Weber State 4-0
[4] TCU def. Jackson State 4-0
[6] Wake Forest def. Coastal Carolina 4-0
[10] USC def. UNLV 4-0
[11] Oklahoma def. UT Arlington 4-0
[12] Texas A&M def. George Washington 4-0
[15] Illinois def. Western Michigan 4-1
[17-32] Texas def. Lamar 4-0
[17-32] San Diego def. Vanderbilt 4-0
[17-32] Michigan def. East Tennessee State 4-3
[17-32] Georgia Tech def. UC Santa Barbara 4-1
[17-32] Mississippi State def. Memphis 4-1
[33-48] LSU def. Rice 4-3
[33-48] Oregon def. Tulsa 4-1

NCAA First/Second Round Previews: UCLA & Northwestern Regionals

UCLA Regional
Sunset Canyon Recreation Center - Los Angeles, CA

[3] UCLA Bruins (22-2) vs. [49-64] Weber State Wildcats (14-7) - Friday 1pm PT - Both schools earned their conference's automatic berth after UCLA defeated Cal in the finals of the Pac-12 Tournament while Weber State punched its first ticket since 1992 with a win over Idaho in the finals of the Big Sky Tournament. Weber State went 0-3 against teams that were ranked at some point during the season the Wildcats losing to BYU, Utah, and UC Irvine by a combined score of 18-2. 

Note: These matches will be played at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, which is on the campus of UCLA, instead of the Los Angeles Tennis Center due to construction of the new football and basketball training facilities.

Doubles Records: UCLA 18-6, Weber State 13-8

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: UCLA 85, Weber State 72

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: 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.

Sunday recap: Georgia Knocks off Ohio State, Virginia Scalps Florida State, Oklahoma Beats Cal, Florida Blasts Ole Miss

There were several close matches on Sunday but there was only one that saw a top-five team go down. Georgia, ranked No. 19, was hosting No. 4 Ohio State on a mild and breezy day in Athens. After a week of sunny skies and temperatures in the high-70s, the conditions in Athens weren't as favorable with cloudy skies, an increasing breeze, and temperature hovering in the mid-50s. Despite the conditions a crowd of just over 1000 filled into the Dan Magill Tennis Complex and they were treated to a stellar performance by the home-standing Bulldogs.

Georgia Wins!! (Photo Courtesy of Bill Kallenberg)

I personally thought Ohio State would roll in doubles, but Georgia seemed determined to not let that happen.

Thursday Recap + Weekend Preview (3/11-3/13)

There were actually four ranked versus ranked matches on Thursday with the higher ranked team winning three of the four.

No. 4 Virginia went to Tulsa, the site of this year's NCAA Championships, and rolled over No. 26 Tulsa 6-1. Virginia won a pretty tight doubles point by breaking Tulsa's 5-6 service game at No. 3 to claim the point.  Ryan Shane, Collin Altamirano, Mac Styslinger, and Henrik Wiersholm won in straight sets for Virginia at 1, 2, 5, and 6 while Thai-Son Kwiatkowski won a three-set battle over Dylan McCloskey at 3. Tulsa's Juan Matias Gonzalez earned the lone point for the Golden Hurricane with a straight set win at No. 4.

Sunday Recap: TCU Too Good For Illini, Arkansas Stuns Oklahoma, Wake Topples Texas Tech, ODU Beats NCST

One day you're on the top of the mountain and the next day your toppling down the hill. Illinois took the court today against #8 TCU just 16 hours removed from its big win over #2 Virginia so you had to figure they'd have a tough time replicating the same energy in such a short span.

It was sunny and 65 degrees outside at match time but the 25-30 mile per hour wind gusts kept play indoors. I knew the crowd wouldn't be as big as Saturday night but I was impressed with the Sunday afternoon turnout of just over 400.

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.

Women: #6 Ohio State Outlasts #5 Vanderbilt

I was fortunate enough to return to the Varsity Tennis Center to watch The Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in an all-Top 6 matchup.

The Buckeyes, coming off of their stellar ITA Indoor debut, hosted a rematch against reigning NCAA champions Vanderbilt. OSU, then-#16, upset the top-ranked Commodores 4-3 in the NTI quarterfinals with Miho Kowase defeating Courtney Colton 6-4 in the third set. The Buckeyes moved to another program-high (No.6) ranking this week, while VU dropped to No.5. Another tight encounter was expected and the match was a 3.5 hour battle between two teams that could vie for the NCAA title.

