McKenna Wins Riviera All-American, Pre-Qualifying Complete At Men's All-American in Tulsa
Americans swept the All-American titles Sunday at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., with Arizona State sophomore Kelcy McKenna winning the singles and Georgia Tech's Irina Falconi and Amanda McDowell taking the doubles title.
On Saturday McKenna avenged her first round loss in May's NCAA individual championships when she surprised No. 6 seed Maria Mosolova of Northwestern 0-6, 7-5. 7-6(4); in today's final it was Auburn's Fani Chifchieva, ranked ninth in the preseason polls, who fell to the 20th ranked McKenna 6-4, 6-3.
The Georgia Tech pair of freshman Falconi and junior McDowell became the second consecutive qualifiers to take the doubles title, matching 2007's winners Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor of Tennessee. Falconi and McDowell, who won seven matches total, defeated the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds prior to their 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 win today over unseeded Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova of Fresno State. It is Georgia Tech's first All-American title.
For complete results, visit the ITA website.
The Men's All-American, which I'll be attending later this week, has a new sponsor, D'Novo Lean Gourmet, and twice the participants in qualifying and main draw as the Women's event just completed. That means 16 pre-qualifiers begin play in Monday's 128-player qualifying field, in addition to seven lucky losers from today's pre-qualifying final round. Kentucky freshman Eric Quigley and Florida freshman Joey Burkhardt both advanced to qualifying without dropping a set, although Quigley was required to play only two matches due to a walkover.
For complete results and the qualifying draws in singles and doubles, see the ITA website.
4 comments:
Colette,
Thanks for all you do, you do a great job.
Question for you: Several of us are starting to look into college programs now to try and help our kids. Our question for you is: what college programs would you be looking at if you had a blue chip player and had a choice?
What coaches do you like, or is that putting you too much on the spot? If so, any general advice with all your experience?
Thank you dear!
love-tennis--
although I haven't been around college tennis very long--less than four years--if I've learned anything, it's that program and player compatibility vary from recruit to recruit.
I have come to know some of the coaches and programs, especially on the men's side, but that comes mostly from familiarity due to their success. The more they win, the more I talk to them about it for stories I'm writing and the better I get to know them. I'm sure there are dozens of excellent coaches that I don't know, who are building a program, or who are getting the most out their players and providing support for their academic goals. In fact I will throw two names out there, and you can accuse me of hometown bias, but Dave Morin and Betsy Kuhle at Western Michigan University do an outstanding job with the talent and resources they have at their disposal.
Thank you. I appreciate the advice. It is hard to figure out what to do. Do you go as 'high level' as the child can go, and have to battle for a spot, or do you go to a more medium one where they might appreciate the child more? Really a challenge.
Former University of Florida women's head coach Andy Brandi had this advice for recruits in a Coaches Q and A back in May.
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