Great Britain Stops The United States in the Master’U Final; St. John’s, Georgia State, and Eastern Illinois Make Coaching Hires; Pro Circuit Recap

The United States had won the Master’U BNP Paribas for six straight years, and seven of the last eight, but Great Britain put an end to that streak with a 4-2 upset win last Sunday. The US came back from a 2-1 deficit in wins over France and Germany but it couldn’t do it a third time against Great Britain. UCLA sophomore Ena Shibahara put Team USA in front 1-0 after coming back from 3-0 down in the third set to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 but recent North Florida graduate Jack Findel-Hawkins tied it up after defeating UCLA senior Martin Redlicki 6-4, 6-4. Pepperdine sophomore Ashley Lahey fell 7-6, 7-6 but it looked like USC sophomore Brandon Holt would tie it up when he served for the match up 6-5 (40/0) in the third. However Holt would be unable to close it out and would fall 7-6(3) to GB’s Jonny O’Mara. Shibahara and Lahey trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win in doubles but Redlicki and Holt fell 6-4, 6-3 to Findel-Hawkins and O’Mara to give Great Britain its first-ever Master’U championship. Former Texas Longhorn Pippa Horn was also a member of Team Great Britain. 

Over the past month or so there have been a few schools that have made new head coaching hires. St. John’s announced today that Craig Schwartz has been hired as the new men’s head coach. Schwartz was an assistant coach at Appalachian State last season and prior to that had been the men’s head coach at Bucknell for three seasons. St. John’s women’s head coach Lauren Leo had been the interim coach since Eric Rebhuhn departed last April after 16 years on the job. 

Georgia State promoted Jonathan Wolff from men’s assistant coach to men’s head coach following the departure of Brett Ross. Ross, who went 45-26 in three years at GSU, stepped down over the summer for family reasons.  

Eastern Illinois named Lois Alexis as its new women’s head coach. Alexis, who had been the men’s and women’s head coach at Jackson State for the past two years, replaces Emily Wang who stepped down after two seasons to take the women’s head coaching job at New Mexico State. 

Former Wofford Terrier Rob Galloway and former FSU Seminole Benjamin Lock won their fifth straight ITF doubles title as their winning streak reached 19 straight with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Michiel De Krom and Ryan Nijboer in the finals of the the South Africa F2 Futures in Stellenbosch. Both players have new career high rankings with Lock at 257 and Galloway at 306. 

Former USC Trojan Roberto Quiroz won his first singles title of the year after defeating South Florida graduate Roberto Cid 6-4, 6-4 in the finals of the Dominican Republic F1 Futures in Santo Domingo Este. Each of Quiroz’s first three matches went the distance with two of them finishing 7-6 in the third although he won the tiebreaks comfortably (0 & 1). Quiroz’s current singles ranking is 297 but when these 18 points are added in he’ll jump up to around 282 (CH-220). Cid picked up 10 points for making the final and when those points are added in he’ll be up to around 478 (CH-472). 

Baylor graduates Julian Lenz ’16 and Roberto Maytin ’13 won the doubles title at the USA F39 Futures in Waco with a wild 7-6(5), 1-6, 14-12 win over SMU graduate Nate Lammons and Notre Dame graduate Alex Lawson. Lenz and Maytin led 9-5 in the third set supertiebreak but Lammons and Lawson took the next five to go up 10-9.  Lenz and Maytin fought off match points at *9-10, 10-11*, and *11-12 before pulling it out 14-12. The doubles title is the third of Lenz’s career while its the 24th of Maytin’s career. Lawson was appearing in a doubles final for the ninth time this year (two titles) while it was Lammons’s 13th finals appearance (six titles).

Below is a list of last weekend’s winners and runner-ups on the pro circuit.

{loadposition ads}

* didn’t stay in college for all four years