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

Kentucky & Memphis Dominate, Sarkissian Qualifies In Sydney, Huskies Sweep Seattle

Kentucky and Memphis were the big winners on Day 2 of the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Kentucky went 9-2 overall including 6-1 in singles with freshman Ryotaro Matsamura rolling for a second day in both singles and doubles. Memphis's Ryan Peniston knocked off  LSU's #78 Justin Butch in 2 close sets and Memphis freshman Chris Patzanovsky picked up a win over LSU's Tam Trinh. Sunday wraps up the tournament with each starting dual-match play in the coming weeks. Below the scores are quotes from 3 of the 4 coaches.

Saturday Results Singles/Doubles
Kentucky 6-1/3-1
Memphis 5-2/2-1
LSU 2-5/1-2
FGCU 1-6/1-3

LSU Shines in Florida, BYU Wins Opener, Vukic/Norrie/Sarkissian Win Down Under, Futures Action

LSU's guys were the top performers in Day 1 of the FGCU Invitational as they went 5-2 in singles and 2-1 in doubles. Kentucky had 2 freshmen make their debuts as Ryotaro Matsumura (14.08) won in straight sets over Memphis's Felix Rauch (12.63) while Enzo Wallart (13.17) lost a tough 3-setter to Memphis's Kai Lemke (13.38).

Friday Results Singles/Doubles
LSU 5-2/2-1
Kentucky 5-3/1-3
Memphis 3-4/2-1
FGCU 2-6/2-2

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Oklahoma & UCLA Regionals

NCAA Interactive Bracket & Printable Bracket - all times EST.

Oklahoma Regional

Headington Family Tennis Center - Norman, OK

[1] Oklahoma (24-2) vs. [49-64] New Mexico State (11-13) - Friday 5pm - Not a whole lot of analysis needed for this one with the #1 team in the country playing the WAC champs who come in with a losing record.  This will be Oklahoma's 27th match this year but only the 2nd against an unranked opponent - Purdue was the other.

Sun Shining On Florida Gulf Coast + A Look Back At A Few More From Sunday

Florida Gulf Coast was the big winner today as the Eagles earned its first ever NCAA berth by defeating North Florida 4-3 in the finals of the Atlantic Sun.  The teams met in the regular season 2 weeks ago with FGCU winning 7-0 but FGCU figured it wouldn't be as easy this time around despite UNF playing without its injured #1 Jack Findel-Hawkins (13.32).  The match, held in Jacksonville at UNF, started on Sunday but before the rain came UNF captured the doubles point by winning a pair of tiebreaks at 2 and 3.  Usually when you have the top 2 seeds playing for a conference championship you expect several 3-setters but all 6 singles matches finished in straight sets with no set closer than 6-4.

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.

Hokie Hokie Hi, Dunk City Upsets the U, Cowboy Up, Ivy Power

Saturday didn't have any Top 10 showdowns but there were several solid matches between ranked teams.  The biggest upset of the day, in terms of ranking, came in Blacksburg as #37 Virginia Tech took it to #22 Penn State 4-1. The Hokies took 10 of 11 sets in singles after dropping the doubles point.  Penn State has now lost 2 of its last 3 and is looking at a tough road next weekend when they head to Chicago for the National Indoors against the best of the best with its opening match against #1 USC.


VT Recap
PSU Recap

#37 Virginia Tech 4, #22 Penn State 1

Singles

1. #35 Amerigo Contini (VT) def. Leonard Stakhovsky (PSU) 7-5, 6-3

2. #61 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT) def. Alex Fennell (PSU) 6-2, 6-2

3. Joao Monteiro (VT) vs. Matt Barry (PSU) 6-3, 5-5, unfinished

4. Hunter Koontz (VT) def. Roman Trkulja (PSU) 6-2, 6-2

5. Aws Laaribi (PSU) vs. Edoardo Tessaro (VT) 2-6, 7-6, unfinished

6. #94 Florian Nicoud (VT) def. Nika Dolidze (PSU) 6-2, 6-4

Order of Finish: 4, 2, 6, 1

Doubles

1. Andreas Bjerrehus/Amerigo Contini (VT) def. Matt Barry/Alex Fennell (PSU) 6-2

2. Leonard Stakhovsky/Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Jai Corbett/Joao Monteiro (VT) 7-6 (7-5)

3. Michael Reilly/Roman Trkulja (PSU) def. Hunter Koontz/Florian Nicoud (VT) 7-5

Order of Finish: 1, 2