by Bobby Knight | May 15, 2017 | Blog
The men’s second round wrapped up on Saturday so Sunday belonged to the women with nine regionals closing out the weekend after seven finished on Saturday. 15 of the 16 regional hosts advanced to Friday’s Sweet 16 in Athens with the one upset taking place in Waco. Baylor had already defeated Texas A&M once this season (4-0) but on Sunday they’d find themselves playing from behind virtually the entire match. In that first meeting on March 22nd, Texas A&M was without its top player Rachel Pierson so having her in the lineup today obviously changed the whole complexion of the match.Texas A&M struck first in doubles with a quick 6-0...
by Bobby Knight | May 14, 2017 | Blog
For the most part Friday was a pretty dull day but Saturday delivered us some gems including two big comeback wins. I’ll start with the upset of the day which came in Stillwater when Illinois rallied from 3-0 down to stun No. 11 seed Oklahoma State 4-3. The Cowboys took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then each team took three opening sets in singles. Oklahoma State seniors Lucas Gerch and Lukas Finzelberg made quick work of their opponents at No. 3 and No. 6 to make it 3-0 but Illinois started winning all the close sets and got back in the match. Aron Hiltzik put the Illini on the board with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 2 which...
by Bobby Knight | May 13, 2017 | Blog
The opening day of the NCAA Tournament brought us a few good matches but for the most part it was blowout city as 23 of the 32 matches ended in 4-0 shutouts. All regional hosts won their matches 4-0, which was expected, but I was surprised that only one No. 3 seed was able to get past a No. 2 seed. #42 Louisville was the No. 3 seed that pulled off the upset as the Cards knocked off #28 UCF in the lone 4-3 match of the day. UCF jumped out to the early 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point with a 7-5 win at No. 2 and a 7-6(5) win in the decider at No. 3. Louisville came back strong in singles and picked five opening sets and both Parker Wynn and Clement...
by Bobby Knight | May 12, 2017 | Blog
The 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tournament gets underway on Friday morning at 10 a.m. eastern and I’ve got all the numbers and interesting facts that you’ll need to get you through the weekend. Past history tells us that it’s an all but certain guarantee that at least one men’s and one women’s seed will get knocked out this weekend. Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1999 (18 years) there have been 47 men’s seeds that have been knocked out early which is an average of 2.6 per year. The women’s side hasn’t been quite as bad with 34 knocked out early which equates to 1.8 per year. There...
by Bobby Knight | May 10, 2017 | Blog
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...
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