Sebastien Jacques Is Doing Some Walking, D2 NCAAs Reach Semifinal Round, D1 Men’s Regional Previews (Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Texas, Florida, Virginia)

Former Virginia Tech Hokie Sebastien Jacques is making his way across the country, by foot, after not being able to walk across a room just a few years ago. Jacques played at Virginia Tech from 2007 to 2010 but during his senior year he had to quit playing due to a lack of energy. After graduating with a degree in marketing he returned home to Magog, Canada, and after seeing several doctor he was eventually diagnosed with a pineal cystic tumor in his brain which was the cause of the energy drain. The doctors in Canada determined the procedure was too risky and the health care system wouldn’t cover the cost so Jacques ended up raising $80000 and had the surgery performed in California. The surgery was a success and Jacques returned to a normal life but he decided to embark on the cross-country walk to show people that it is possible to overcome obstacles in life. Virginia Tech had a write-up on Jacques a few days ago plus there are plenty of details on his website. 

The NCAA Division II Men’s Championship has reached the semifinals with #1 West Florida advancing after a 5-0 win over #4 Hawaii Pacific. UWF’s top player, #4 Alex Peyrot, played doubles but sat out in singles which was interesting because in the round of 16 its #2 player, Gabriel Dias, did the same thing. Next up for UWF will be #23 Southwest Baptist after the Bearcats held off #16 Ferris State 5-4 with Raul Cabalero winning the deciding match 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(1) at #4 singles. The other semifinal match will be between #2 Barry and #3 Columbus State. Barry cruised past #18 Drury 5-1 with the Bucs taking two of three in doubles and winning every completed set in singles. Columbus State ran through #14 Azusa Pacific 5-1 with the Cougars sweeping all three doubles courts (count as a point each) and then getting two straight set wins at #3 and #4. APU got its lone point when Oliver Frank, D2s top ranked player, cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win at #1. 

Down below are my previews for the eight regionals on the right side of the draw. The approved final lineups for each team are listed at this link plus I’ve added some additional information, including UTRs, to each of my regional previews. As with yesterday I’ll give the first one away for free but to see the rest you’ll need to be a CTT subscriber ($9.99 month/no long term commitment required). 

Ohio State Regional

Regional Final: Ohio State will make its way into the Sweet 16 for the 12th year in a row with a comfortable shutout win at home. Prediction: Ohio State 4-0

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Oklahoma Regional

Regional Final: I think the doubles point will be huge because neither team wants to be playing from 1-0 down. Andrew Harris missed over two months with back issues and will play at No. 2 and he should get past Mate Cutura though if his back doesn’t hold up and he loses then it’ll be game over for OU. I think if Harris were at 1 and Papa at 2 then OU sweeps those two spots and most likely wins the match however putting Papa at 1 and Harris at 2 opens the door for Mississippi State to split those spots. I’m going to take Borges, Oradini, and Foshey/Baudry for MSU and Harris, Ghilea, and Bragusi for OU. The doubles point and the match go to Mississippi State. Prediction: Mississippi State 4-3

Oklahoma State Regional

Regional Final: This should be a highly competitive match and it’ll be interesting to see if Texas’s Yuya Ito and Tulane’s Constantin Schmitz are both back to 100%. Ito missed the final match of the regular season plus the Big 12 Tournament with an injury while Schmitz wasn’t able to play against UCF in the AAC semifinals after rolling his ankle in doubles. Both teams were right around .500 in doubles so that point is definitely up for grabs. I like Harrison Scott, George Goldhoff, and Leo Telles for Texas while I’d take Seb Rey, Chi-Shan Jao, and a healthy Constantin Schmitz for Tulane. In each of Texas’s eight losses they dropped the doubles point but I don’t think they’ll have to worry about that after they take the doubles and squeeze out a win by the thinest of margins. Prediction: Texas 4-3

Regional Final: When I saw the bracket come out this one was of the first places where I thought the host might have a hard time advancing because Georgia Tech has a pretty solid team. I know Alfredo Perez beat Chris Eubanks back in the fall but Eubanks has been on a tear over the last few months and I think he gets the W this time. I think the teams will split matches at 2 and 3, I like Carlos Divar at 4, and I like Johannes Ingildsen and McClain Kessler at 5 and 6. I’ll take GT in doubles and GT to pull off the upset. Prediction: Georgia Tech 4-3

Regional Final: Virginia is too strong to be threatened by Columbia and will win going away. Prediction: Virginia 4-0

So that’s all the first and second matches – predicting the outcomes is fun but I’ve been doing it long enough to know that I’ll miss on some so we’ll just have to see which ones I get right and which ones I get wrong! 

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