USONP Continues, Ellen Perez Earns USO Wild Card, Pro Circuit Recap

The singles finals of this year's US Open National Playoffs will take place on Monday with the women's final getting underway at noon eastern and the men's final starting shortly after that match finishes. Each winner will get a wild card into the qualifying tournament of this year's US Open.

Sophie Chang and Sanaz Marand (North Carolina '11) both won in straight sets on Sunday with Chang defeating Nika Kukharchuk (Ole Miss '08) 7-5, 6-2 while Marand ousted Julia Elbaba (Virginia '16) 6-4, 6-4.

Nick Meister (UCLA '12) will meet Jose Statham in the men's final after Meister defeated Gage Brymer (UCLA Sr) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and Statham rolled over Evan King 6-3, 6-2.

Schnur Turns Pro, Reinberg/Ponwith Win First Title, Mariana Cobra Heading to UNF, Blumberg to UNC in January

North Carolina junior Brayden Schnur announced today that he would be foregoing his final year of eligibility and turning pro effective immediately. Schnur compiled a 49-25 overall singles record, 38-22 in dual-match play, with all but three dual-matches coming at the top spot in the singles lineup. Schnur battled injuries in each of the last two seasons but when he was healthy he was a very tough out. Brayden's top individual accomplishments came during the fall of 2014 (only fall he played) when he went 11-0 and won the prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Brayden will make his pro debut on Saturday afternoon against Radek Stepanek in qualies at the ATP Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Chang Streaking in Godfrey, Perez Wins Another Doubles Title, Kirchheimer Gets E-Ville WC, Ole Miss Schedule

The weather in Greater St. Louis has been extremely hot and humid this week but that hasn't slowed down 2013 Rice graduate Jonathan Chang as he has blazed his way into the quarterfinals at the $25K Godfrey, Illinois, USA F24 Futures. Chang came into this week's Futures event having won just one main draw match but he's managed to come through qualies and knock off a pair off a pair of guys that spent most of last year in the ITA top 10. Chang defeated Georgia Tech's Chris Eubanks 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round then today he came back from a 5-2 third set deficit to beat recent Tulane graduate Dominik Koepfer 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 in a match that lasted 3 hours and 2 minutes. Chang's quarterfinal opponent will be former Tennessee All-American Rhyne Williams while the other quarterfinal match in the top half of the draw will be between former Tennessee Vol Tennys Sandgren and former Georgia Bulldog Wil Spencer.

Women's Coaching Updates, Olympics, UGA Schedule, First ATP Points

Seton Hall Athletic Director Patrick Lyons announced that former UCLA All-American Riza Zalameda has been named as the Pirates new women's head coach. Zalemeda, who graduated from UCLA in 2008, has spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Columbia. Zalameda replaces Greg Wyzykowski who resigned after going 64-111 (.366) over the last nine seasons at the South Orange, New Jersey, school.

Rematch Time - Virginia/Oklahoma To Meet Once Again For The National Championship

It was an interesting day at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa with rain forcing one of the two semifinal matches indoors. Virginia had little trouble dispatching Cal in the indoor semifinal while Oklahoma won a 4-3 thriller in the nightcap which was played outdoors.

Sooners Win (Photo By Ty Russell - SoonerSports)

The Oklahoma/Georgia match was originally scheduled to start at 4 p.m. central time but due to periodic showers it was put on hold while Virginia and Cal went indoors with a 5:25 p.m. central start. The reason Virginia and Cal couldn't start until 5:25 was because the second women's semifinal didn't finish until 4:20 and neither Virginia or Cal had been able to hit since the morning so they needed an hour to get warmed up. Since Virginia was the highest remaining seed they were given the earlier start time which meant Oklahoma and Georgia had the chance to go outdoors if it dried up. The official starting time of 7 p.m. wasn't announced until close to 6 p.m. so a lot of the local OU fans probably didn't get the memo because the crowds weren't anywhere near what I thought they would be. Coincidentally the paid attendance of 1197 was actually the best this week but many of those fans came for the Oklahoma State women's match at 10 a.m. and were long gone by the time the men's matches started.

