The latest edition of the Big Slam was another classic with #41 Stanford upsetting #6 Cal 4-3 on Tuesday night at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Cal welcomed Filip Bergevi back into its singles and doubles lineup after he missed the last few weeks with an injury and his return paid off in doubles as he and Florian Lakat, who earlier in the day were elevated to the ITA’s No. 1 doubles team, defeated Tom Fawcett and William Genensen at No. 1. Bergevi served for the match up 5-2 but he was broke on the no-ad point after Fawcett hit a second serve return winner. Fawcett held at love for 5-4 but Lakat would serve it out from 40/30 to give Cal the 6-4 win. Cal’s Billy Griffith served for the match at No. 2 doubles up 5-3 (40/30) but Stanford broke on the no-ad point to make it 5-4. Down at No. 3, Cal’s JT Nishimura was serving up 4-3 (40/0) but Stanford came back to break on the no-ad point for 4-4. Both of those courts would go to tiebreaks and Cal’s Billy Griffith and Andre Goransson would clinch the doubles point with a 7-0 win at No. 2 while the match at No. 3 went unfinished with it tied at 1-1. 

Stanford came out hot in singles and took five opening sets and sophomore Sameer Kumar wasted little time in disposing of senior Andre Goransson 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2. Cal junior Billy Griffith put the Bears back in front 2-1 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over sophomore Jack Barber at No. 4 but Stanford junior David Wilczynski tied it up at 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over freshman Bjorn Hoffman. 

Stanford took its first lead of the day when junior Tom Fawcett closed out Cal senior Florian Lakat in straight sets at No. 1. There were no breaks of serve in the first set but in the tiebreak Fawcett went up a double mini break at 6-3. Lakat won both points on Fawcett’s serve to pull within 6-5 and it looked like he’d tie it up at 6-6 but he missed a wide open volley to drop the set 7-6(5). Each held comfortably in the first eight games of the second set but Fawcett would have to fight off two break points to hold for 5-4. Lakat went up 40/15 on his 4-5 service game but then he had a rough three point sequence to get broke and drop the match 7-6, 6-4. On the 40/15 point he watched a Fawcett forehand land at his feet, at 40/30 he mishit an overhead from the service line, and then on the 40/40 point he missed a wide open volley just like he did at the end of the first set.  

Moments later Cal tied the match at 3-3 with junior JT Nishimura defeating senior Brandon Sutter 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6. So the match would be decided in a third set at No. 3 between Cal senior Filip Bergevi and Stanford sophomore Michael Genender. Genender took the opening set 6-2 but Bergevi took the second 7-6(6) which included him fighting off a match point at 5-6 in the tiebreak. The third set stayed on serve until Bergevi double faulted on the no-ad point to give Genender a 4-2 lead however Bergevi would break back on the no-ad point after a huge backhand forced a Genender error. Neither player faced a break point the rest of the way so off to a tiebreak they went to decide the match.

Bergevi went up mini-breaks at 1-0 and 3-2 but Genender answered on the next points to tie it back up. Bergevi went up 4-3 with a service winner and then a Genender double fault made it 5-3. Genender hit a backhand winner to pull within 4-5 and then he tied it up at 5-5 after Bergevi missed a forehand wide. Bergevi earned his first match point at 6-5 after hitting a forehand winner but a big forehand by Genender forced a Bergevi error to even it at 6-6. Note: on the 5-6 point Genender had to hit a second serve and on his first attempt he had to catch an errant toss. Genender went up 7-6 after Bergevi missed a forehand wide but Bergevi was able to even it at 7-7 after Genender netted a backhand. Bergevi hit a service winner to go up 8-7 but Genender tied it at 8-8 with a huge crosscourt backhand winner. Genender went up 9-8 after he hit a backhand that Bergevi couldn’t put back in play but Bergevi evened it at 9-9 with a forehand winner on the line. Genender went up 10-9 after Bergevi sent a forehand well long and then he closed it out after Bergevi hit a backhand long on a point that he was in control of. Great finish to a great match and definitely a much needed win for Stanford. A video of the full third set is available here courtesy of J10S.

Post-Match Quotes from Cal’s recap
“Just another epic match with Stanford that came down to a third-set tiebreaker,” Cal head coach Peter Wright said. “Give a lot of credit to Stanford for battling back after we won the doubles point. We played hard today but couldn’t finish the job today.”

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North Carolina beat next door neighbor Duke 6-1 in a Tuesday afternoon matinee in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels took the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then they took five opening sets in singles. UNC freshman William Blumberg was the first off the court with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Duke freshman Nick Stachowiak at No. 2. UNC sophomore Arturo Schmidt made it 3-0 with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Jason Lapidus at No. 6. Schmidt actually trailed 5-2 in the opening set before reeling off 11 straight games to win it. Duke got on the board when senior TJ Pura defeated Jack Murray 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 but UNC senior Ronnie Schneider would bring it home for the Tar Heels with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Catalin Mateas at No. 1. 

UNC’s Simon Soendergaard and Bo Boyden would each win third set supertiebreaks to make the final score 6-1. 

Note – Duke was playing without its top ranked player Nicolas Alvarez who has been out since January with a wrist injury while Robert Levine (#3 in lineup) was out sick. Duke also lost another player when Vincent Lin, who played primarily at #1 and #2, quit the team a few weeks ago. 

