Volynets Claims Palm Harbor $100K Title; Bangoura Wins Sunrise $15K; Ram and Salisbury Capture Monte Carlo Masters Title; Oklahoma Women Defeat Pepperdine; SEC and ACC Tournament Brackets Released

Twenty-year-old Katie Volynets won her second USTA $100,000 Pro Circuit title in the past year today, in Palm Harbor Florida. Seeded No. 8, Volynets defeated No. 5 seed and 2018 US Open girls champion Xiyu Wang of China 6-4, 6-3 in today's final. Volynets, who lost just one set this week, will move to a career-high WTA ranking of 119 after the title; she won her first $100K title in Bonita Springs last May as a wild card.

In the doubles final between two unseeded teams, Sophie Chang and Angela Kulikov(USC) defeated Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy and Irina Bara of Romania 6-4, 3-6, 10-8. It is the third title for Chang and Kulikov, all at a $60K or higher level. Chang now has 13 titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour; Kulikov four.

Sekou Bangoura won his first title since January of 2019 today at the $15,000 USTA Men's Pro Circuit tournament in Sunrise Florida. The former Florida Gator, who was unseeded, defeated No. 2 seed Evan Zhu(UCLA) 6-4, 6-3 in today's final, his fifth consecutive victory in straight sets. 

Former USC star Steve Johnson fell in the finals of the ATP 100 Challenger in Sarasota, with the No. 3 seed losing to No. 5 seed Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-1.

At the ATP Masters in Monte Carlo, Great Britain's Joe Salisbury(Memphis) and Rajeev Ram(Illinois) celebrated their ascent to the No. 1 and No. 2 ATP doubles rankings by capturing their first clay title as a team. The top seeds defeated the sixth-seeded Colombian team of Robert Farah(USC) and Juan Sebastian Cabal, seeded  6-4, 3-6, 10-7. For more on their title see this article from the ATP website.

No. 5 seed Pepperdine went into Oklahoma this weekend for non-conference play and left with two losses, after dropping a 4-3 decision yesterday to No. 12 Oklahoma State and suffering a 4-2 loss to No. 2 Oklahoma today in Norman. The Sooners took the doubles point, but wins from Pepperdine's Janice Tjen at line 4 and Savannah Broadus at line 5 gave the Waves a 2-1 lead. Anchisa Chanta tied it up for Oklahoma with a win at line 3, and the remaining three matches went to third sets. Carmen Corley gave the Sooners a 3-2 lead with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win at line 2 and Layne Sleeth, who had clinched the 4-3 victory over Oklahoma State on Friday, got another big win, defeating Shiori Fukuda  6-1, 3-6, 7-6(8) to secure the victory for the Sooners. Pepperdine   had also lost to Oklahoma 4-2 in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February. 

Regular season play in the ACC and SEC concluded today, cementing the seedings for the upcoming weekend's conference championships.

The top four seeds in the SEC men's and women's tournaments:

Men: (tournament in Athens GA)
1. Florida

2. South Carolina

3. Kentucky

4. Georgia

Women: (tournament in Gainesville FL)

1. Texas A&M

2. Auburn

3. Georgia

4. Florida

The top four seeds in the ACC men's and women's tournaments:

Men: (tournament in Rome GA)

1. Virginia

2. Wake Forest

3. North Carolina

4. Louisville

Women: (tournament in Rome GA)

1. North Carolina

2. Duke

3. Miami

4. Virginia

Notable absences from these Top Fours are the Tennessee men, who reached the finals of the ITA Team Indoor Championships this year, and the North Carolina State women, who reached the semifinals of the ITA Team Indoor Championships. 

If the seedings hold, Tennessee will play Georgia and North Carolina State will play Virginia in the quarterfinals. 

And before we put the regular season in the rearview mirror, congratulations to the Arizona men, the Texas A&M women and the Oklahoma women for winning regular season conference titles for the first time in their programs' history.