Women's NTI Day 1: Top 4 Seeds Blank Out Opponents

I'll gladly take a solid 6/8 correct on Day 1 with one match going 4-3 and the other a match I thought would be as tight as it could get.

I think the story of the day was how competitive doubles was for nearly every match. Three of the eight doubles points were decided by a tiebreaker (Vanderbilt/Duke, Ohio State/Fresno State and Virginia/Texas A&M). With the 6-game, no-ad scoring format, does doubles have the same psychological effect on teams after a close point? Jonathan Kelley from On The Rise is covering the event for ZooTennis and you can read his recap with quotes here.

Someone in the comments pointed out how Florida, Stanford, USC and Baylor elected to skip the NTI to schedule their own tough matches and prepare differently for the off-season. Should teams who skip be penalized come NCAA seeding time and does it put an asterisk next to the champion's name? Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Thursday Recap: Go Tigers Go, Stangs Top the Islanders

Going into last night's match Memphis had dropped 14 of its last 15 against Vanderbilt with its last win over Vandy coming back in 2012. Now they can say they've taken split the last four meetings after coming away with a 5-2 win on Thursday night.

Memphis took the doubles point with wins at #2 and #3 and then took three opening sets in singles with five singles matches in progress at the five court indoor facility. Ryan Peniston was first off the court with a 6-2, 6-2 win at #2 and then Kai Lemke made it 3-0 Tigers with a 6-2, 7-6 win at #4. Vandy's Daniel Valent put the Commodores on the board with a 7-6, 6-1 win at #1 but a short while later Felix Rauch clinched it with a 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 win at #5.

ITA Women's National Team Indoor Preview

The second-largest team tournament in collegiate tennis behind the NCAAs is the ITA National Team Indoor event. 15 schools advanced in Kick-Off Regionals to join host Wisconsin in Madison in the prestigious event that lasts from Friday through Monday. Last year, North Carolina dropped only 2 points in its 4 matches to clinch its 2nd title in 3 years. Lots of questions come into the tournament - can UNC match its title run after two of its three stars left? Can Vanderbilt show the world that its NCAA title isn't a fluke? Will UGA turn its consistency into a national title? Will a new team emerge from Madison as a top-tier team?

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Ohio State & Texas A&M Regionals

Ohio State Regional
OSU Varsity Tennis Center - Columbus, OH

[11] Ohio State (25-8) vs. [49-64] Buffalo (12-10) - Friday 1pm - #11 Ohio State got an at-large bid after losing to Illinois 4-0 in the Big 10 Championship Finals while Buffalo earned its first ever NCAA bid after beating Binghamton 4-2 in the MAC Championship. Buffalo went 0-4 on the year against ranked opponents. 

Doubles Records: Ohio State 26-7, Buffalo 11-11

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Ohio State 84, Buffalo 74

Ba Ba Boom!!!! Sooners Do It Again + A Plethora of 4-3 Thrillers

The match between #1 Oklahoma and #2 Baylor had a ton of hype coming in and boy did those 2 teams deliver a classic. A huge crowd of just under 1500 was on hand in Waco along with many more following along at home via the Baylor blog and live scoreboard.

The first surprise of the day came when the doubles lineups were announced. According to Kim Gorum, who was running Baylor's terrific blog, Baylor's doubles lineups were challenged earlier in the week by the opposing coaches in the Big 12. The coaches didn't like the fact that Baylor's #1 team had a record of 5-4 while it's #2 and #3 teams were a combined 26-3.  The challenge was upheld so Baylor had to move its #2 to #1, its #3 to #2, and while they could have kept the Zsiga/Lupieri duo together at #3 they decided to switch it up and pair Max Tchoutakian with Mate Zsiga at #3.  

Despite the shuffle, Baylor still came out strong and took the doubles point with wins at 1 and 3.  The clinching win at #1 was a little harder than it could have been because Diego Galeano got broke at love when he was serving for it up 5-3 but Baylor would come back and take it in a tiebreak.

Once singles got underway, the Sooner Schooner made a lap around the complex and deposited 4 first sets in OU's bank and then it gave Axel Alvarez and Dane Webb a little extra gas to get those 2 back in their respective matches.

