The hits keep on coming and on today’s playlists we heard the 1966 classic Mustang Sally after No. 36 SMU ran all over No. 5 Oklahoma State 4-0.
SMU jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then the Mustangs claimed four opening sets in singles. SMU’s Nate Lammons made it 2-0 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Julian Cash at No. 1 and then Hunter Johnson put the Mustangs a point away from clinching with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Arjun Kadhe at No. 2. Redshirt junior Tony Russell would bring it home for SMU with a 7-6, 6-3 upset win over Lukas Finzelberg at No. 5.
Note: Russell’s win over Finzelberg was also a Universal Tennis Rating upset with Russell’s UTR 1.40 lower than Finzelberg’s.
This was SMU’s first win over a top 5 opponent since defeated No. 4 TCU back in April 2001.
#36 SMU 4, #5 Oklahoma State 0
Mar 26, 2016 at Stillwater, Okla. (Greenwood Tennis Center)
“A tremendous win against a top five team in Oklahoma State, I’m very proud of guys performance especially beating a team who only lost one other time before today’s match,” said Head Coach Carl Neufeld.
“This win gives us a lot of confidence as the season progresses and hopefully we can parlay that into the final month of the season and postseason play,” Neufeld said.
Last weekend Boise State lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to Utah State but this week they’ve won a pair of 4-3 matches on the road with today’s victim being No. 67 Cal Poly. Cal Poly took the doubles point by winning the deciding match at No. 3 doubles in a tiebreak but Boise State was the stronger team in singles.
Boise State took four opening sets in singles and they’d ultimately finish all four off in straight sets. Thomas Tenreiro won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2, Pedro Platzeck won 7-6, 6-2 at No. 5, Abe Hewko won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6, and for the second match in a row it was Kyle Butters clinching the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 4.
Cal Poly’s Ben Donovan and Cory Pang picked up wins for the Mustangs at No. 1 and No. 3.
Boise State def. #67 Cal Poly 4-3
March 26 at San Luis Obispo, Calif. (Mustang Courts)
“You know I cannot say enough about this team, they just keep battling and giving it everything they have, said coach Greg Patton. “It is our second straight win over a nationally ranked opponent and like Wednesday’s match at UCSB, it was a battle from the start. Kyle (Butters) came through for us again clinching the match for the second time this week. We are improving with each match and I can’t wait to get the team home and playing in front of Bronco Nation.
Columbia, ranked No. 29, opened up its Ivy League schedule with a 4-1 road win at No. 55 Cornell. The Lions took the doubles point with 6-4 wins at No. 1 and No. 2 but the Big Red came out strong in singles.
Cornell already had first sets at 1, 5, and 6 plus Colin Sinclair and Chris Vrabel were serving for the first set at 2 and 3. Sinclair let a 5-2* lead slip away as Columbia’s Victor Pham took the opening set 7-6(3). Vrabel was serving 5-4, 40-30 but Columbia’s Eric Rubin came back to break, hold, and break again to take the set 7-5 at No. 3.
So after everything was all said and done each team took three first sets though only two of the six matches would finish in straight sets.
Columbia’s Mike Vermeer rolled over Bernardo Casares Rosa 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 but Cornell answered with a 6-3, 6-2 win by Stefan Vinti at No. 5.
Columbia’s Shawn Hadavi would put the Lions up 3-1 with a come from behind 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over David Volfson at No. 1. Hadavi opened up a 4-0 lead in the third set and was serving up 40-0 before Volfson came back to break and hold for 2-4. Hadavi would hold for 5-2 and then break to win it 6-2 in the third.
Columbia’s Richard Pham would provide the clincher at No. 6 with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Karlo Lozic.
North Carolina State, ranked No. 34, survived a strong push by Clemson before winning 4-3. The Wolfpack took the doubles point when the Saveljic brothers won the decider at No. 3 by a 7-5 score.
Five of the six singles matches finished in straight sets with Clemson getting wins from Daffra Sanon, Luke Johnson, and Christian Harris at 2, 3, and 6 while NC State picked up wins from Igor and Ivan Saveljic at 4 and 5.
The match would decided in a third set at No. 1 between NC State senior Simon Norenius and Clemson freshman Alex Favrot. Norenius jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third set and cruised to a 6-2 win.
“I am really proud of the way our team came right back from a tough defeat yesterday against the #1 team in the country and competed with everything they had today, Said Head Coach Chuck McCuen. “Players challenged themselves and each other last night to change the story and leave it all on the court. Can’t wait to get after it when we get back to Clemson.
Texas overcome the loss of the doubles point to defeat No. 27 Tulsa 4-2. The Golden Hurricane claimed the doubles point when Majed Kilani and Carlos Bautista won 7-5 at No. 3 and then each team would take three first sets in singles.
Texas freshman Harrison Scott was the first to finish after defeating Juan Matias Gonzalez 6-0, 7-5 at No. 2. Sophomore Julian Zlobinsky made it 2-1 Horns after coming back from 3-0 down in the second to win 6-4, 6-4 win over Francois Kellerman at No. 6.
Tulsa junior Or Ram-Harel tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over George Goldhoff at No. 1 plus Tulsa was closing in on a split at No. 3 and a win at No. 4.
Texas sophomore Adrian Ortiz had a set lead at No. 3 but he trailed Tulsa’s Carlos Bautista 5-3 in the second. Ortiz would break back and force a tiebreak and then pull out the breaker 7-6(5) to put Texas ahead 3-2.
Tulsa’s Majed Kilani had a 6-3, 5-3 at No. 4 but Texas freshman Rodrigo Banzer would come back to take the set 7-6(2) to force a third.
