Expected and Unexpected Winners at Conference Tournaments
The Big Ten's conference tournament champions have been the same for the past three years now, with the Northwestern women and the Ohio State men claiming titles yesterday. The nation's No. 1 ranked team, Northwestern breezed past No. 21 Michigan 4-0, and the only blemish on their record is their loss to Georgia Tech in the finals of the Team Indoor back in February. The Ohio State men also have suffered only one loss, and theirs also came in the finals of the Team Indoor, when Virginia beat them 4-1. Yesterday Ohio State came close to their second defeat, when Illinois took a 3-2 lead, but both No. 2 Justin Kronauge and No. 3 Steven Moneke came through in three sets after dropping the first to give the Buckeyes the win. The Buckeye website has the details here and Marcia Frost of collegeandjuniortennis.com was also there.
If those results were expected, the Big 12 produced a surprise, as the Baylor men, ranked 11th, upset No. 6 Texas 4-2. The third-ranked women came through as expected. For more on both finals, see kwtx.com.
In the WAC, there was also a surprise on the men's side as No. 4 seed Hawaii, led by freshman Dennis Lajola, defeated both No. 1 seed Boise State and No. 2 seed Fresno State to take that conference's automatic bid. The Fresno State women won their seventh straight WAC title.
The Mid-American conference also produced a surprise in the form of the Buffalo women defeating regular season conference champions Western Michigan 4-3. The Western Michigan men, who like the women, won the regular season conference title, did earn the NCAA bid.
For a wrap up of the Pac-10 singles and doubles at Ojai, click here. (Note to photo caption author: Van't Hof is left-handed).
Tomorrow (Tuesday) the bids and regional sites are announced at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPNews.
10 comments:
Just looked at the womens rankings. Lindsay Nelson is sitting at #57 heading into the postseason. Wouldnt it be odd if the two-time defending NCAA Runner-up didnt even make the tourney her senior year? Also, dont forget about Zemenova who is now a senior and ranked 25th in the country. Just three years ago she was an unseeded freshman winning the individual national title.
On the mens side there is going to be one noticeable player not there this year. Luke Shields, who has made it every year, now all the sudden as a senior is not even close to making the field. Also, Luis Flores, although he has barely played this year is sitting right there on the cusp like Nelson. If he gets healthy and gets some matches under his belt during the team competition he could be dangerous since he will be so fresh while everyone else will be battered from the long season.
Brackets are out.
Top 16 Men's seeds:
1. Virginia
2. Ohio State
3. UCLA
4. UGA
5. Ole Miss
6. USC
7. Texas
8. Tennessee
9. Baylor
10. Florida
11. Tulsa
12. UNC
13. Pepperdine
14. FSU
15. Illinois
16. Michigan
Top 16 Women's seeds:
1. Northwestern
2. UGA
3. Georgia Tech
4. Stanford
5. Baylor
6. Florida
7. UCLA
8. Cal
9. Duke
10. USC
11. Vandy
12. Miami
13. Clemson
14. FSU
15. UNC
16. Fresno State
UCLA has Abid listed at 4. If he's healthy the Bruins just separated themselves from most contenders. I think odds favor a Virginia/UCLA final
Abid is redshirting.
Abid is redshirting...unless they changed their minds at the last second.
However I still dont know what happened to Jerry Makowski. It really intrigues me because all the sudden the middle of his senior year, boom, hes gone.
Looks like a possible Illinois/Ohio State match-up again in the round of 16.
On the lineup form that UCLA submitted for the NCAAs, they listed him as 4. Obviously that doesn't mean he will play, but why do it if they aren't seriously considering it
colette how tall are vicky duval and sachia vickery
I'm not sure on Vickery and Duval's heights. Neither is much over five two I would guess, but of course at 12-13 years of age, it's a bit of a moving target this early.
anyone have a link to the lineups? i cant seem to find it. thanks.
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