UNC, Georgia Women Repeat as Conference Champions; Stanford, Texas Men Earn Their First Trophies in New Conferences; Texas Tech and Arizona Win Big 12 Titles; Rodesch Ends Nava's Winning Streak; Shymanovich Sweeps W50 Titles in Zephyrhills
After a thrilling day of upsets and 4-3 matches, Sunday was something of a letdown in the three Power Four conferences that completed their conference tournaments today. (The Big Ten conference tournaments are next weekend).
The day started with the ACC women's final, and No. 2 seed North Carolina took control from the outset and never looked back in their 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Virginia. After two 4-3 losses to the Cavaliers, the Tar Heels appeared locked for this one, with a straightforward doubles point and dominant straight-sets wins from Carson Tanguilig at 5, Claire Hill at 6 and Reese Brantmeier at 1. It's the second straight ACC conference tournament title for UNC, who also beat Virginia in the final last year.
North Carolina solidified its Top 8 position with the title, so they will host the first three rounds of the NCAAs next month.
The Georgia women also played with motivation in their rematch of last Sunday's regular season finale at Texas A&M, which they lost 4-3 in a third set tiebreaker. The Bulldogs, who had lost their No. 1 ranking to Texas A&M with the loss but will now re-take it, took the doubles point, which probably meant little to them, as they had won it last week as well.
But in singles, Georgia got great starts from players who had lost their matches last Sunday, with Mell Reasco at line 3 and Aysegul Mert at line 4 turning three-sets losses into easy straight-sets wins. After A&M posted wins by Lexington Reed at 6 and Mary Stoiana at 1, Guillermina Grant got a win at line 5, as she had last week, securing the Bulldogs' 4-2 victory and third consecutive SEC conference tournament title.
The Texas Tech women had shared the Big 12's regular season conference title with Central Florida and Oklahoma State, but have conference tournament title all to themselves after the top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Central Florida 4-2.
Texas Tech took the doubles point and got a win from Jermine Sherif at line 6, but UCF answered with straight-sets wins from Olivia Bergler at 5 and Sophia Biolay at 3 to tie it up. But Texas Tech went up 3-2 with Andreea Lila's win at 4 and Yekaterina Dmitrichenko's victory at line 2, with all matches in decided in straight sets.
The Stanford men won their first conference tournament title today in Cary North Carolina, with the No. 3 seed beating No. 5 seed Virginia 4-2. According to John Parsons of the No-ad No-problem podcast, Stanford didn't just win its first ACC tournament title, in its first year in the conference, but its first ever. The Pac-12, Stanford's previous conference, didn't have a men's conference tournament until 2012, and Stanford never won that.
What was shaping up to be a good match after Virginia won the doubles point and Stanford had taken four first sets in singles was jolted by an earthquake in the form of a default of Virginia's No. 1 player Rafael Jodar. Leading Samir Banerjee 6-3, 3-5, Jodar struck a ball in anger toward the Stanford players supporting from the sidelines and although it did not hit anyone, he was defaulted, giving the Cardinal their first point. Alex Razeghi made it 2-1 with a win at line 5, followed by Henry von der Schulenburg's win at line 4 to make it 3-1. Dylan Dietrich got the only singles points for Virginia at line 2, but for the third time this weekend, Max Basing clinched the match for Stanford at line 3.
Like the North Carolina women, the Stanford men are now certain to host all three rounds of the NCAAs, with their projected ranking up to 5.
Like Stanford, the Texas men were playing for their first conference tournament title in a new conference, although the Longhorns had won Big 12 titles prior to their move to the SEC. Today the top seed took on host South Carolina, the No. 3 seed, and came away with a 4-1 victory that again, was short on drama.
Texas took the doubles point with wins at lines 1 and 2, then got a quick second point from Timo Legout at line 1. South Carolina got its only point from Gabe Avram at line 6, but Sebastian Gorzny posted a straight-sets win at line 2 to clinch it for the Longhorns.
The box score is here.
The day's final title was decided this evening in Waco, with the Arizona men avenging their two regular season losses to Central Florida with a 4-1 victory. The No. 2 seeds dropped the doubles point, but got singles wins from Jay Friend at line 2, Casper Christensen at line 6, Colton Smith at line 1 and Alexander Rozin at line 5. But by reaching the final and beating TCU in the semifinals, No. 4 seed Central Florida has likely earned a Top 16 ranking, which will allow them to host the first two rounds of the NCAAs.