Texas senior Michael Riechmann would clinch the Texas win with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Dylan McCloskey at No. 5. Riechmann trailed 2-3 in the third before holding, breaking, and holding to go up 5-3. McCloskey held for 4-5 but Riechmann served it out to give Texas a nice win.
#19 Texas 4, #27 Tulsa 2
Mar 26, 2016 at Austin, TX (Westwood Country Club)
Doubles competition
1. Matthew Kirby/Okkie Kellerman (TU) def. #61 Michael Riechmann/Adrian Ortiz (UT), 6-3
Texas head coach Michael Center – On today’s match: It was super hard fought. We had some opportunities. We played unbelievably at two doubles. Once again, we came up a little short in the doubles. I thought our backs were against the wall. There was a moment there in the singles where we had some first sets but were down in all the second sets. We were really trying to hang on, hang on, and all of a sudden the last 30-45 minutes, I just thought we stepped up and played really well. I was really proud of what I saw today. I thought the energy was good. It was a great effort by the team and a great win over a really good team. _________________________________________________________
Both Rice and Texas Tech went 2-0 on the day at the 58th Rice Invitational with each picking up wins over Drake and William & Mary.
#40 Rice 4, #44 Drake 0
3/26/2016 at Houston, TX (George R. Brown Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Jamie Malik (RICE) vs. Ben Lott (DRAKW) 5-7, 4-3, unf
2. Tommy Bennett (RICE) vs. Vinny Gillespie (DRAKE) 7-5, 4-6, unf
“We knew there were no easy matches this year in the field and we stressed to the team the importance of coming out with great energy, because when we have done that this year, we have played our best matches,” Rice head coach Efe Ustundag said. “We came out strong in the morning, but we were much flatter in the second match, and it almost cost us the doubles point.”
“That was a big win (W&M), because as it played out, it was hard to see where four points would come from in singles,” Ustundag said.
“Adam was rock solid today,” Ustundag said. “That’s what you expect from your seniors and he delivered in both matches.”
#9 Texas Tech 4, #74 William & Mary 1
03/26/16 at Houston, Texas (George R. Brown Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #14 Felipe Soares (TT) def. Christian Cargill (WM) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5
“We came out ready to play in the Drake match,” Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. “That was our best doubles, and our best two hours of overall tennis we’ve had in quite some time. The top of our lineup led us, and that’s a good sign. Felipe and Hugo were key all day long. We have another tough match tomorrow against Rice. We need to be ready to close out the weekend on a high note.”
“It was a great all around effort in both matches today,” Masi said. “No doubt that it was tough to play a doubleheader against this level of competition, but we handled it well. Doubles wasn’t great against William and Mary, but we responded with a strong start in singles winning all six first sets. I’m really happy with our performance especially from Alex and Connor. _______________________________________________________________
Utah State ran its record to 15-6 with a tough 4-3 win at No. 59 BYU. Utah State took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 and then the teams split first sets in singles.
Keaton Cullimore, John Pearce, and Andrey Goryachkov won for BYU at 2, 4, and 5 while Utah State got wins from Jaime Barajas, Jack Swindells, and Romai Ugarte at 1, 3, and 6.
3. Andrey Goryachkov/Aidan Carrazedo (BYU) vs. Andrew Nakajima/Jaime Barajas (USU) 5-6, unf
Match Notes:
Utah State 15-6; National ranking #70
BYU 14-4; National ranking #59
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,2,3,1,5,6)
7 Comments
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on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:15 pm
Agree that it will be very competitive and from a cost standpoint it'd the cheapest for me to attend with Memphis being only about a 5 hours drive from the STL. I'll have to make up my mind by this week.
My biggest concerns with the AAC are the ability to see the scores (i.e will they have live scoring or will you have to look on each court to see which slot the ball is in) and viewing point of views. I usually like a little elevation to be able to see everything at once and I'm guessing most of the seating will be court level which will make it tough to see a few courts down.
Agree with you AR. Plus those teams might be eliminated before the NCAAs final 16, so you would lose the chance to see these teams at all this year if you don't go see their tournament.
probably at MUS since they have 12 cts and can play 2 matches at once, since they are also hosting the women, it does make for great viewing as well as you can right on the court watching.
I like the AAC tournament in Memphis you have 5 very equal teams playing in USF, Tulane, SMU, Memphis, and Tulsa will make for some excellent Mid-major Tennis to watch.
Just my opinion Bobby. But you should go to the SEC tournament. There will be better matches throughout, more unpredictable. ACC will have a great championship and maybe one great semi but the rest of it will be blah.
Agree that it will be very competitive and from a cost standpoint it'd the cheapest for me to attend with Memphis being only about a 5 hours drive from the STL. I'll have to make up my mind by this week.
My biggest concerns with the AAC are the ability to see the scores (i.e will they have live scoring or will you have to look on each court to see which slot the ball is in) and viewing point of views. I usually like a little elevation to be able to see everything at once and I'm guessing most of the seating will be court level which will make it tough to see a few courts down.
Agree with you AR. Plus those teams might be eliminated before the NCAAs final 16, so you would lose the chance to see these teams at all this year if you don't go see their tournament.
probably at MUS since they have 12 cts and can play 2 matches at once, since they are also hosting the women, it does make for great viewing as well as you can right on the court watching.
I thought they'd be playing this at the Racquet Club but it appears it'll be at the Memphis University School – should be good tennis though.
I like the AAC tournament in Memphis you have 5 very equal teams playing in USF, Tulane, SMU, Memphis, and Tulsa will make for some excellent Mid-major Tennis to watch.
Just my opinion Bobby. But you should go to the SEC tournament. There will be better matches throughout, more unpredictable. ACC will have a great championship and maybe one great semi but the rest of it will be blah.