My Tennis Recruiting Network Article on Colson Wells' Gamble; Arkansas Names New Coach; Big 12, Big Ten Women's Awards; Krueger Beats Shnaider at Charlottesville $60K; Boyer and Kypson Advance at Savannah Challenger

I haven't written many college commitment articles lately, but once I heard about the recruiting journey of Michigan's Colson Wells, I knew there was an interesting backstory in his signing with Nebraska. When I talked with him at the Easter Bowl for this Tennis Recruiting Network article, he spoke candidly about the reality of his position as a senior without the offers he wanted, and the setbacks he experienced before he began posting the results that led him to Nebraska. I hope his experience can serve as an inspiration for other late bloomers who came late to the sport, but aspire to play Division I college tennis.

Another of the SEC women's coaching positions has been filled by the current assistant. Last week, Jonatan Berhane took over from the retiring Jenny Mainz at Alabama; today Tucker Clary was promoted to head coach at Arkansas after serving as the assistant there since December of 2021.

The Big 12 announced its conference awards today and, although I missed the Big Ten women's awards two days ago, they are listed below as well. Of the Power Five conferences, that leaves only the Pac-12 and the ACC yet to announce. Click on the headings for the all-conference teams.

Big Ten women:
Player of the Year: Irina Cantos Siemers, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year: Lily Jones, Michigan
Coach of the Year: Ronni Bernstein, Michigan

Big 12 women:

Player of the Year: Nicole Khirin, Texas

Freshman of the Year: Nicole Khirin, Texas

Newcomer of the Year: Taisiya Pachkaleva, Texas

Coach of the Year: Boomer Saia, Iowa State

Big 12 men:

Player of the Year: Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

Freshman of the Year: Sebastian Gorzny, TCU

Newcomer of the Year: Isaac Becroft, Oklahoma State

Coach of the Year: David Roditi, TCU

At the $60,000 women's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Charlottesville Virginia, 18-year-old Ashlyn Krueger, the No. 6 seed, defeated top seed Diana Shnaider, the NC State freshman, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals. It's the third WTA Top 100 win for Krueger, who will play No. 5 seed Caroline Dolehide in Saturday's semifinals. No. 3 seed Emma Navarro(Virginia) has been cruising through the draw this week, losing only 11 games in her first three matches; she defeated No. 8 seed Kayla Day 6-3, 6-1 in today's quarterfinal and is now inside the Top 100 in the WTA live rankings. Navarro will face qualifier Grace Min, who beat No. 7 seed Maria Carle(Georgia) of Argentina 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Today's quarterfinal matches were played indoors today due to persistent rain.

There is still a first round doubles match to be completed at the rain-plagued $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach Florida, but the singles are back on schedule, with the semifinals set for Saturday.  Wild card Jaycer Lyeons(Tyler JC) defeated top seed Adrian Boitan(Baylor) of Romania 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(2) in three hours and 33 minutes in a second round match, then advanced to his second $15K semifinal this month when No. 6 seed Roberto Cid(South Florida) retired at 6-7(4), 6-4 after two hours and 15 minutes of play.

Lyeons will face No. 3 seed Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal, who also advanced under similar circumstances. Eighteen-year-old Nico Godsick defeated Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) 6-4, 7-5 to reach his first Pro Circuit quarterfinal, but retired after Vale won the second set 7-6(4), after Godsick had taken the first 6-3. Twenty-four-year-old Jacob Brumm(Cal/Baylor) is through to his first Pro Circuit semifinal, where he will face Miami graduate transfer Dan Martin(Dartmouth) of Canada, who beat No. 2 seed Andres Andrade(Florida) of Ecuador 6-1, 7-5. Martin will also be playing in his first Pro Circuit semifinal Saturday.

The unexpected runs of wild card Patrick Kypson and qualifier Tristan Boyer continued today at the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia, with both picking up routine straight-sets wins over seeded players. Kypson(Texas A&M) defeated No. 4 seed Nicolas Kicker of Argentina 6-2, 6-3 and will face No. 2 seed Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina in Saturday's semifinal. Boyer(Stanford) took out No. 7 seed Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-1 and is the last player who can catch Kypson in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge. Boyer will play the winner of tonight's quarterfinal between top seed Zizou Bergs of Belgium and Calvin Hemery of France.