Vanderbilt and Stanford Meet for Women's D-I Team Title, Ohio State and Host Wake Forest Face Off for Men's Championship Tuesday; D-III Team Championships Underway; US Women Begin French Open Qualifying Tuesday, US Men Have Dismal First Day; Noel Falls in First Round at Milan Grade A, Mayo Tops No. 4 Seed

All four of the NCAA Division I team semifinals were tense affairs, with the Vanderbilt and Stanford women and the Wake Forest and Ohio State men claiming victories Monday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

The women started the day, with top seed Vanderbilt getting by No. 4 seed Georgia Tech, taking the doubles point and a quick 2-0 lead when Astra Sharma breezed past Paige Hourigan 6-0, 6-3 at line 1. Nami Otsuka got the Yellow Jackets on the board with a win at line 5, but Fernanda Contreras put up another point for the Commodores at line 2. At 3-1, Vanderbilt was in a good position, but Georgia Tech got a second point from Ida Jarlskog at line 4 and had the first set in hand at line 3 and an essential split at line 6.  But Christina Rosca won a tiebreaker to earn a split at 3 over Johnnise Renaud, and Summer Dvorak took control of her third set at 6, leaving most of the suspense for which player would get the fourth point. It turned out to be Rosca, who took the match 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-1.

No. 15 seed Stanford lost the doubles point to No. 3 seed Duke, but that has not been an issue for them; they also dropped the doubles point in their round of 16 win over No. 2 seed North Carolina, only to roar back in singles.  The Cardinal got two quick wins from Emma Higuchi and Janice Shin at lines 6 and 5, and made it 3-1 with yet another victory for Melissa Lord at line 2.  Lord is now an amazing 14-0 in NCAA team matches in her three years at Stanford. After Duke's Samantha Harris defeated Michaela Gordon at line 1, it was 3-2 and the final two matches were in third sets, but it was Stanford who got the comeback win, with Caroline Lampl defeating Kaitlyn McCarthy 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to clinch another trip to the finals, their third straight.

For more on the women's semifinals, see this Tennis Recruiting Network article from Rhiannon Potkey.

Women’s Division semifinals, May 21, 2018

#15 [15] STANFORD (23-3) def. #3 [3] DUKE (27-4), 4-2 
Wake Forest Tennis Complex
Head Coaches: Jamie Ashworth (DUKE) and Lele Forood (STANFORD)

Doubles
1. #9 Kaitlyn McCarthy/Ellyse Hamlin (DUKE) def. #3 Emily Arbuthnott/Michaela Gordon (STANFORD) 6-3
2. #84 Caroline Lampl/Kimberly Yee (STANFORD) def. #6 Kelly Chen/Samantha Harris (DUKE) 6-4
3. Meible Chi/Hannah Zhao (DUKE) def. Melissa Lord/Janice Shin (STANFORD) 7-5

Singles
1. #6 Samantha Harris (DUKE) def. #15 Michaela Gordon (STANFORD) 6-2, 7-6(3)
2. #40 Melissa Lord (STANFORD) d. #55 Meible Chi (DUKE) 6-2, 7-6(0)
3. #93 Caroline Lampl (STANFORD) def. #116 Kaitlyn McCarthy (DUKE) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. #28 Kelly Chen (DUKE) vs. #43 Emily Arbuthnott (STANFORD) 6-4, 3-6, 3-4, unf.
5. #96 Janice Shin (STANFORD) d. #84 Ellyse Hamlin (DUKE) 6-1, 6-1
6. #102 Emma Higuchi (STANFORD) d. Hannah Zhao (DUKE) 6-4, 6-0

Order of Finish:
Doubles: (1,2,3) Singles (6,5,2,1,3)

#2 [1] VANDERBILT (27-3) def. #4 [4] GEORGIA TECH (25-6), 4-2
Wake Forest Tennis Complex
Head Coaches: Geoff Macdonald (VANDERBILT) and Rodney Harmon (GEORGIA TECH)

