2016 USTA National Boys Summer Team Set; Florida Women, Georgia Men Post Undefeated SEC Seasons, North Carolina Women Perfect in ACC

USTA National Summer Team (photo via Player Development twitter)
(left to right) Axel Nefve, Andrew Fenty, Jaycer Lyeons, Adam Neff,
Christian Alshon, Sangeet Sridhar, Govind Nanda, Michael Heller

Sixteen boys were invited to Boca Raton to compete for spots on the USTA's National Summer Team, which provides training, coaching and some financial assistance to its members for the major junior events held in the next few months. Open to those born in 2000 and 2001, the teams are selected in a two-stage process, with the winners of the round robin groups the first to qualify. Last year the tryouts were held in July and decided only six of the eight positions, with Sam Riffice and Vasil Kirkov meeting the criteria established for inclusion. Presumably, none of the boys this year did so, since all eight positions were open.

This year those winners were:
1.  Michael Heller

2.  Christian Alshon

3.  Govind Nanda

4.  Sangeet Sridhar

The four other positions were decided today, with those finishing 2nd and 3rd in the round robin groups playing one match to earn a place on the team.

Those results:

Adam Neff def Keenan Mayo 6-4, 6-4

Andrew Fenty def Trey Hilderbrand 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2

Axel Nefve def Brian Shi 6-3, 6-1

Jaycer Lyeons def Tomas Kopczynski 6-2, 4-6, 6-1

Day Three Position match Results:

William Grant def Nathan Han 6-3, 6-4

James Ignatowich def Drew Baird 6-4, 1-6, ret

Michael Heller def Christian Alshon 6-4, 1-6, 6-2

Sangeet Sridhar def Govind Nanda 1-6, 6-2, 7-5

Day Two Results:

Morning matches

Jaycer Lyeons def Keenan Mayo 6-4, 7-6(5)

Michael Heller def Drew Baird 7-5, 7-6(4)

Sangeet Sridhar def Adam Neff 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(1)

Trey Hilderbrand def Nathan Han 7-5, 6-2

Andrew Fenty def Brian Shi 6-2, 6-1

Christian Alshon def Robert Hammond 6-1, 6-0

Govind Nanda def Tomas Kopczynski

Axel Nefve def William Grant 6-1, 6-2

Afternoon matches:

Sangeet Sridhar def Trey Hilderbrand 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

Adam Neff def Nathan Han 6-4, 6-3

Michael Heller def Keenan Mayo 7-6(4), 6-2

Christian Alshon def Andrew Fenty 6-1, 6-2

Brian Shi def James Ignatowich (Alternate) 6-3, 6-2

Govind Nanda def Axel Nefve 6-3, 7-5

Tomas Kopczynski def William Grant 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4)

Jaycer Lyeons def Drew Baird 6-2, 6-2

Day One Results:
Keenan Mayo def Drew Baird 6-4, 6-3
Michael Heller def Jaycer Lyeons 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
Sangeet Sridhar def Nathan Han 6-2, 6-1
Adam Neff def Trey Hilderbrand 6-1, 6-2
Andrew Fenty def Robert Hammond 6-3, 6-1
Christian Alshon def Brian Shi 7-6(5), 6-3
Govind Nanda def William Grant 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
Axel Nefve def Tomas Kopczynski 6-4, 6-1

The girls selection camp will be held in the next couple of weeks.

The SEC completed its conference schedule yesterday, with both the Florida women and Georgia men finishing it undefeated.  Florida blanked Tennessee Sunday to go 13-0, while Georgia ended 12-0 after a 4-0 win over Ole Miss.  The North Carolina women had a bit more difficulty in posting their perfect conference season, coming from behind to beat Georgia Tech 4-3 to go 14-0 in ACC play.  The streak of perfect ACC seasons ended for the Virginia men earlier this month, but the Cavaliers won the title nonetheless with a 7-0 win over Miami. Virginia had gone undefeated in ACC play from 2007-2015 before losing to North Carolina this year.

The UCLA men won the Pac-12 regular season title with a 4-2 win over Southern Cal, and they too were perfect, finishing 7-0 in conference play.  The women's Pac-12 title will be decided in Ojai this week, with Southern Cal playing Stanford, a makeup of a rained out match last month. USC beat UCLA 4-1 on Sunday to stay undefeated and to force the makeup.

Of the Power Five conferences, just the Big 12 and Big Ten have another weekend of conference play remaining.

See College Tennis Today for all the information on this weekend's men's conference tournaments, including links to draws, and a list of those who have already qualified for the NCAA tournament, which includes Columbia, George Washington and Coastal Carolina.