NCAA Semifinal Preview - Virginia/Cal & Georgia/Oklahoma

[1] Virginia Cavaliers (28-4) vs. [13] Cal Bears (21-6) - Monday 4pm CT - Virginia advanced to its seventh straight NCAA semifinals with a 4-0 shellacking of Florida while Cal advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1991 after winning a 4-3 thriller over Ohio State. These teams last met in the quarterfinals of the 2014 National Team Indoors in Houston though only a handful of guys were on those teams. Cal has been the cinderella story on the men's side after taking out the No. 4 and No. 5 while Virginia played its best tennis yesterday in its match against Florida. If Virginia plays like it did in that match there isn't anyone that's going to beat them in these next two days.  

Cal and Oklahoma Win Thrillers While Virginia and Georgia Roll

Sunday was unbelievable day to be in Tulsa with two heart-pounding 4-3 thrillers with the Cal and Ohio State match coming down to a third set tiebreak to decide the winner. The crowds were a little light around noon central but by 1 p.m. the stands were filling up and by the time the Cal/Ohio State match came to a conclusion it was standing room only. The actual paid attendance was just over 1100 but by the time you added in coaches, players, volunteers, and media you probably had close to 1400 people crammed in there which made for a great environment.

NCAA Quarterfinals Preview - Virginia/Florida, Ohio State/Cal, UNC/UGA, Oklahoma/UCLA

[1] Virginia Cavaliers (27-4) vs. [9] Florida Gators (21-6) - Noon CT - Virginia moved into the quarterfinals after pulling out a hard fought 4-2 win over Oklahoma State while Florida's bottom of the lineup help propel them to a 4-0 win over SMU. Virginia won the regular season meeting in Gainesville 5-2 and it looks like the top three spots in the lineup will all be rematches. Virginia is trying to make it back to the NCAA semifinals for the seventh year in a row while Florida last made the semis in 2005. Florida has won its last nine matches while Virginia has won its last three. 

Doubles Records: Virginia 27-4, Florida 22-5

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Virginia 86, Florida 84

Georgia Rallies Past USC, Oklahoma Whips Wake, UCLA Tops Stanford, Florida and North Carolina Roll

After a great first half of the day in Tulsa we were treated to a gem in the evening as Georgia and USC went toe-to-toe for the better part of three hours. USC came into the round of 16 with the worst doubles winning percentage (.409) out of the teams still left in the field but that didn't stop them from getting off to a quick start against Georgia.

USC's No. 1 team of Nick Crystal and Laurens Verboven opened the match by holding on the deciding point to take a 1-0 lead and then they'd break Austin Smith to go up 2-0. Crystal held for 3-0 before Ben Wagland finally put Georgia on the board with a hold for 1-3. Verboven held on the deciding point for 4-1 and then USC broke Austin Smith on the deciding point to go up 5-1. Crystal went up 40-15 on his next service game but had to hit a service winner on the deciding point to win it 6-1.

NCAA Round of 16 Previews - UCLA/Stanford, Wake/Oklahoma, Georgia/USC, UNC/Miss St

[3] UCLA Bruins (24-2) vs. [17-32] Stanford Cardinal (15-10)  - Friday 8pm ET - UCLA booked its spot in the Sweet 16 after shutting out both Weber State and San Diego while Stanford knocked off Notre Dame 4-1 and Northwestern 4-3. UCLA is the only team to make the Sweet 16 every year since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1999 while Stanford is back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2012. This will be the fourth meeting of the year with UCLA taking the previous three. 

Interesting notes: Stanford won the doubles point in each of those three previous matches yet UCLA came back and won each time. UCLA will have played the exact same singles lineup in all four matches while Tom Fawcett is the only Stanford player to have stayed in the same spot all year. Michael Genender started the year at #6 singles but has worked his way up to #2. 