Friday Preview: #1 Oklahoma/#2 Baylor, USC/Cal, UCLA/Stanford, Vandy/Miss St

Get your dinner done early because there's some big time tennis tonight in Waco as #2 Baylor hosts #1 Oklahoma.  Baylor will have a blog running in addition to providing live scoring and streaming video so if you're around a computer check it out.  All the scoring, video, blog, twitter links are done below at the bottom of this post.

#1 Oklahoma (20-1) at #2 Baylor (17-3) - 7pm est - Oklahoma has already beat Baylor twice this year, once indoors in Chicago and once outdoors in California (box scores below), so you'd think it'd be tough to beat them again.  Since the 2nd meeting Oklahoma has played and beat #10 TCU, #9 Texas, and #29 Tulsa while Baylor hasn't played anyone substantial.  It'll be interesting to see if that lack of competition over these last 3 weeks will hurt Baylor.  The Bears will have the home court advantage with a loud, rowdy crowd cheering on every point so we'll get to see how Oklahoma handles it though they managed just fine in Columbus against Ohio State.  The teams have split the doubles point in the previous 2 meetings but I like Baylor to take the point this time around because of the influence of the crowd.

Prematch comments via Baylor:

"It's going to be a blast," head coach Matt Knoll said. "I've been here a long time and this is only going to be the second time we've ever had this situation. On top of that we'll have a No.1 vs. No. 2 match in singles as well, so it's going to be a special day. It's a big day for the program and something that we're very excited about. It's going to bring out the best in us."

"I think they're super good," Knoll said. "I think the margins are small when you go against the best teams like this. We have to focus. We have to have fight. We have to do the intangible things, and I think we're going to have a chance. Having the chance to play in front of a big crowd here is going to be a special event for our guys and build a lot of enthusiasm and momentum going into the NCAA Championships."

Friday Recap: Oklahoma Holds Off TCU, Virginia Too Good For UNC, UGA Over Vandy, Ohio State Too Much for NW

Oklahoma got pushed by TCU in singles but ultimately the Sooners had too much depth and outlasted TCU 4-1.  After OU took the doubles point they picked up 4 1st sets and ended up getting wins from Andrew Harris, Alex Ghilea, and Spencer Papa at 1, 4, and 5.  TCU's lone point came from freshman Guillermo Nunez as he hammered Dane Webb 6-3, 6-2 at #3.  The 2 remaining matches were abandoned with each early in the 3rd set.  

Oklahoma recap

“It was a good match,” head coach John Roddick said. “TCU played very well and they played hard.  We got a pretty good lead on them and they forced us into third sets. Our guys competed well. Doubles was a lot better. We are really coming around there. All in all it’s a good day.”

Head Coach John Roddick

“Spencer did a great job getting off the court in straight sets like that,” Roddick said. “I won’t say that it was easy but he did a great job of taking care of business and getting us a 2-1 lead. That really put us in a good spot because we had other first sets. That gives them very little wiggle room and that was probably the biggest key to winning today.”

“I think we were in good position on two courts and I’ll never doubt Axel until he loses the last point,” Roddick said. “We have been good at putting teams in position where they have very little margin for error. When you do that you will come out on top more often than not. We don’t have a clock so you have to close them out and our guys did that.”

Friday Preview: UNC/UVA, VU/UGA, Ohio St/NW, TCU/OU + Other Storylines

While some conferences are already half way through their schedules others are just beginning. Both the Big 12 and Pac 12 kickoff conference play on Friday while the ACC, SEC, and Big 10 are nearing or have already passed its half way point.  Below are the 4 biggest matches of the day so make sure you keep an eye on these.


#14 North Carolina (14-6) at #8 Virginia (12-3) - 3pm est - North Carolina's biggest problem this year has been fielding a healthy starting 6 and there's a chance that its best 6 players may be on the court on Friday.  UNC's #1 Brayden Schnur has now missed the last 5 matches but the Tar Heels hope that he'll be able to go on Friday. Virginia has battled some injuries as well but they still haven't missed a beat in conference play with its current ACC winning streak at 129.  UNC is 15-5 in doubles while Virginia is 13-2.  These teams met earlier this year in Chicago, in the consolation draw, at the National Indoors with Virginia cruising to a 4-0 win.  This one might be a little closer but Virginia will still win comfortably. I like UVA in doubles and see singles wins from Frank, Shane, Altamirano, Kwiatkowski, and Aragone.  Prediction: Virginia 6-1

Bears Sic 'Em, Oklahoma Rallies Past Columbia, Toreros Hold Off Drake, Vandy Survives

Saturday had several close ones with both Baylor and Oklahoma pulling through in the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge while San Diego and Princeton both won tight ones in the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic.   There was also a good one in Nashville where Vanderbilt won a 3rd set tiebreak in the deciding match to avoid getting upset by unranked Kentucky.

