Top Four Seeds Advance to Semifinals at ITA Men's Team Indoor; St. Mary's Shocks Stanford Women 4-3 in Palo Alto
No. 6 Georgia took the doubles point from No. 3 UCLA, but playing without KU Singh (coaches' decision) and Nick Wood (illness), the Bulldogs were unable to overcome the Bruins' strong singles lineup. UCLA got wins from Karue Sell at 6, Clay Thompson at 5, Dennis Novikov at 1 and Adrien Puget at 3.
UCLA will play No. 2 seed USC in the semifinals after the defending champions defeated No. 7 seed Kentucky 4-1. USC took the doubles point, but lost the point at No. 1 for the first time in over two years, as Kentucky's Anthony Rossi defeated Raymond Sarmiento 6-3, 6-4. The Trojans already had a 3-0 lead by that time however, getting wins from Roberto Quiroz at No. 3 and Yannick Hanfmann at No. 4, with Max de Vroome closing out the win at No.5.
I was expecting the match between No. 5 Pepperdine and No. 4 Ohio State to be close, but the Buckeyes took charge at the bottom of their lineup after taking the doubles point and eased to a 4-0 win. Hunter Callahan clinched at 6, after Connor Smith at 4 and Chris Diaz at 5 had taken straight-set wins.
Ohio State will hope to duplicate their upset of Virginia in last year's Team Indoor semifinal on Saturday, and this year they get the Cavaliers at a neutral site in Seattle rather than in Charlottesville. Top seed Virginia took a close doubles point from No. 9 seed Duke and posted singles wins by Alex Domijan at 2, Justin Shane at 6 and Jarmere Jenkins at No. 1 for a 4-0 win. Duke's No. 1, Henrique Cunha, played in doubles but was pulled from the lineup in singles, yet despite his absence the Blue Devils took all but two singles matches to three sets. Ohio State and Virginia will play the 2:30 p.m. match Sunday, with USC and UCLA scheduled for 11 a.m.
Complete results are available at the ITA tournament site.
No surprises in the Men's Team Indoor didn't mean no surprises in college tennis Saturday, with a shocker of a a result coming out of Palo Alto.
The No. 7 Stanford Cardinal women lost to No. 45 Saint Mary's 4-3 at home, only their third loss at the Taube Family Tennis Center since 1999.
Saint Mary's took the doubles point and picked up singles wins from Jenny Jullien at 1 and Danielle Flores at 3, with Catherine Leduc clinching it at 5.
Complete results:
No. 45 Saint Mary's 4, No. 7 Stanford 3
DOUBLES
1) Flores/Jullien (SMC) d. Tan/Tsay (STAN) 8-5
2) Isip/Elizabeth Searl (SMC) d. Ahn/Amelia Herring (STAN) 8-6
3) Dillon/Hardebeck (STAN) d. Frampton/Leitz (SMC) 9-8
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
SINGLES
1) No. 24 Jenny Jullien (SMC) d. No. 10 Krista Hardebeck (STAN) 7-5, 6-1
2) Kristie Ahn (STAN) d. Catherine Isip (SMC) 6-0, 6-1
3) Danielle Flores (SMC) d. No. 33 Ellen Tsay (STAN) 6-4, 0-6, 6-2
4) Stacey Tan (STAN) d. Jade Frampton (SMC) 6-0, 6-1
5) Catherine Leduc (SMC) d. Natalie Dillon (STAN) 4-6, 7-6, 6-3
6) Lindsey Kostas (STAN) d. Audrey Leitz (SMC) 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1, 6, 3, 5
Nicole Gibbs, who would have been playing No. 1 for Stanford had she been there, was instead in in Southern California, at Rancho Santa Fe, where she reached the final of the $25,000 Pro Circuit event with a win Saturday. Gibbs, the No. 2 seed, will play No. 6 seed Madison Brengle in Sunday's championship match. The two last played at the $100,000 Vancouver Challenger in August, with Gibbs taking a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory in the first round. Neither has lost a set in advancing to the final this week.
The doubles title went to unseeded Asia Muhammad and Allie Will, who defeated former college standouts Macall Harkins(TCU) and Anamika Bhargava (Pepperdine), also unseeded, 6-1, 6-4.
For more on the Rancho Santa Fe final see this release.
3 comments:
So Gibbs plays small pro tournament during regular season....why? Perhaps because SMC is not a worthy opponent? That's the team spirit, and, well, worked out OK, didn't it?
I think it is wonderful for top players to be able to combine a great college education with playing pro tournaments, as long as they limit the pro action to the individual season. Doing so during dual season indicates that individual results are valued over the team’s and that certainly does not enhance the team spirit. Maybe it also hints at a little arrogance from Stanford as they seemed to have underestimated the strength of Saint Mary’s, thinking they could win with a watered-down line up and it shows their line up is not as deep as they claim it to be.
I can imagine that, even though this loss must sting, Stanford isn’t overly concerned about it as long as the team is ready for Nationals, but it must put a dent in the team spirit and it also looks like Stanford better prepare for another early exit from their line up to the pros.
One issue that hasn't been a concern at this years tournament is disputed line calls. Hardly any in fact.
Post a Comment