Semifinal Saturday is less than 24 hours away with Wake Forest and North Carolina set to meet for the third time in the last three months while Texas and Florida will meet for the first time in over two years. Both matches are expected to be extremely close with the UTRs of most individual matchups almost identical.
The heat and humidity played a role in Thursday’s matches and will likely be a factor again on Saturday with temps expected to be in the upper 80s. Both Wake Forest and North Carolina were on the court for 3 hours on Thursday, though the Heels played under the lights, while Texas and Florida were both off the court in just over 2 hours so neither team in either matchup will really have much of a rest advantage.
Let’s get to it and take a look at the numbers.
#4 Wake Forest vs. #9 North Carolina (Saturday 4 pm ET)
- def. #132 Morgan State 5-0
- def. #36 Kentucky 4-1
- def. #21 Oklahoma 4-1
- def. #5 Virginia 4-2
- def. #121 Navy 4-0
- def. #18 Georgia 4-0
- def. #8 USC 4-1
- def. #1 Ohio State 4-2
- Wake has dropped the doubles point in its last 3 matches
- Borna Gojo has won his last 11 completed matches with his last loss Feb 17 to Ohio State’s JJ Wolf (2-0 vs. Blumberg)
- Petros Chrysochos has won his last 10 completed matches (2-0 vs. Sigouin)
- Bar Botzer has won his last 11 completed matches (1-0 vs. Peck)
- Rrezart Cungu has split his last 6 completed matches
- Melios Efstathiou has won 14 of his last 15 completed matches (1-0 vs. Boyden)
- Sid Banthia has won 4 straight and 8 of his last 10 matches (0-1 vs. Kiger)
- Will Blumberg has lost 3 of his last 5 completed matches (0-2 vs. Blumberg)
- Ben Sigouin has won 7 of his last 8 completed matches (0-2 vs Chrysochos)
- Josh Peck has won 8 of his last 11 completed matches (0-1 vs. Botzer)
- Brian Cernoch has won 8 of his last 9 completed matches
- Bo Boyden has won 9 straight matches (0-1 vs. Efstathiou)
- Simon Soendergaard has won 3 of his last 4 completed matches (lost his last match)
- Mac Kiger has lost 4 of his last 6 completed matches (1-0 vs. Banthia)
#3 Wake Forest 5, #11 North Carolina 2
3/27/2019 at Winston-Salem, NC (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. #50 Borna Gojo (WAKE) def. #26 William Blumberg (UNC) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. #3 Petros Chrysochos (WAKE) def. #37 Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) 6-4, 6-2
3. #22 Bar Botzer (WAKE) def. #110 Brian Cernoch (UNC) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. #79 Melios Efstathiou (WAKE) def. Blaine Boyden (UNC) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4
5. Rrezart Cungu (WAKE) def. #109 Josh Peck (UNC) 7-5, 6-3
6. Mac Kiger (UNC) def. Sid Banthia (WAKE) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. #53 William Blumberg/Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. #61 Alan Gadjiev/Borna Gojo (WAKE) 6-4
2. #26 Bar Botzer/Petros Chrysochos (WAKE) def. Brian Cernoch/Ben Sigouin (UNC) 6-3
3. Mac Kiger/Simon Soendergaard (UNC) def. Siddhant Banthia/Julian Zlobinsky (WAKE) 6-2
Match Notes:
North Carolina 12-4; National ranking #11
Wake Forest 22-3; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,2,5,1,3,4)
#1 Wake Forest 4, #8 North Carolina 2
2/17/2019 at Chicago, IL (Midtown Athletic Club)
Singles competition
1. Borna Gojo (WAKE) def. #52 William Blumberg (UNC) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
2. #1 Petros Chrysochos (WAKE) def. Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3
3. #21 Bar Botzer (WAKE) def. #36 Josh Peck (UNC) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1
4. #77 Brian Cernoch (UNC) def. #49 Melios Efstathiou (WAKE) 6-2, 6-4
5. Simon Soendergaard (UNC) led Yuval Solomon (WAKE) 2-6, 6-3, 5-3* (40/30)
6. Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Sid Banthia (WAKE) 7-6(4), 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Alan Gadjiev/Borna Gojo (WAKE) def. Brian Cernoch/Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) 7-6(2)
2. Bar Botzer/Petros Chrysochos (WAKE) def. William Blumberg/Blaine Boyden (UNC) 6-3
3. Mac Kiger/Simon Soendergaard (UNC) def. Siddhant Banthia/Julian Zlobinsky (WAKE) 7-6(6)
Match Notes:
North Carolina 7-2; National ranking #8
Wake Forest 12-1; National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,6,1,2,3)
#2 Texas vs. #3 Florida (Saturday 12 pm ET)
- def. #148 Tennessee Tech 4-0
- def. #37 South Florida 4-1
- def. #24 California 4-0
- def. #10 TCU 4-1
- def. #95 Florida Gulf Coast 4-0
- def. #28 Florida State 4-0
- def. #14 Tennessee 4-2
- def. #6 Baylor 4-0
- Christian Sigsgaard has won 7 of his last 9 completed matches
- Yuya Ito has won his last 4 matches and 16 of his last 18
- Leo Telles has lost his last 3 completed matches
- Harrison Scott has won his last 7 completed matches and 9 of his last 10
- Colin Markes has won 7 of his last 8 matches
- Rodrigo Banzer has won 7 of his last 8 completed matches
- Oliver Crawford has won 8 of his last 9 completed matches
- Sam Riffice has won 14 of his last 17 matches though those 3 losses came in his last 5 matches
- Johannes Ingildsen has won 9 of his last 11 completed matches (though split his last 4)
- Alfredo Perez has won his last 9 completed matches
- Andy Andrade has won 7 of his last 8 completed matches
- Duarte Vale has won his last 13 completed matches
- McClain Kessler has won his last 8 matches
- Lukas Greif had won 5 straight matches before losing to Tennessee’s Andrew Rogers
Hate to have predicted this, but after going to the last two at Athens and Winston and having attended many college tennis matches at Lake Nona since it opened, I wondered if this was going to be the best venue for the NCAAs. My logic was based on the heat; lack of shade; and likelihood of rain delays in the second half of May. I completely forgot about love bug season, which only occurs in May and September for the most part but is worse than usual this year. I love the facility and think the USTA deserves huge credit for showcasing college tennis, particularly the TC Match Day events; but May in Orlando has a lot of downsides. On balance, however, I give the USTA and NCAA credit for trying to elevate this event. There's just a lot of obvious areas for improvement. And no, you are not going to get rid of love bugs by spraying them…
I think the tennis channel addition is fine. But not being able to stream all the courts while the tennis channel is on is not fine, particularly for the parents and fans of the match. Both should be occurring at the same time. I was not able to see my son play his last college match since I was unable to be there in person.
BAL