Defending Champion Texas Survives, Indoor Champion North Carolina Falls in Drama-Filled Round of 16 at Men's NCAA Division I Team Championships

The women's Division I round of 16 Sunday produced only one 4-3 match, with unseeded Duke getting past No. 9 seed and host UCF with a comeback win by Chloe Beck late last night. The heroes of the men's round of 16 today at the USTA's National Campus are almost too numerous to mention, with three matches decided by 4-3 scores, while two of the top eight seeds were eliminated. 

Georgia started off the day with a bang, with the No. 11 seed defeating No. 6 seed and National Indoor champion North Carolina 4-3. Georgia won a tight doubles point, taking a tiebreaker at 2 after the teams had split decisions at 1 and 3. Georgia got four first sets, but two hours after the match began it was still 1-0. Philip Henning defeated Benjamin Sigouin to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead, with Brian Cernoch getting the Tar Heels on the board with a three-set win over Blake Croyder at 4. A minute later, Erik Grevelius gave Georgia a 3-1 lead, only to be followed a minute after that with North Carolina wins at 1 and 2 to make it 3-3. Billy Rowe and Tar Heel Joshua Peck were still in the second set of their match, with Rowe up a break at 3-1. Rowe stayed ahead, although he had to hold from 30-40 at 4-3 to keep in front, but the graduate transfer didn't falter when serving for the match at 5-4, holding at love to put Georgia into Thursday's quarterfinals. 

Adam Walton of Tennessee waits for his teammate to pile on
photo credit: USTA/Manuela Davies

They'll play No. 3 Tennessee, who had all they could handle from unseeded Arizona, with the Volunteers needing wins from their seniors in the last two matches remaining trailing 3-2. Tennessee breezed through the doubles, but if they expected more of the same in singles, they soon learned otherwise. Arizona took three first sets and pulled even with a straight-sets win by Carlos Hassey at line 6. The Wildcats got the split they needed at line 4, and a second point from Jonas Ziverts, who beat SEC Freshman of the Year Johannus Monday 7-5, 6-3. Arizona went up 3-2 with Alejandro Reguant's win at line 5. Gustaf Strom earned a split from the Vols Walton at line 1, while senior Luca Wiedenmann was up 4-1 at line 1. Wiedenmann eventually closed out Herman Hoeyeraal 6-4, while Walton had built a 4-1 lead over Strom. In the no-ad world of Division I college tennis, that isn't a big lead, but he stayed in the points against the Wildcat freshman, who began forcing shots and making errors down the stretch. Walton broke at love to win, and Tennessee had survived.

Tennessee and Georgia met once this year in SEC conference play, with the Volunteers winning 4-2 in Athens.

The early afternoon matches produced two 4-1 victories for the favored teams, although neither went as expected. Unseeded Ohio State, who had looked so good in beating Wake Forest in Winston-Salem in the regional final, struggled against No. 7 seed TCU. After TCU took the doubles point with wins at 1 and 2, they kept right on going in singles taking five first sets in singles, and, after John McNally gave the Buckeyes their lone point at No. 1, the Horned Frogs closed out three straight-sets matches, dismissing Ohio State in just over two hours.

No. 2 seed Baylor dominated the doubles point, but the Bears had their hands full with No. 15 seed Mississippi in singles, who took three first sets and got a quick win from Finn Reynolds at line 2 to get on the board. Three matches went to three sets, but the Bears got the three points they needed from the bottom half of their lineup to earn a quarterfinal meeting with Big 12 rival TCU. Baylor has won two of the three matches they have played this year.

Evin McDonald of Texas welcomes teammate to celebration
photo credit: USTA/Manuela Davies

The third Big 12 team from Texas to advance to the quarterfinals is defending champion Texas, who came from 3-0 down to defeat No. 13 seed South Carolina. The only team, men or women, in the round of 16 to lose the doubles point and live to tell about it, Texas could only take three first sets in singles, and South Carolina was up a break in the second set of all three of the matches in which they had won the first set: 3, 5 and 6. Holding on to those breaks was tough, although they did get wins from Toby Samuel at 3 and Jake Beasley at 5 to make it 3-0. 

