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Sunday, May 3, 2009

Three U.S. Teams Advance to ITF Team Finals; NCAA Lineups Posted; K-College Wins 71st Consecutive MIAA title

The qualifying for the ITF Junior Fed and Davis Cup, and the ITF World Junior Team competition finished today, and three U.S. teams have advanced to the finals. The boys and girls 14-and-under teams will head to the Czech Republic in August, while the Junior Davis Cup team will compete in Mexico in September. I detailed the unfortunate circumstances of the U.S.A's loss to Canada on Friday in that day's post, and with Canada's win today over Mexico, the U.S. Fed Cup team will not be traveling to Mexico to defend their title. For a complete account of today's action and results, thanks to the USTA's Andrew Labovitz, click here. (For yesterday's account, click here.) The teams for the finals often change due to summer results, but congratulations to all the players in Boca Raton for representing their countries in competition.

Thanks to the Texas College Tennis blog's alert, I had a chance to study the recently posted lineups for the upcoming NCAA Division 1 competition, which begins Friday. A few items I noticed:

There were only four players (with a minimum of ten matches) who went undefeated in dual match play this year (on teams who are in the tournament).

Take a bow Arnau Brugues of Tulsa at No. 1, Matt Allare of Ohio State at No. 4, Gretchen Amberg of Fairfield at No. 6 and Aleksandra Malyarchikova of SMU at No. 3.

And some interesting position changes were submitted. As TCT mentions, Miguel Reyes Varela of Texas has been dropped to No. 6. Georgia's Jamie Hunt has been dropped to No. 3, with Garrapiz now at No. 2. Waylon Chin, who has only played ten matches for Illinois, is at No. 5, and Matt Brooklyn is now in the No. 1 spot for UCLA.

On the women's side, freshman Jackie Wu has taken over the No. 1 spot for Vanderbilt, with Catherine Newman moving down. Maria Sanchez is in the No. 1 slot for USC, despite Amanda Fink winning the Pac-10 title, and Duke, who at the No. 3, is one of the favorites for the team title, has only seven players on the roster. Tara Iyer, who played No. 1 for them at last year's NCAAs, is listed at No. 7. with a knee injury keeping her out of the dual match season. More than most teams, the Blue Devils are keeping their fingers crossed that the injury bug doesn't bite this month.

I'm sure I've missed many notable changes; so please feel free to comment on any that you notice (once again, please do NOT use the anonymous selection, use the name option instead).

And if I can indulge in a little hometown interest, the Kalamazoo College men won their 71st MIAA tennis title Friday with a 9-0 rout of Calvin College. For more on the continuation of one of college tennis's most remarkable streaks, click here.

11 comments:

d3tennisbrah said...

kalamazoo has been a great, historic program, but they have certainly fallen off in the last few years, they are nowhere near the top of DIII anymore.

gsm said...

Bruges undefeated record should have an asterisk by it. UVA's Inglot was serving for the match at the Indoors in Chicago when Bruges takes an injury time out. The injury TO conveniently lasts long enough for more UVA guys to finish & clinch the match. As a result of the TO, Bruges gets a DNF & keeps his undefeated record

Brent said...

A couple obvservations/questions on that D1 lineup submission....

- what is the 'overturning of lineups'? That is a not a concept that I'm familiar with. Is there something in place to keep coaches from egregious stacking.

- what is the purpose of the lineup submission for the NCAA tournament? Are you not allowed to alter your lineup going forward? What about injuries, sickness, guys slumping, etc.? Can you change doubles lineups?

- still can't believe Buchanan can't get higher than #6 in the lineup for OSU. Also see that they have taken him out of the doubles lineup as well.

- surprised that Luke Marchese at Duke and Sam Keeton at Notre Dame can't crack the starting lineup

- interesting that USC has Poldma at #3 even though he hasn't played a match there all season - but clearly Johnson is playing well

- Clayton not playing doubles for Stanford - not a good indicator of their health. Still maintain that that team with a healthy Bruch and Clayton could beat anybody, including UVA in the quarters.

- a healthy UCLA team is dangerous as well - Meister hasn't played #6 all year but now he is rightfully pushed down there

Should be fun.

Austin said...

I pretty much agree with every lineup I saw. The only thing Im curious about is Billy Heiser at #11 in the Illinois order. Is he injured and not playing but they just threw him in there?

Has that particular lineup been used by UCLA even once this year? Seems like theyve been so injured they havent had that lineup play. Interested to see if we actually see it.

Collette, is there going to be a post where we make all of our predictions? Thanks.

Colette Lewis said...

The NCAA Prediction Post will be up tomorrow (Tuesday) and will stay open through midnight May 13th. Joe, who described exactly how the Virginia - Georgia Men's Team Indoor final would go down, is extended a special invitation to participate. My team picks will be revealed Friday, on the Tennis Recruiting Network.

I believe Heiser is currently academically ineligible.

txcollege10s said...

From the DI men's and women's tournament handbook.

Coaches will have the opportunity to review other teams’ lineups on the Web site
and submit any challenges to the NCAA national office beginning 30 minutes after the
completion of the selection show, Tuesday, April 28 and noon (Eastern time), Thursday,
April 30 (the deadline for submitting a lineup challenge). The subcommittees will
conduct teleconferences at 11 a.m. (Eastern time) on Friday, May 1, to rule on any
appeals and finalize the lineups. Coaches should note that they may need to make
themselves available during this teleconference if the committee has questions about
their lineup or if their lineup has been challenged. Final lineups will be posted on the
NCAA’s Web site by 6 p.m. (Eastern time) on Friday, May 1.

Fines. Failure to follow the results reporting or lineup form submission procedures
could jeopardize a team or individual’s eligibility for championships selection.
Institutions failing to adhere to the procedures outlined above for the submission of
regular-season results and lineup forms may be assessed a financial penalty of $100
per team or $50 per individual, up to a maximum penalty of $300. An institution
assessed such a financial penalty must make payment to the national office, before the
institution’s team or individual(s) will be allowed to compete.

The committee will implement a $300 fine in accordance with Bylaw 31.1.11
(Failure to Adhere to Policies and Procedures) for any institution that has its lineup
challenged and overturned by the respective subcommittees.

There is a whole other section on lineups too

Austin said...

UGA is going out early I think. Havent looked at the bracket yet, but Im not seeing it from them this year.

Stephen said...

According to Dancer, Heiser "is on suspension for violating team policy," and they "are asking him to take personal time to set proper priorities" and "have not put any time limits or restraints on that process."

brad_dancers_illinois_tennis_chat

texanfan said...

I agree with Austin, Georgia has a snowman's chance for a three-peat.

And Tyler Hochwalt and his mom were seen over the weekend at UT speaking with coaches. Texas might not have the chance for the big crown this year, but with him healthy and out of Florida, the Longhorns should be mighty happy about their prospects for '09-'10

Buckeyes are fishy said...

How has Buchanan at #6 not been challenged? He is probably the 4th best player on that team and 5th at worst.

Agree Stanford could surprise UVA though I think UVA rolls into the finals fairly comfortably - they got a pretty unreal draw. Finals will be a battle - UVA-OSU probably.

osuresponse said...

It makes sense that Buchanan is playing number 6 for Ohio State with 3 loses already on the year. Matt Allare is undefeated on the year playing mostly 4 and 5 and Novak has lost 2 dual matches the past two seasons at 4-6. Not to make Buchanan sound like he is not very good because he is, but it is very sensible and fair that he is number 6 in the lineup.