Chaotic Sunday - SMU, Texas, and Stanford Pull Off Upsets

What a crazy day it was on Sunday with not one, not two, but three regional hosts going down. The day started off in College Station with the resumption of Saturday's match between Texas A&M and Texas and it finished in Lubbock with SMU kicking the door down and stunning Texas Tech.

When the season started if you told me that Texas would be in Tulsa for the NCAA Round of 16 I would have told you to go see a doctor. Well Texas made a believer of me and many today after going into enemy territory and knocking off Texas A&M in a 4-3 thriller.

The match originally began on Saturday but after Texas A&M took the doubles point the match was stopped early in singles due to rain. Play resumed Sunday morning at 11am central and within a matter of minutes Texas had five first sets in the bag after Rodrigo Banzer, Adrian Ortiz, and George Goldhoff closed out sets on 4, 2, and 1.

NCAA First/Second Round Previews: Georgia & USC Regionals

Georgia Regional
Dan Magill Tennis Complex - Athens, GA

[7] Georgia Bulldogs (20-4) vs. [49-64] South Carolina State Bulldogs (12-8) - Saturday 1pm ET - Georgia was awarded an at-large berth after falling to Florida in the finals of the SEC Tournament while South Carolina State got the MEAC's automatic berth for the eighth year in a row after defeating Florida A&M in the finals. SCSU played five teams that were ranked during the season and went 0-5 while being outscored 32-1. SCSU will be making its 14th all-time appearance at the NCAAs with a record of 0-13. 

Doubles Records: Georgia 16-7, South Carolina State 10-10

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Georgia 84, South Carolina State 74

Sensational Sunday Recap: Wake Stops UVA, Gators Walk the Dawg, Texas Tech Soares Over TCU, Buckeyes Wins Another B1G Crown

Sunday was a tremendous day for college tennis fans all across the country. There were over 1700 fans jammed into the Cary Tennis Park for the finals of the ACC Championship and probably at least five times that many watching throughout the country on ESPN3's national telecast. The final of the SEC Championships was also broadcast on ESPN3 while the final of the AAC Championships was broadcast on the American Network.

Wake Forest, Florida, Texas Tech, and South Florida may have been the winners of the day but the biggest winners were the supporters of college tennis. They were treated to a high-quality product that kept them on the edge of their seats and hopefully they'll continue coming back for seasons to come.

Virginia Wins Thriller Over UNC, Wake Holds Off VT, Georgia & Florida Advance at SEC, OU Wins Bedlam, Bruins Win Pac-12

Semifinal Saturday was good as expected in the ACC with an almost three rain delay adding to the suspense.  North Carolina was looking for its third of the season over No. 1 Virginia and for the better part of four plus hours it looked like they'd get it.

In the high-profile doubles matchup at No. 1 it was the ITA No. 3 team of Brett Clark and Robert Kelly rolling over the ITA No. 2 team of Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli. Clark and Kelly broke UVA to start the match and then broke again to go up 5-2. Robert Kelly would serve it out to give UNC the 6-2.

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.

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.

Weekend Preview (4/1-4/3)

Friday is going to be a blockbuster day with five matches between top 25 opponents. The big one in the ACC is the rematch from this the National Team Indoor finals as No. 1 North Carolina hosts No. 3 Virginia. The big one in the SEC is in College Station between the conference's highest ranked teams as No. 10 Texas A&M hosts No. 7 Georgia.

#3 Virginia (16-2) at #1 North Carolina (20-1) - 3pm ET - North Carolina snapped a 15-match losing streak to Virginia and in the process snapped Virginia's 140-match ACC winning streak when the Tar Heels upset Virginia back on February 15 (box score below). The big story in this one will be if Brayden Schnur is healthy enough to play in singles after missing seven of the last eleven matches. The other story will be whether the match is played inside or outside. The temperature is projected to be in the mid-70s but there's a 40 percent chance of rain. If they play indoors streaming video will be available but if they stay outside then no streaming.

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.

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.