NCAA First/Second Round Previews: Virginia & Oklahoma State Regionals

Virginia Regional
Snyder Tennis Center - Charlottesville, VA

[1] Virginia (24-4) vs. [49-64] Monmouth (11-9) - Saturday Noon ET - Virginia is the No. 1 overall seed though it got in as an at-large after losing to Wake Forest in the finals of the ACC Championship. Monmouth earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth after coming back from 3-0 down to beat Quinnipiac in the finals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). 

Doubles Records: Virginia 24-4, Monmouth 11-8

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Virginia 86, Monmouth 72

MVC Finals: Wichita State Wins An Epic 4-3 Thriller

I thought I had seen it all after witnessing last year's 4-3 thriller but I think today's finish may have taken the cake. This was the sixth year in a row that Wichita State and Drake had met in the finals of the Missouri Valley Championships with Drake having won four of the last five. The weather in Wichita was definitely not ideal with match time temperatures right at 50 degrees, gray skies, and a stiff wind that was just under 20 miles per hour.

Wichita State came out fired up in doubles and would grab its first lead when Sergio de Vilchez and Eddie Stoica broke Calum MacGeoch to go up 3-1 at No. 3. Wichita State's No. 2 team of Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue would take their first lead when they broke Ben Lott to go up 4-2. Then seconds later Wichita State would go up a break at No. 1 when Jocelyn Devilliers and Tin Ostojic broke Bayo Philips to go up 3-2.

MVC Saturday Recap: Wichita State & Drake Will Meet In The Finals

The finals are set at the 2016 Missouri Valley Championships after both Wichita State and Drake ran through their competition from Illinois. In the opening match of the day the No. 1 seed Wichita State met the No. 3 seed Illinois State. The weather wasn't exactly ideal at match time (53 degrees/15 mph winds/overcast) but it improved as the day went on.

Wichita State's No. 2 team of Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue didn't have any issues with the conditions as they rolled, and I mean rolled, to a 6-0 win over Illinois State's Christoffer Greve and Dylan Steffens in a match that took all of 11 minutes.

Saturday Recap: Lamar Upsets Rice, ODU Over W&M, Drake Beats Wichita State, Ivies, GGC Outduels HPU, & More

There were two bigger stories on Saturday - the rain that wiped out several matches and Lamar upsetting No. 28 Rice 4-1. The bad weather out in California washed out the Oregon/Cal and San Diego/Santa Clara matches while UNC Wilmington and VCU were rained out in Richmond. Both of the matches in California are set to be played on Sunday while UNC Wilmington and VCU won't make their match up.

Earlier this season Lamar upset then No. 47 Iowa 4-2 but today's win over Rice took it to a new level. Lamar took the doubles point by winning the deciding match at No. 2 in a tiebreak and then the Cardinals took four opening sets in singles. Lamar junior Nikita Lis rolled over Tommy Bennett 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 but Rice senior Adam Gustafsson countered with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Sebastian Santibanez at No. 3.

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.

Sunday Recap: Texas A&M Weathers The Storm & Drake Rises Out Of The Valley

Championship Sunday (Part 1) lived up to the advance billing with the SEC and Missouri Valley delivering heart pounding thrillers.

When #1 and #2 play you expect to see a great match and that's what Georgia and Texas A&M delivered on Sunday afternoon in College Station.  Texas A&M got off to a fast start in doubles by going up early breaks at 2 and 3 and once A&M had the lead on those courts they would not relinquish it the rest of the way.  The A&M #3 duo of AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech finished first winning 6-3 then just as Georgia's #1 team of Austin Smith and Ben Wagland were 6-3 winners A&M's #2 team of Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo would clinch the point with a 6-3 win themselves.  

Texas A&M carried the momentum from doubles over to singles as they jumped out to early break leads at #1, #5 and #6 singles while Georgia got the early break lead at #4. Texas A&M's AJ Catanzariti would take the first set at #5 and Shane Vinsant and "Artillery" Arthur Rinderknech would get late breaks to take the opening set 6-4 at #2 and #3.  Georgia's Ben Wagland cruised to a 6-2 opening set at #4 and both Austin Smith and Paul Oosterbaan would come back from a break down to claim the opening sets at #1 and #6.  Smith was down 4-2 before rallying to win the set 7-6(5) while Oosterbaan came back from 5-2 down to take the set 7-5.