Texas finally got on the board with Micah Braswell coming from 0-40 down serving for his match with Connor Thomson to take a 6-3, 6-4 victory. By that time, Evin McDonald of Texas had earned a split with Thomas Brown at line 6, while Eliot Spizzirri had dropped his second set to South Carolina's Daniel Rodrigues. McDonald went up 3-1 in the third, while Spizzirri trailed 3-0 (live scoring went a little crazy at that point, so I'm not sure this is exactly right). Spizzirri got the break back, and McDonald earned two match points at 5-3, but he didn't get either, and Brown was back on serve. A deciding point with Brown serving gave McDonald another match point, but he was overruled on that third match point, with a ball he called out seen as good by the chair umpire. 

Meanwhile, Spizzirri had continued his third set comeback, winning six of the final seven games of the set to beat Rodrigues 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 and pull the Longhorns even.

McDonald, unfazed by that match point overrule, held at love for a 6-5 lead, then went up 0-40 on Brown's service game. Two more match points came and went, but the sophomore finally got the sixth to keep Texas's hope for a second championship alive.

Texas will face No. 12 seed Southern California in Thursday's quarterfinals, after the Trojans sent No. 5 seed Virginia down to a 4-2 defeat.

After USC won a close doubles point, then took four first sets in singles, they looked to be in control. But Virginia, who had won their regional final with Stanford after dropping the doubles point, weren't ready to concede. Riley Smith made it 2-0 with a win at line 2, but Gianni Ross got the Cavaliers on the board at line 6, and Chris Rodesch had earned a split against Stefan Dostanic at line 3. Virginia tied it with Inaki Montes defeating Bradley Frye at line 4. USC edged ahead with Lodewijk Weststrate beating Ryan Goetz at line 5, but the fourth point was eluding the Trojans. Dostanic went up 5-1 in the third but couldn't close out Rodesch, while Daniel Cukierman was dropping his second set to Carl Soderlund at line 1.  Serving for the match at 5-2, Dostanic went up 30-0, lost the next two points on an overrule and a double fault, then netted a backhand. But Dostanic found a second serve winner to earn a deciding point, which he won with a big first serve, putting Southern California in the quarterfinals.

The two night matches were the only two shutouts of the day, No. 8 seed Texas A&M took out unseeded Mississippi State and Florida handled Illinois, with both matches taking just over two hours to complete.

Tuesday is a day off, with the women's quarterfinals scheduled to begin Wednesday at 11 a.m. with Georgia vs NC State, followed by Texas and Florida State at 2 p.m., Pepperdine and UCLA at 5:30 p.m. and North Carolina and Duke, not before 7:30 p.m. The Tennis Channel will be providing coverage of the day's last two quarterfinals, with the TennisOne app streaming the first two.

Information on tickets is available at the tournament website.

Tennessee 4, Arizona 3

Doubles

1. #4 Adam Walton/Pat Harper (TENN) def. Alejandro Reguant/Carlos Hassey (ARIZ) 6-2

2. Johannus Monday/Martim Prata (TENN) def. Herman Hoeyeraal/Jonas Ziverts (ARIZ) 6-3

3. Mark Wallner/Giles Hussey (TENN) vs. Nick Lagaev/Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) 5-2, unfinished

Singles

1. #10 Adam Walton (TENN) def. #45 Gustaf Strom (ARIZ) 7-5, 1-6, 6-2

2. #90 Jonas Ziverts (ARIZ) def. #8 Johannus Monday (TENN) 7-5, 6-3

3. #41 Martim Prata (TENN) def. Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) 6-0, 6-3

4. Luca Wiedenmann (TENN) def. Herman Hoeyeraal (ARIZ) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

5. Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) def. #92 Giles Hussey (TENN) 6-4, 6-1

6. Carlos Hassey (ARIZ) def. #115 Pat Harper (TENN) 6-4, 6-4

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

Match Notes:

University of Arizona 21-8; National ranking #18

Tennessee 27-3; National ranking #3

Georgia 4,  North Carolina 3

Doubles 

1. #3 William Blumberg/Brian Cernoch (NC) def. #7 Trent Bryde/Tyler Zink (GA) 6-1

