Select Page
Tagged with: , , ,

The coaching carousel kept spinning on Wednesday with Old Dominion head coach Aljosa Piric named as the new head coach at Miami (FL). Piric had been ODU’s head coach for the last five years and was named the Wilson/ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year this past season after guiding the Monarchs to a 21-5 record and a national ranking of #47. This past season was ODU’s best in Piric’s tenure with the Monarchs making it to the finals of the Conference USA Tournament before falling to Rice (host). Piric’s five-year record in Norfolk was 76-35 (21-5, 16-3, 12-10, 14-7, 13-10) however ODU was unable to reach the NCAA Tournament in any of those five seasons.

Miami didn’t renew the contract of Mario Rincon after he went 152-136 over the last 12 seasons. Rincon guided the Canes to the NCAA Tournament in five of his first seven seasons (Sweet 16 in 06 and 09) but this past season was the fifth in a row that they missed out.

Here are the releases from Miami and ODU on the coaching change. Since the ODU job is now open that means there are still 11 D1 men’s jobs left to fill – for a full list click here.

Aljosa Piric (Pic Via Old Dominion)

Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), Ed Corrie (Texas), and Dennis Novikov (UCLA) advanced to the final round of qualies at Wimbledon.

Novikov won his match over ATP #288 Uladzimir Ignatik 10-8 in the third however the 2 hour and 35 minute match was only the third longest match of the day (Bemelmans 11-9 2:47/Kovalik 13-11 2:50). Novikov was down a set and a break at 6-2, 3-2 but he broke back on the next game and pulled out the second set tiebreak 7-3. Novikov trailed 3-1 in the third but he broke and held for 3-3 and then later on he broke from 30/40 to go up 9-8. The former UCLA Bruin served it out from 40/15 to win it 10-8 in the third.

Krajicek won his match over former Memphis Tiger Joe Salisbury in three sets. Krajicek broke Salisbury from 15/40 to go up 5-3 in the third and then served it out from 40/15 to win it 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Corrie was off the court in just 55 minutes after a blowout 6-0, 6-3 win over ATP #119 Michael Berrer.  He will next face #791 Albano Olivetti who reached a career high of 161 in 2014 before a car accident and surgery on a cervical herniated disc sidelined him for 18 months.

Wimbledon Qualifying 2nd Round:
#247 Matthew Barton def. #217 Marcelo Arevalo (Tulsa ’11) 6-3, 6-4
#179 Alexander Kudryavtsev def. #223 Daniel Nguyen (USC ’12)  6-4, 6-3
[22] #131 Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M ’11) def. [W] #706 Joe Salisbury (Memphis ’14) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
#358 Ed Corrie (Texas ’11) def. [10] #119 Michael Berrer 6-0, 6-3
[28] #146 Dennis Novikov (UCLA ’13) def. #288 Uladzimir Ignatik 2-6, 7-6(3), 10-8

Qualifying Final Round:
[22] #131 Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M ’11) vs. #113 Bjorn Fratangelo
#358 Ed Corrie (Texas ’11) vs. #791 Albano Olivetti
[28] #146 Dennis Novikov (UCLA ’13) vs. #224 Hioki Moriya

Georgia rising redshirt junior Paul Oosterbaan picked up his first ATP point with a come from behind win over his teammate Walker Duncan at the $25K Tulsa, OK, USA F21 (Hard). Oosterbaan took the first set 6-2 before Duncan took the final four games of the second set to take it 6-2. Duncan went ahead 3-0 in the third but then Oosterbaan held from 40/30, broke from 15/40, and then held from 40/15 to even it at 3-3. Duncan held from 40/15 to go up 4-3 and then Oosterbaan came back from 15/40 down to hold for 4-4 on a seven-deuce, 20-point game (you ain’t going to see that in college tennis). Oosterbaan broke from 30/40 to go up 5-4 and then served it out from 40/30 to take it 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in 2 hours and 18 minutes.

Georgia Tech rising junior Chris Eubanks earned his first ATP point in Tulsa with a straight set win over former SMU Mustang Arturs Kazijevs. Eubanks took the opening set 6-2 but Kazijevs went up 5-3 in the second after breaking from 15/40 and then holding from 40/15. Eubanks held for 4-5 and then broke from 30/40 to even it at 5-5. After each held one more time Eubanks went up 6-3 in the tiebreak and held on to win it 6-2, 7-6(5) in 1 hour and 24 minutes.

Dartmouth released its schedule for next season (seems like they are always ahead of the curve) and the Big Green have TCU, SMU, Rice, Indiana, South Carolina, Memphis, LSU, Tulane, and others lined up in addition to a tough Ivy League schedule.