Wednesday Recap: Bulls Ground The Gophers & Cowboys Rally Past The Mustangs

The top 25 showdown between South Florida and Minnesota may have finished 4-3 but it wasn't that close as South Florida cruised to the doubles point and then picked up 4 opening sets and ended up sweeping the top 3 courts.  Roberto Cid provided the clincher at #1 singles winning the 3rd set 6-1 then after the clinch the 2 remaining matches played 10 point supertiebreaks in lieu of a 3rd set.

USF recap

“[Minnesota] has a very good team in doubles and we have a very strong team in doubles, so we knew that would be a huge point,” said head coach Matt Hill. “The guys played really well today, especially at No. 1 and No. 3, so that gave us a lot of confidence moving into the singles.”

Minnesota recap

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of March 14th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

#21 South Florida 4, #25 Minnesota 3

Mar 18, 2015 at Tampa, Fla. (USF Varsity Tennis Courts)

Singles competition

1. #21 Roberto Cid (USF 14.19) def. #25 Leandro Toledo (MINN 14.01) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

2. Sasha Gozun (USF 13.39) def. Jack Hamburg (MINN 13.07) 6-3, 7-6(5)

3. Oliver Pramming (USF 13.32) def. Ruben Weber (MINN 13.27) 6-2, 6-4

4. Matic Spec (MINN 13.78) def. Igna. Gonzalez-Muniz (USF 13.09) 7-5, 6-3

5. Felix Corwin (MINN 13.58) def. Justin Roberts (USF 13.03) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 1-0(5)

6. Mathieu Froment (MINN 12.84) def. Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF 13.21) 7-6(5), 4-6, 1-0(5)

Doubles competition

1. #37 Oliver Pramming/Justin Roberts (USF) def. #66 Mathieu Froment/Jack Hamburg (MINN) 6-2

2. Sasha Gozun/Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF) vs. #80 Felix Corwin/Leandro Toledo (MINN) 4-5, unf

3. Roberto Cid/Igna. Gonzalez-Muniz (USF) def. Eric Frueh/Matic Spec (MINN) 6-2

Match Notes

Minnesota 10-5 (1-0 Big Ten); National ranking #25

South Florida 13-4 (1-0 AAC); National ranking #21

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (3,4,2,1,5,6)

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Hokies Rock #2 Duke, Deacs Hold Off TCU, Aggies Hold Off Feisty Gamecocks

The upsets keep on coming and today it was #2 Duke's turn as the Blue Devils got stunned by #44 Virginia Tech 6-1.  What made the Hokies win that much more impressive was the fact that Virginia Tech played singles without its #1 player Amerigo Contini which meant everybody else had to slide up 1 spot in the lineup.  Duke was also without its #5 singles player Chris Mengel.

Duke started off fine by taking the doubles point with wins at 1 and 2 but Virginia Tech would pick off Duke 1 by 1 in singles.  Florian Nicoud started things off by blowing out Josh Levine at #5 singles 6-1, 6-3 then Aaron Gomez gave Tech its first lead when he finished off TJ Pura 7-6(5), 6-0 at #6 singles.  Andreas Bjerrehus would put Virginia Tech up 3-1 when he broke Nicolas Alvarez to take the match at #1 singles 7-6(7), 6-4. With all remaining matches in the 3rd set it looked like VT's Hunter Koontz was going to be the one to clinch because he led 4-2 in the 3rd at #3 while Duke's Bruno Semenzato led 5-3 in the 3rd on #4 and Duke's Jason Tahir led 4-3 in the 3rd on #2. However Semenzato would be unable to serve it out up 5-4 then Edoardo Tessaro would consolidate the break with a hold to go up 6-5.  With Koontz nearing the finish line at 3, Tessaro decided he wanted to close it out himself and he broke Semenzato again to take the match and give Virginia Tech the stunning win.  Koontz would also win his match at #3 as would Joao Monteiro at #2 to make the final score 6-1 VT.

Note: ACC conference matches play a pro-set to 8 in doubles and utilize regular ad scoring similar to what will be used during the NCAA Championships.  The Big 10 is the only other major conference to use the same format while everyone else is playing no-ad.