Doubles
1. #11 Astra Sharma/Fernanda Contreras (VANDERBILT) vs. #1 Paige Hourigan/Kenya Jones (GEORGIA TECH) 5-5, unf.
2. #69 Emma Kurtz/Emily Smith (VANDERBILT) def. #48 Ida Jarlskog/Victoria Flores (GEORGIA TECH) 6-4
3. Christina Rosca/Amanda Meyer (VANDERBILT) def. Johnnise Renaud/Nami Otsuka (GEORGIA TECH) 6-4

Singles
1. #11 Astra Sharma (VANDERBILT) def. #14 Paige Hourigan (GEORGIA TECH) 6-0, 6-3
2. #10 Fernanda Contreras (VANDERBILT) def. #60 Kenya Jones (GEORGIA TECH) 6-4, 6-4
3. #44 Christina Rosca (VANDERBILT) def. Johnnise Renaud (GEORGIA TECH) 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-1
4 #125 Ida Jarlskog (GEORGIA TECH) def. Amanda Meyer (VANDERBILT) 6-2, 6-4
5. Nami Otsuka (GEORGIA TECH) def. Emma Kurtz (VANDERBILT) 6-1, 6-3
6. Summer Dvorak (VANDERBILT) vs. Victoria Flores (GEORGIA TECH) 6-2, 7-5, 5-2, unf.

Order of Finish:
Doubles: (2,3) Singles (1,5,2,4,3)
======================
The men's semifinals were even more exciting, but also frustrating, with a three-hour rain delay early in the singles and another lightning delay less than an hour later.  But when the matches finally finished it was host and top seed Wake Forest and No. 3 seed Ohio State who had survived the seven hour ordeal, with Wake defeating No. 5 seed Texas A&M 4-3 and Ohio State beating No. 2 seed UCLA 4-1.

Wake Forest won the doubles point and quickly took lines 1 and 2 in singles, with Borna Gojo and Petros Chrysochos making it 3-0. It looked like it might be another routine win for the Demon Deacons, but Texas A&M hung around, got a win at No. 4 from Valentin Vacherot to make it 3-1, and that was the score for a very long time, as the Aggies forced three sets in two matches and Juan Carlos Aguilar won his very long two-set match at line 5.  Jordi Arconada pulled the Aggies even with a comeback at line 3, but Christian Seraphim was already up 3-0 against Barnaby Smith at line 6 and he went on to close out the match, no doubt to the great relief of all the Wake Forest fans who left after the second rain delay.

Ohio State won an exceedingly close doubles point from UCLA, winning at lines 2 and 3 in tiebreakers, while the Bruins took line 1 by a 7-5 score. In singles, each team took three first sets, but the only player able to close out his match in two sets was UCLA's Connor Hance at line 6, leaving the score at 1-1. The third point was posted until much later, with Mikael Torpegaard defeating Martin Redlicki 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at line 1 to give Ohio State a 2-1 lead. Kyle Seelig made it 3-1 Ohio State with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win at line 4, and minutes later, Buckeye Martin Joyce broke Maxime Cressy at line 5 to earn a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory and put Ohio State in the title match for only the second time in school history.  Whoever wins on Tuesday will bring home the school's first NCAA team tennis title, with Wake Forest reaching the final for the first time.

#3 [3] OHIO STATE (34-2) def. #2 [2] UCLA (30-3), 4-1
Wake Forest Tennis Complex
Head Coaches: Billy Martin (UCLA) and Ty Tucker (Ohio State)

Doubles       
1. #29 Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu (UCLA) def. Martin Joyce/JJ Wolf (OHIO STATE) 7-5
2.#61 Mikael Torpegaard/John McNally (OHIO STATE) def. #16 Austin Rapp/Keegan Smith (UCLA) 7-6(4)
3.Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert (OHIO STATE) def. Maxime Cressy/Bryce Pereira (UCLA) 7-6(3)

Singles
1. #6 Mikael Torpegaard (OHIO STATE) def. #1 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. #41 JJ Wolf (OHIO STATE) vs. #81 Evan Zhu (UCLA) 7-5, 6-4, 1-4, unf.
3. #92 John McNally (OHIO STATE) vs. #56 Keegan Smith (UCLA) 6-7(5), 6-4, 2-0, unf.
4. #96 Kyle Seelig (OHIO STATE) def. #103 Logan Staggs (UCLA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
5. #112 Martin Joyce (OHIO STATE) def. Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. Connor Hance (UCLA) vs. Hunter Tubert (OHIO STATE) 7-5, 6-3

