Men's D-I Sweet 16 Field Set; West Florida Men and Barry Women Win D-II Titles; Liu and Collins Meet in Naples $25K Final; Bilokin Claims Second Straight ITF Grade 4 Title

Sixteen men's teams and seven women's teams have earned their trips to Athens with second round victories today in the Division I regionals held across the country.

After a mostly predictable and not very exciting first day on Friday, the drama increased today, with a number of 4-3 decisions.  The Illinois men trailed No. 11 seed and host Oklahoma State 3-0 before roaring back to take the final four points and the match. The Cowboys were the only seed who failed to make it out of their regional this year. Men's No. 10 seed Texas saved match points that would have put Tulane in the Sweet 16 in Athens, coming from 3-1 down to salvage that victory. The complete men's bracket is here.

The Texas women were not as fortunate as the men, with their hopes for an upset over No. 14 seed and host South Carolina dashed by South Carolina freshman Mia Horvit, who beat Neda Koprcina 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 at line 2 to secure the 4-3 victory.  In first round play, LSU came back to beat Tulsa 4-3 and Notre Dame eked out a 4-3 win over Kansas, who was unable to field a player at line 6, giving a default win to the Fighting Irish.  The only team in the 33-48 group to win in the first round today was Northwestern, who beat Mississippi State, in the 17-32 grouping, 4-1. The women's bracket is here.

The results from the men's second round, with all winners advancing to Athens:

Wake Forest[1] def. Kentucky 4-2
Stanford[16] def. Michigan 4-1

North Carolina[9] def. South Carolina 4-1
Cal[8] def. Northwestern 4-1

UCLA[5] def. Ole Miss 4-0
Texas A&M[12] def. Oregon 4-0

Georgia[13] def. South Florida 4-1
USC[4] def. Wisconsin 4-0

Ohio State[3] def. Louisville 4-0
Oklahoma[14] def. Mississippi State 4-1

Illinois def. Oklahoma State[11] 4-3
TCU[6] def. Florida State 4-1

Baylor[7] def. Cornell 4-0
Texas[10] def. Tulane 4-3

Florida[15] def. Georgia Tech 4-0
Virginia[2] def. Columbia 4-0

The women's results from today:

Women’s Second Round (winners earn berth in Sweet 16 in Athens)

Pepperdine[12] def. UCLA 4-1

Vanderbilt[4] def. Clemson 4-1

South Carolina[14] def. Texas 4-3

Auburn[11] def. Florida State 4-2
Texas Tech[6] def. Denver 4-1

Michigan[10] def. Kentucky 4-2

Duke[15] def. Tennessee 4-1

Women’s First Round

Florida[1] def. Massachusetts 4-0
Miami def. South Florida 4-0

Texas A&M def. Louisiana-Monroe 4-2
Baylor[16] def. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-0

Oklahoma State[9] def. Missouri-KC 4-0
Arkansas def. Wichita State 4-2

Northwestern def. Mississippi State 4-1
Georgia Tech[8] def. Alabama State 4-0

Georgia[5] def. South Carolina State 4-0
North Carolina St. def. Oregon 4-2

Cal[13] def. San Jose St 4-0
LSU def. Tulsa 4-3

Ohio State[3] def. Buffalo 4-0
Notre Dame def. Kansas 4-3

Stanford[7] def. Idaho 4-0
TCU def. Rice 4-0

Ole Miss def. William & Mary 4-1
North Carolina[2] def. Furman 4-0

The Division II champions have been crowned with top seed West Florida defeating No. 2 seed Barry 5-2 to take their fourth NCAA men's team title.  The second-seeded Barry women delivered the title the men could not, blanking No. 3 seed Lynn 3-0 for their third NCAA team title.

At the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Naples Florida, qualifier Claire Liu has advanced to the final, where she'll meet No. 7 seed Danielle Collins.

The 16-year-old Liu, who reached the semifinals last week at the Charleston South Carolina $60K, beat No. 2 seed Kayla Day 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to win her seventh match in the past seven days.  Liu will play No. 7 seed Danielle Collins in the final after Collins defeated Ellie Halbauer 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.  Collins, who reached the final last week in Charleston, beat Halbauer in three sets in the round of 16 last week. The 22-year-old Collins and Liu have not played before.

In the doubles final in Naples, top seeds Sanaz Marand and Emina Bektas defeated Collins and Taylor Townsend 7-6(1), 6-1 for the title. Bektas, the former Michigan star, has had a great run this spring in doubles, winning the $60,000 Pelham AL tournament with Marand recently and last week winning the $60,000 Charleston tournament with Alexa Guarachi Mathison.

The second of the three consecutive ITF Grade 4 tournaments in South Florida finished today in Coral Gables, with Margaryta Bilokin of Ukraine earning her second straight title.  The sixth-seeded 16-year-old, who didn't lose a set all week, defeated wild card Abigail Forbes 6-4, 6-2 in the final. The boys title went to 18-year-old Kirac Bekisoglu of Turkey, the No. 3 seed, who defeated No. 4 seed Ronan Jachuck 6-0, 7-6(3) in the final.

Top seeds Daniel Moreno of Mexico and Sebastian Mermersky won the boys doubles title, beating unseeded Johan Castillo Grullon and Yeudy Villar of the Dominican Republic 6-1, 6-2 in the final. The girls doubles champions are unseeded Chloe Beck and Emma Navarro, who defeated top seed Bilokin and Kacie Harvey 6-3 7-5 in the final.

At the Grade 3 in Morocco, No. 2 seed Katya Townsend advanced to the final, losing to top seed Sina Zuger of Switzerland 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4. Katie LaFrance won the doubles title at the Grade 5 in Namibia, partnering with Lillian Gabrielsen of Norway.