The box score is here.
While the University of Virginia may have had a difficult day on the collegiate courts in Cary, a recent alum gave Cavalier fans a positive result, with Chris Rodesch winning his first ATP Challenger final today in Tallahassee Florida. The former All-American, who unfortunately could not compete in his final NCAA Championships last May in Stillwater due to mono, ended the extraordinary run of Emilio Nava with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final.
Nava had beaten Rodesch 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Sarasota Challenger that Nava went on to win, but some shaky serving throughout the last half of the match gave Rodesch numerous opportunities and he was able to capitalize on enough to end Nava's winning streak at 19 matches.
With his run this week, Rodesch, a 23-year-old from Luxembourg had improved his ATP ranking by 63 points and at 177, he has assured himself a spot in qualifying at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this summer.
For his part, Nava has expanded his lead in USTA's Roland Garros wild card race with two weeks remaining, and barring a longshot result from Madrid, he is not likely to be passed.
At the women's USTA Pro Circuit W50 in Zephyrhills Florida, Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus won the singles and doubles titles. Shymanovic, the No. 2 seed, defeated unseeded Caty McNally 7-6(2), 6-0 in today's final, after winning the doubles title on Saturday. No. 2 seeds Shymanovich and Russia's Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) defeated unseeded Maria Mateas(Duke) and Alana Smith(NC State) 6-4, 6-1 in the final.
At the ATP 500 in Munich, No. 2 seed Ben Shelton(Florida) lost to top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in the championship match. Former collegians Sem Verbeek(Pacific) of the Netherlands and Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden took the doubles title, upsetting top seeds Tim Puetz(Auburn) and Kevin Krawietz of Germany 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It's their second ATP title as a team.
5 comments:
Curious to hear thoughts on teammates cheering on college matches. Appeared to me that the players who got on UVA's player that was defaulted were on his side of the court, rather than at the other end cheering on their teammate. They were, effectively closer to him than either his opponent or the chair except maybe when Nodar was at net. I have no idea what they were saying but I do know that when the Stanford player came off the court right after winning, he immediately went over to these two young men with a big grin on his face (this is visible on the ACCNX replay of the match) and gave them a strong handshake. Obviously, this result cannot be changed but should a policy be considered that players can only be on the side of the court as their teammate? And even then, perhaps no closer than the service line to the opponent? I would not like to see other teams trying to use taunting tactics to get an edge in future matches. Appreciate any replies/input.
@curious. It's a fair point. I agree re: no closer than service line. That said, in basketball the bench is close to the court and puts players close to opponents all the time, dugouts fairly close to the batter, etc. I think it comes down to players just need to display a level of class while cheering on their teammates.
Agreed. Just wonder if it is time to set boundaries/rules so that matches are won on the court, not by fans getting under players skin.... Thanks!
There detailed boundaries/rules in the ITA rulebook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I2lc-qY14SZLRwXL2r0C-5Wb8okkAfZK/view Here's the first part (there is much, much more):
1. Bench Player Behavior.
a. Sportsmanship. Team members must exhibit exemplary
sportsmanship throughout the team event.
b. Cheering. All cheering must be positive and directed at their
own team members. There cannot be any remarks made to
or about opposing team members. Student-athletes and
all team personnel (managers, stringers, strength coaches,
trainers, etc.) are prohibited from making any noise during
a point and shall refrain from making any direct or indirect
comments to opposing players. This includes any noise or
comments between first and second serves.
c. Harassment. Heckling, harassment, personal attacks or any
negative comments aimed at the officiating crew or the
opposition (including but not limited to team members,
coaches and their fans) by student-athletes and/or team
personnel will not be permitted.
d. Interference. Bench players and team personnel are prohibited
from making officiating calls, including but not limited to,
foot faults, line calls and lets. If this occurs, a Bench Player
Harassment Penalty should be applied once the point has
ended.
e. Responsibility of control. Control of bench players and
team personnel behavior is the responsibility of the team’s
coaching staff. Regardless of the coach’s actions, if bench
players or team personnel violate the behavior expectations,
the Bench Player Harassment Penalty System (ITA Regulation
I.O.2.f.) shall be applied appropriately by the officiating crew.
Caty McNally pulled out of her first match in the W100 in Bonita Springs Fl today due to Injury.
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