2. #54 Blake Croyder/Billy Rowe (GA) def. #58 Simon Soendergaard/Mac Kiger (NC) 7-6 (2)

3. Philip Henning/Erik Grevelius (GA) def. Benjamin Sigouin/Rinky Hijikata (NC) 6-4

Singles 

1. #35 William Blumberg (NC) def. #15 Trent Bryde (GA) 6-2, 7-6(5)

2. #24 Rinky Hijikata (NC) def. #27 Tyler Zink (GA) 6-3, 7-6(2)

3. #19 Philip Henning (GA) def. #56 Benjamin Sigouin (NC) 6-3, 6-4

4. #60 Brian Cernoch (NC) def. Blake Croyder (GA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

5. Billy Rowe (GA) def. Josh Peck (NC) 7-6(6), 6-4

6. Erik Grevelius (GA) def. Simon Soendergaard (NC) 7-6(3), 6-1

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

Match Notes:

Georgia 17-6; National ranking #11

North Carolina 21-4; National ranking #6

UNC - #6 National Seed, UGA - #11 National Seed

TCU 4, Ohio State 1

Doubles

1. #2 Alastair Gray/Luc Fomba (TCU) def. James Trotter/Justin Boulais (OSU) 6-4

2. Jake Fearnley/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. Robert Cash/John McNally (OSU) 6-4

3. Tadeas Paroulek/Tomas Jirousek (TCU) vs. Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy (OSU) 2-5, unfinished

Singles 

1. John McNally (OSU) def. #12 Alastair Gray (TCU) 6-4, 6-0

2. #17 Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #120 Cannon Kingsley (OSU) 6-4, 6-4

3. #110 Jake Fearnley (TCU) vs. James Trotter (OSU) 7-6(1), 4-3, unfinished 

4. #94 Tomas Jirousek (TCU) def. Justin Boulais (OSU) 6-2, 6-0

5. Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) def. Kyle Seelig (OSU) 6-4, 6-1

6. Bertus Kruger (TCU) vs. JJ Tracy (OSU) 6-3, 1-6, 1-1, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (1,4,2,5)

Match Notes:

Ohio State 23-3; National ranking #35

TCU 19-7; National ranking #7

TCU - #7 National Seed

T-2:09

Baylor 4,  Ole Miss 1

Doubles

1. #9 Constantin Frantzen/Sven Lah (BU) vs. #1 Tim Sandkaulen/Finn Reynolds (OM) 5-2, unfinished 

2. #75 Matias Soto/Nick Stachowiak (BU) def. Brady Draheim/Simon Junk (OM) 6-1

3. Charlie Broom/Finn Bass (BU) def. Lukas Engelhardt/Jakob Cadonau (OM) 6-3

Singles 

1. #21 Adrian Boitan (BU) vs. #32 Tim Sandkaulen (OM) 6-2, 3-6, 4-3, unfinished 

2. #16 Finn Reynolds (OM) def. #11 Matias Soto (BU) 6-1, 6-4

3. Sven Lah (BU) vs. #29 Nikola Slavic (OM) 3-6, 6-3, 2-2, unfinished

4. Nick Stachowiak (BU) def. J. Hallquist Lithen (OM) 6-4, 6-0

5. Charlie Broom (BU) def. Simon Junk (OM) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

6. Spencer Furman (BU) def. Lukas Engelhardt (OM) 6-4, 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (4,2,6,5)

Match Notes:

Ole Miss 13-11; National ranking #14

Baylor 32-4; National ranking #1

Baylor - #2 National Seed, Ole Miss - #15 National Seed

USC 4, Virginia 2

Doubles

1. #10 Daniel Cukierman/Riley Smith (USC) def. #14 Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) 6-4 

2. Stefan Dostanic/Bradley Frye (USC) def. #89 Chris Rodesch/Ryan Goetz (VA) 7-6(5)

3. Inaki Montes/J vd Schulenburg (VA) vs. Jake Sands/Ryder Jackson (USC) 5-6, unfinished

Singles

1. #7 Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. #49 Daniel Cukierman (USC) 4-6, 7-6(2), 1-0, unfinished 

