Gustavus Adolphus Wins Division III Men's Indoor; Northwestern Tops Women's Rankings; Fields Set for USTA Spring 18s in Mobile
I'm a few days late on linking to the ITA's Casey Snedecor's story on the Division III Men's Team Indoor, which was won by host Gustavus Adolphus College, but in a happy coincidence, I received an email this morning from Steve Saltarelli with a link to his story about that very same program at si.com. The story explores not only the career and legacy of head coach Steve Wilkinson, but the challenges of recruiting when you have neither athletic scholarships nor good weather. (I do have a quibble with Saltarelli saying that Gustavus Adolphus "dominates" DIII tennis. UC Santa Cruz, the runnerup at the Indoors, won it and the NCAAs last year, and in Bob Hansen, have a coach that is every bit as renowned and successful as Wilkinson. See Hansen's bio here.) The story also has controversy as well, and if you are not aware how Division III moved from best of seven points to best of nine, with all doubles counting as points, Saltarelli explains. And with the score being 5-4 for Gustavus Adolphus this year at the Indoors, which was held after Saltarelli wrote his story, the questions about it will persist.
The most recent DI rankings were released yesterday, and the Northwestern women, who beat both Duke and North Carolina last weekend, ascended to the top spot, the first Big Ten team to reach No. 1. That's now three different teams that have been No. 1 in only six ranking periods. Virginia, on the other hand, hasn't been dislodged from the men's top spot, with next week marking the beginning of the computer-generated rankings.
The USTA Spring 18s championships in Mobile, a tournament that always signifies the changing of the seasons for me, are coming up in less than two weeks. The applicants have been selected and the girls' field features 2007 finalist Lauren Embree and semifinalist Asia Muhammad, as well as 18s Winter National champion Alexandra Cercone. The boys' field has both the 2007 Spring defending champion Brennan Boyajian and finalist Dennis Nevolo, who will be challenged by Bradley Klahn, the 18s Winter Nationals winner, and Alex Domijan, the 18s Eddie Herr finalist. For the tournament's TennisLink home page, click here.
Also, the Easter Bowl has provided a more detailed account of how the selections are made for the ITF Closed 18s event in Palm Springs. Click here for how the selections worked last year. (Scroll down to the red "New Information" heading).
1 comments:
What is the problem with all matches counting equal? That is the way I remember playing, also remember playing doubles (2 out of 3) after singles. Isn't this just a return to the way thing were before? Yes, I want to bring back wood rackets too.
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