It was pretty easy picking the 2 through 6 spots but picking #1 was a little tougher. None of the matches at #1 singles finished during the semifinals and finals so at most my selection would only have 2 results and that’s if his first two matches actually finished. I went with Hanfmann because he was undefeated even though it appeared he was headed towards a loss against Wayne Montgomery.
Each player had to play in at least 3 matches to qualify and to make the All Tournament Team each player’s team had to at least advance to the quarterfinals (similar to the ITA’s rules for its All Tournament Team). FYI, DNF = Did Not Finish.
College Tennis Today All Tournament Team:
Singles:
MVP: Alex Ghilea (Oklahoma) – he clinched the semifinal win against Baylor by coming back from a set and 5-2 down and clinched the championship against USC by knocking off the guy, Max De Vroome, that finished their season the year prior in the NCAA Championship. 1 of only 2 guys that went 4-0 on the weekend in singles (Eric Johnson was the other).
1. Yannick Hanfmann (USC) – The Trojan senior went 2-0 with 2 DNFs and is now 7-0 in dual match play and 14-2 overall since the fall.
vs. #26 Andrew Harris (OKLA) 4-6, 6-4, 4-4 DNF
vs. #17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) 4-6, 6-3, 1-4 DNF
def. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU) 7-6(4), 6-1
def. #81 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) 6-1, 7-6(4)
2. Axel Alvarez (Oklahoma) – The Sooner junior went 3-0 with 3 ranked wins and 1 DNF and only dropped 1 set and is now 9-0 in dual match play and 22-4 overal since the fall.
def. #24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
def. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) 6-4, 6-4
def. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
vs. #78 Stefan Lindmark (Miss) 3-6, 6-4, 5-6 DNF
3. Dane Webb (Oklahoma) – The Sooner senior went 3-0 with 1 DNF and only dropped 1 set and is now 9-0 in dual match play and 17-5 overall since the fall.
def. #20 Jonny Wang (USC) 6-0, 6-4
def. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU) 6-4, 6-0
vs. Brett Clark (UNC) 6-4, 3-6, 3-0 DNF
def. Gustav Hansson (Miss) 6-2, 6-4
4. Eric Johnson (USC) – The Trojan senior went 4-0 without dropping a set and is now 8-1 in dual match play and 12-7 overall since the fall.
def. Spencer Papa (OKLA) 6-4, 6-1
def. Nick Wood (UGA), 6-1, 6-1
def. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 7-5, 6-4
def. Roman Trkulja (PSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Alex Ghilea (Oklahoma) – The Sooner sophomore went 4-0 and clinched the team’s final 2 matches and is now 7-0 in dual match play and 23-4 over since the fall.
def. Max De Vroome (USC) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
def. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA), 6-2, 6-4
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14 (46%)
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12 (40%)
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4 (13%)
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def. #13 Winston Lin (Columbia) 6-2, 6-1
- Parking was plentiful and free
- Very nice facility with 10 times the seating that was available in Houston
- The seats with chair back were very comfortable and you could easily follow the 2 immediate matches in front of you which were either #2 and #3 or #4 and #5 depending on which set of seats you were in (grandstand seating was just set up on courts 1-6)
- The video qualify was pretty good on the 6 courts and having sound is always a major plus.
- The volunteers that were working in the lobby and between the courts were very friendly and attentive.
- Ball kids were in place to keep the balls moving
- Nice to see such large crowds on both Saturday and Sunday during all the matches – easily 5 times the turnout from 2014 in Houston.
- The matches moved along very quickly since there was just 5 minutes of downtime between doubles and singles along with the no-ad, no warmup rules in place. (Also listed under negatives depending on your point of view)
- There wasn’t enough adequate communication/knowledgeable volunteers in place to relay scores from court-side to the main desk so live scoring could be updated in a timely manner. As a result of this the live scoring was slow to update on several courts and could be as many as 3 or 4 games behind and on a few occasions the live scoring had the wrong person winning sets only to only get corrected as the match finished up.
- With video set up on 6 courts it was surprising that they couldn’t use those 6 courts for the finals so that way all 6 singles matches could have been shown. I get the logistics with moving some of the seating but still one had to wonder.
- The matches played on courts 9-14 had minimal seating which was more of a space issue that anything but if you wanted to watch those matches you had to secure 1 of about 10 chairs beside #1 singles or #4 singles.
- If you wanted to watch #5 and #6 singles on the back 2 courts the only way you could reach those courts was to cut between courts 2 and 3 and you could only do that when both were on a changeover. I believe this was the main issue on why scores weren’t being reported very frequently on those 2 courts.
- The matches moved along very quickly since there was just 5 minutes of downtime between doubles and singles along with the no-ad, no warmup rules in place. It seemed like 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes was kind of the average if I had to ball park it.
Manny Diaz (Georgia) – 27th year
Billy Martin (UCLA) – 22nd year
You're correct about Goswami – I was looking at the program and it was incorrect showing 12 years. That's what I get for relying on the program – just like live scoring – you never know if what's printed on the book/screen is really correct.<br /><br />The weather on Saturday was really, really bad – it only took 30 seconds to get to my car but it took a good 10 minutes before I could feel my fingers again. <br /><br />Thanks for reading, I figure once the NCAAs are over in May I'll go from posting daily to maybe weekly since there won't be much news between late May and late August.
Biggest overall negative: God it was cold!!!!! Brutal weather. Would have liked a coatroom to put all the coats and jackets in. <br /><br />I loved overhearing all the comments at how good the players were, how hard they hit, how well they covered court, etc. A lot of entertaining close matches, more than I can remember from past three tournaments. There were alot of people unfamiliar with college tennis, a number of people seeing their first high level tennis matches and the tournament really put on a good show for them. I really think college tennis can escape its invisible niche as fans love to cheer for a team. College tennis is truly the only avenue in tennis where that happens. (WTT is just a glorified exhibition with no real stakes.) But you're right. They really need to get the scoring right. Can't see why it can't be done like the futures and challengers where the umps login the scores and it is then transmitted to central webpage. Also there should be a physical scoreboard so you don't need to keep looking at your phone.<br /><br />Columbia's coach has been there 32 years, btw. Great job on your blog. Hope you can keep it up, because it is a tough grind.
If there was All-tournament doubles "team", then would nominate Baylor after winning doubles point against Baylor, Virginia, and Oklahoma