#5 North Carolina 6, #43 Duke 1
March 7, 2017 at Chapel Hill, N.C. (Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
1. Nick Stachowiak/Spencer Furman (DU) vs. Jack Murray/Simon Soendergaard (UNC) 4-4, unfinished
2. William Blumberg/Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Ryan Dickerson/Jason Lapidus (DU) 6-2
3. Ronnie Schneider/Anu Kodali (UNC) def. Catalin Mateas/TJ Pura (DU) 6-3
Singles competition
1. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. Catalin Mateas (DU) 6-3, 6-4
2. #61 William Blumberg (UNC) def. #94 Nick Stachowiak (DU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Simon Soendergaard (UNC) def. Spencer Furman (DU) 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
4. TJ Pura (DU) def. Jack Murray (UNC) 6-3, 6-3
5. Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Ryan Dickerson (DU) 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 1-0 (10-2)
6. Arturo Schmidt (UNC) def. Jason Lapidus (DU) 7-5, 6-0
Match Notes:
North Carolina 12-1, 1-0 ACC; National ranking #5
Duke 8-4, 1-1 ACC; National ranking #43
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (2,6,4,1,3,5)
T-2:40

Post-Match Quotes from UNC’s recap
“I liked the way we came out in doubles in our first outdoor match,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “Duke’s got a good team. We’ve still got some things we’ve got to work on, but for our first outdoor match of the season I’m very happy with our team.”

Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, hasn’t exactly been known for its tennis through the years but this year’s Bears squad is trying to change that image. On Tuesday afternoon Mercer ran its winning streak to 12 with a doubleheader sweep over Detroit and Florida A&M which pushed its overall record up to 13-2.  Head coach Eric Hayes took over the struggling program in the summer of 2013 and since then they have posted double-digit win totals each year. Mercer’s 13 wins this year are more than they’ve won in any season going back as far as 2001 (couldn’t find any records going back any further). Sophomore Nicolas Guillon was just named Southern Conference Player of the Week after going 4-0 last week at No. 1 and No. 2. Mercer is back in action on Thursday when they travel to Jacksonville State for a 2 p.m. ET match. 

Mercer 5, Detroit Mercy 2
March 7, 2017 | 10:00 a.m. | Macon, Ga. | LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center
Singles competition
1. Artem Vasheshnikov (DETROIT) def. Nicolas Guillon (MER) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
2. Sam Philp (MER) def. Patryk Koscielski (DETROIT) 7-6 (10-8), 6-1
3. Nathan Ponton (DETROIT) def. Fernando Guardia (MER) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
4. Ruben Vanoppen (MER) def. Kacper Stelmaszak (DETROIT) 6-0, 6-2
5. E. Tsiranidis (MER) def. Adam Zychowicz (DETROIT) 7-5, 6-4
6. Phillip Johnston (MER) def. Chance Conley (DETROIT) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Nicolas Guillon/Fernando Guardia (MER) def. Nathan Ponton/Artem Vasheshnikov (DETROIT) 7-5
2. Ruben Vanoppen/E. Tsiranidis (MER) def. Chance Conley/Patryk Koscielski (DETROIT) 7-5
3. Sam Fried/Sachin Khurana (MER) def. Kacper Stelmaszak/Adam Zychowicz (DETROIT) 6-4
Match Notes:
Detroit Mercy 5-7, 0-0 Horizon
Mercer 12-2, 1-0 SoCon
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,2,3,1,6,5)

Mercer 4, Florida A&M 2
March 7, 2017 | 3:30 p.m. | Macon, Ga. | LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center
Singles competition
1. Nicolas Guillon (MER) def. OKUNGBOWA,Courage (FAMU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Sam Philp (MER) def. WAITMAN,Carlos Agust (FAMU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Fernando Guardia (MER) def. SMALL,Karlyn (FAMU) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
4. ESPINOZA,Walner (FAMU) def. Ruben Vanoppen (MER) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
5. NANI.Frederico (FAMU) def. E. Tsiranidis (MER) 6-3, 6-4
6. Phillip Johnston (MER) def. HASONA,Samer Hema (FAMU) 6-3, 6-3
Match Notes:
Florida A&M 3-10
Mercer 13-2, 1-0 SoCon
Order of finish: Doubles (Not Played Due To Pending Weather); Singles (6,2,1,5,4,3)

#45 Cal Poly defeated former Big West rival Utah State for the 11th straight time on Tuesday afternoon with a 4-3 win. Cal Poly took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 and then Corey Pang and Josh Ortlip made it 3-0 with straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 4. Utah State pulled to within 3-2 after getting straight sets wins from Samuel Serrano and Jaime Barajas at No. 5 and No. 3 but Cal Poly senior Ben Donovan clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Jack Swindells at No. 2.

Utah State’s Jonas Maier cloesd out the day with a 7-5, 0-6, 6-3 win over Antoine Noel at No. 6.

Post-Match Quotes from Cal Poly’s recap
“We played some of our best doubles of the season today, especially at the No. 2 spot,” said head coach Nick Carless. “Karl and Tim managed some momentum swings early on, stayed composed and had clinched that point for us.”

“The doubles point along with some solid complete matches from Corey and Josh to put us up 3-0, it came down to Ben and Antoine,” said Carless. To be honest, with how Ben has been playing lately and with us in position to get our our fourth point, I was confident he would get it done.”

“When Ben returns and ground strokes are dialed in the way they are right now, he’s a tough out, like he has been for his whole career at Poly.”