2. #52 Riley Smith (USC) def. #44 Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (VA) 6-2, 7-5

3. #116 Stefan Dostanic (USC) def. Chris Rodesch (VA) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2

4. #61 Inaki Montes (VA) def. Bradley Frye (USC) 7-6(4), 6-2

5. Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) def. #106 Ryan Goetz (VA) 6-3, 7-5 

6. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Jake Sands (USC) 6-4, 7-5

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

Match Notes:

USC 23-6; National ranking #12

Virginia 23-3; National ranking #5

Virginia - #5 National Seed, USC - #12 National Seed 

T-2:50

Texas 4,  South Carolina 3

Doubles

1. #13 Connor Thomson/Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. #11 Siem Woldeab/Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 6-2

2. Jake Beasley/Toby Samuel (SC) def. #78 Chih Chi Huang/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-3

3. Micah Braswell/Payton Holden (UT) vs. #80 Phillip Jordan/Raphael Lambling (SC) 5-1, unfinished

Singles

1. #23 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #2 Daniel Rodrigues (SC) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 

2. #38 Micah Braswell (UT) def. #22 Connor Thomson (SC) 6-3, 6-4 

3. #67 Toby Samuel (SC) def. #75 Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-4, 6-3

4. #108 Cleeve Harper (UT) def. #54 Raphael Lambling (SC) 6-2, 6-4 

5. Jake Beasley (SC) def. Chih Chi Huang (UT) 6-3, 6-2

6. Evin McDonald (UT) def. Thomas Brown (SC) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5

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

Match Notes:

South Carolina 17-10; National ranking #13

Texas 23-5; National ranking #4

Texas - #4 National Seed, South Carolina - #13 National Seed

 T-2:50

Florida Gators 4,  Illinois 0

Doubles

1. Duarte Vale/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. #38 Zeke Clark/Alex Brown (ILL) 6-4 

2. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. Siphosothando Montsi/Noe Khlif (ILL) 6-3

3. Hunter Heck/Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) def. Brian Berdusco/Will Grant (UF) 6-4

Singles 

1. #4 Duarte Vale (UF) vs. Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) 6-4, 3-6, 2-1, unfinished

2. #6 Sam Riffice (UF) vs. #124 Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) 7-6(7), 2-3, unfinished 

3. #18 Andy Andrade (UF) def. Alex Brown (ILL) 6-2, 6-3

4. #51 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. #101 Zeke Clark (ILL) 6-3, 6-3

5. Ben Shelton (UF) vs. Hunter Heck (ILL) 4-6, 6-2, 3-2, unfinished

6. #79 Josh Goodger (UF) def. Noe Khlif (ILL) 6-1, 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,3,4)

Match Notes:

Illinois 23-3; National ranking #17

Florida Gators 23-2; National ranking #2

Florida - #1 National Seed, Illinois - #16 National Seed T-2:08

Texas A&M 4, Mississippi State 0

Doubles 

1. #8 Bjorn Thomson/Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) vs. #15 Gregor Ramskogler/Florian Broska (MS) 5-3, unfinished

2. #65 Valentin Vacherot/Pierce Rollins (TAMU) def. Nemanja Malesevic/Davide Tortora (MS) 6-3

3. #86 Hady Habib/Noah Schachter (TAMU) def. Nicolas Ocana/Giovanni Oradini (MS) 6-3

Singles

1. #5 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) vs. #20 Giovanni Oradini (MS) 6-3, 1-6, 2-0, unfinished 

2. #3 Hady Habib (TAMU) def. #48 Florian Broska (MS) 6-4, 6-1

3. #30 Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) vs. #53 Nemanja Malesevic (MS) 6-3, 3-6, 2-3, unfinished 

4. #100 Noah Schachter (TAMU) def. #121 Alberto Colas (MS) 6-2, 7-6(3)

5. Guido Marson (TAMU) vs. Carles Hernandez (MS) 6-3, 2-5, unfinished 

6. Raphael Perot (TAMU) def. Gregor Ramskogler (MS) 6-0, 6-1

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,6,4)

Match Notes:

Mississippi State 18-10; National ranking #16 Texas A&M 19-8; National ranking #8

TAMU - #8 National Seed

T-2:07