The headliner of the day was between #3 Baylor and #4 USC.  It was almost a forgone conclusion that Baylor would take the doubles point with how dominant they'd been in doubles play but USC had the point well within grasp.  Baylor's #3 duo of Vince Schneider and Felipe Rios were first off the court with 6-3 win but USC's #1 pair of Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz answered with a 6-4 win.  So it all came down to #2 doubles where Baylor's Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano had jumped out to an early break lead on USC's Max De Vroome and Eric Johnson.  USC's 2s would break back to even it at 4 then get a De Vroome hold to go up 5-4 and then would go up 0-30 on the Galeano serve.  The Baylor 2s would win 4 straight points to hold for 5-5 but then Eric Johnson would hold at 40-15 to put USC up 6-5.  For the second service game in a row Baylor would go down 0-30 but they'd dig themselves out again by winning 3 straight points to go up 40-30.  After USC got the next point to make it 40-40, which was a deciding/break point, Lenz dropped the hammer on a 1st serve and sent to a tiebreak.  The tiebreak was all Baylor as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and ended up cruising to a 7-1 win.

Thursday Recap: Vandy Owns The Volunteer State + Full Day of Action in San Diego

Vanderbilt ran its record to 4-0 against teams from the state of Tennessee with an impressive 4-1 win over #40 Tennessee.  The Vols took the doubles point but Vandy took 5 opening sets and ended up getting wins from Gonzales Austin, Danny Valent, Baker Newman, and Suresh Eswaran.

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of March 19th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

#17 Vanderbilt 4, #40 Tennessee 1

Singles

1. #10 Gonzales Austin (VU 14.40) def. #14 Mikelis Libietis (UT 14.23) 6-4, 6-2

2. Hunter Reese (UT 13.28) vs. Rhys Johnson (VU 13.45) 5-7, 6-1, 2-3 unf.

3. Danny Valent (VU 13.75) def. Jack Schipanski (UT 13.13) 6-2, 6-0

4. Luis Valero (UT 13.24) vs. Kris Yee (VU 13.58) 7-6 (6), 4-6, 2-0

5. Baker Newman  (VU 12.87) def. Igor Smelyanski (UT 13.43) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

6. Suresh Eswaran (VU 12.89) def. Brandon Fickey (UT 12.10) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles

1. #2 Reese/Libietis, UT, def. #1 Austin/Johnson, VU, 6-2

2. Dromsky/Smelyanski, UT, def. Newman/Binet, VU, 7-5

3. Schipanski/Valero, UT, vs. Eswaran/Smith, VU, 6-6 unf.

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (6,2,1,5).

Friday Recap - Aggies Over Short-Handed Vandy, Wake Hammers FSU, Louisville Get A Big Road W

Well the big match of the day was actually a good bit closer than I thought it would be after noticing that Vanderbilt was without its #1 singles player #10 Gonzales Austin who also makes up the #1 doubles team in the country with Rhys Johnson.  I still haven't seen anything official from anyone on why AJ didn't play but if I had to guess I'd say he was under the weather which I can relate to.

The one thing I don't get is how neither of the school's press releases bothered to even mention the fact that Austin didn't play.  I mean if the starting quarterback on the football team didn't play it'd have to be addressed by somebody, right?  If you are the person conducting the post match interviews wouldn't question #1 be "How do you think the absence of Vandy's #1 effected the match?" It sure would be my first question.   

Back to the match itself it was admirable that Vanderbilt was able to take the doubles point despite moving its #2 team up to #1 and putting together a make-shift team at #2 with both of those teams winning. 

In singles play, Texas A&M took 5 of 6 1st sets with AJ Catanzariti, Arthur Rinderknech, and Jeremy Efferding able to close them out in straights at 6, 4, and 1. On the 2 remaining courts Vandy had just got a split at #2 and was up a set and on serve at #3.