Order of Finish:
Doubles: (1,2,3) Singles (6,1,4,5)
===========================

#1 [1] WAKE FOREST (30-2) def. #5 [5] TEXAS A&M (26-6), 4-3 
Wake Forest Tennis Complex
Head Coaches: Tony Bresky (Wake Forest) and Steve Denton (Texas A&M)

Doubles
1. #21 Borna Gojo/Skander Mansouri (WAKE FOREST) def. #3 Juan Carlos Aguilar/Jordi Arconada (TEXAS A&M) 6-0
2. #35 Petros Chrysochos/Bar Botzer (WAKE FOREST) def. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TEXAS A&M) 6-3
3. #46 Christian Seraphim/Ian Dempster (WAKE FOREST) vs. Patrick Kypson/Valentin Vacherot
(TEXAS A&M) 5-4, unf.

Singles
1. #7 Borna Gojo (WAKE FOREST) def. #5 Patrick Kypson (TEXAS A&M) 6-2, 6-1
2. #4 Petros Chrysochos (WAKE FOREST) def. #12 Arhtur Rinderknech (TEXAS A&M) 6-2, 6-1
3. #48 Jordi Arconada (TEXAS A&M) def. #38 Skander Mansouri (WAKE FOREST) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
4. #72 Valentin Vacherot (TEXAS A&M) def. Bar Botzer (WAKE FOREST) 6-3, 6-2
5. Juan Carlos Aguilar (TEXAS A&M) def. Alan Gadjiev (WAKE FOREST) 7-6(6), 6-3
6. Christian Seraphim (WAKE FOREST) vs. Barnaby Smith (TEXAS A&M) 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-0

Order of Finish:
Doubles: (1,2) Singles (1,2,4,3,5,6)

The women's championship match is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the men's championship match is scheduled for 5 p.m. I believe both matches will be streamed, with commentary, at ncaa.com.

For more information, see the Wake Forest tournament site.

The Division III quarterfinals began today at the finals site in Claremont California, but three of the women's matches are not yet complete. Women's top seed Emory has advanced to the semifinals with a 5-1 win over No. 8 seed Chicago.

Today's men's results:
Bowdoin[1] d. Washington-St. Louis[8] 5-0
Chicago[5] d. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps[4] 5-2
Middlebury[2] d. Whitman 5-1
Emory[6] d. Williams[3] 5-0

Ten US women are entered in the French Open qualifying, with eight of them in action on Tuesday: Francesca Di Lorenzo, Irina Falconi, Caroline Dolehide[17], Kayla Day, Nicole Gibbs[8], Claire Liu, Jamie Loeb and Grace Min.  Danielle Lao and Kristie Ahn[19] will play their first round matches on Wednesday. Falconi and Dolehide will square off in the first round. The women's qualifying draw is here.

The US men went 1-6 today, with No. 7 seed Denis Kudla the only winner. Donald Young[19], Tim Smyczek[11], Evan King, Ernesto Escobedo, Dennis Novikov and Christopher Eubanks all lost their first round matches.  Kevin King, Stefan Kozlov, Bradley Klahn and Reilly Opelka play their opening matches on Tuesday.

At the ITF Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy, No. 3 seed Alexa Noel was beaten in the first round by Marta Custic of Spain 6-4, 6-1. Lea Ma and Natasha Subhash also went out in the first round, with Kacie Harvey posting the only win among the US girls who were in action today.

In the boys draw, No. 15 seed Andrew Fenty lost to Otto Virtanen of Finland 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and Emilio Nava also was eliminated from singles today, but No. 6 seed Tristan Boyer and Santa Croce Grade 1 champion Cannon Kingsley advanced, as did Keenan Mayo, who beat No. 4 seed Nicolas Mejia of Colombia 6-3, 6-1.  Live scores for the tournament can be found at Tennis Ticker.