Mid-Week Recap & Weekend Schedule

There have been several dual-matches over the last few days that I wanted to make a mention of before we officially hit the weekend. There haven’t been any big upsets although there was a near upset in Berkeley on Wednesday night when No. 11 Cal hosted No. 48 Yale. Cal took the doubles point but Yale came back and took a 3-2 lead after Tyler Lu upset Florian Lakat 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. Cal freshman Connor Heap won just hit second career dual-match by coming back from a break down in the third set to defeat Dennis Wang 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 at No. 6. Heap trailed 4-3 in the third but broke and held for 5-4 and then a few games later he broke from 30/40 to win it 7-5. Cal senior Andre Goransson provided the clincher at No. 2 by cruising through the third set to defeat Ziqi Wang (no relation to Dennis) 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.

 

#11 California 4, #48 Yale 3
March 22, 2017, in Berkeley, Calif. (Hellman Tennis Complex)
Doubles competition
1. No. 4 Filip Bergevi/Florian Lakat (Cal) def. Alex Hagermoser/Stefan Doehler (Yale), 6-2
2. No. 65 Andre Goransson/Billy Griffith (Cal) def. Ziqi Wang/Dylan King (Yale), 6-2*
3. Tyler Lu/Photos Photiades (Yale) def. Bjorn Hoffmann/J.T. Nishimura (Cal), 6-4
Singles competition
1. No. 103 Tyler Lu (Yale) def. No. 14 Florian Lakat (Cal), 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
2. No. 48 Andre Goransson (Cal) def. Ziqi Wang (Yale), 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1^
3. Dylan King (Yale) def. No. 71 Billy Griffith (Cal), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Stefan Doehler (Yale) def. No. 108 Filip Bergevi (Cal), 7-5, 7-5
5. Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal) def. Andrew Heller (Yale), 6-3, 6-2
6. Connor Heap (Cal) def. Dennis Wang (Yale), 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5
Match Notes
California 12-5; National ranking #11
Yale 14-4; National ranking #48
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2*); Singles (5,4,3,1,6,2)

Quotes from Cal’s recap
“Tonight was another exciting college tennis match,” Cal head coach Peter Wright said. “Yale did a great job of bouncing back after we won the doubles point, and at one point they really looked to be in control of the match. It took a great effort from Connor Heap and Andre Goransson to come back from losing their first sets for us to win this match.”

“We need strong performances from our guys in this six-match homestand in order to establish ourselves as one of the top teams in the conference and the country,” Wright said. “We face a stiff challenge from Illinois this Saturday and then we start the Pac-12 season, so we’re incredibly focused on the process of getting one day better every time we practice.”

 

Top ranked Wake Forest blanked Virginia Tech 7-0 on Tuesday in a match that was closer than the final score indicated. Wake took the doubles point with a 7-5 win in the decider at No. 2 and then Deacs ended up winning 12 of 13 sets in singles although four of them were in tiebreaks. 

 

 

#1 Wake Forest 7, Virginia Tech 0
Mar 21, 2017 at Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. #2 Petros Chrysochos (WF) def. #82 Jai Corbett (VT) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)
2. #14 Skander Mansouri (WF) def. Alexandre Ribeiro (VT) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3)
3. #57 Borna Gojo (WF) def. Mitch Harper (VT) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
4. #50 Christian Seraphim (WF) def. Henrik Korsgaard (VT) 6-3, 6-2
5. Dennis Uspensky (WF) def. Freddy Mesmer (VT) 6-3, 6-4
6. Alan Gadjiev (WF) def. Jason Kros (VT) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
1. #1 Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WF) def. Jai Corbett/Henrik Korsgaard (VT) 6-4
2. Borna Gojo/Alan Gadjiev (WF) def. Mitch Harper/Alexandre Ribeiro (VT) 7-5
3. Jason Kros/Freddy Mesmer (VT) def. Petros Chrysochos/Dennis Uspensky (WF) 7-5
Match Notes
Virginia Tech 6-8 (1-3 ACC)
Wake Forest 15-1 (3-0 ACC); National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,5,6,3,2,1)
Official: Joseph Buys A-201 

 

TCU won its fifth match in a row with a pretty dominating 5-2 win over No. 25 Illinois. TCU only dropped five games in doubles and then Horned Frogs picked up straight set wins in singles from Alex Rybakov, Guillermo Nunez, Jerry Lopez, and Reese Stalder. Illinois won the last two matches of the day with Aleks Vukic handing Cameron Norrie his first loss of the year with a 10-point supertiebreak played in lieu of a third set while Zeke Clark won at No. 6 when Hudson Blake retired after the team outcome had been decided.

TCU will play another red-hot team on Monday evening when Texas A&M comes to town riding what will most likely be a 13-match winning streak assuming they get past LSU on Saturday.

#19 TCU 5, #25 Illinois 2
Mar 22, 2017 at Fort Worth, Texas (Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #20 Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. #3 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 10-6
2. #27 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #30 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) 6-2, 6-1
3. #78 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. Gui Gomes (ILL) 6-1, 6-4
4. #81 Jerry Lopez (TCU) def. Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) 7-5, 6-2
5. Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Julian Childers (ILL) 6-2, 6-3
6. Zeke Clark (ILL) def. Hudson Blake (TCU) 3-6, 6-2, 2-0, retired
Doubles competition
1. Jerry Lopez/Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. #23 Aleks Vukic/Aron Hiltzik (ILL) 6-1
2. Reese Stalder/Hudson Blake (TCU) vs. Alex Jesse/Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) 5-2, unfinished
3. #21 Guillermo Nuñez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Gui Gomes/Zeke Clark (ILL) 6-2
Match Notes:
Illinois 9-6; National ranking #25
TCU 10-4; National ranking #19
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,5,4,2,6,1)
A-682

Quotes from the Match – Head Coach David Roditi
“This was a very impressive win for us to beat Illinois like that. I was really worried about the first match back home after a spring break trip that we were very successful on. I was kind of worried as a coach for a letdown, but I am proud of the guys because they showed up and did a good job especially in doubles. That is the best doubles that we have played all year so I was really happy with that. Then the performance by (Alex) Rybakov at No. 2 to beat a guy like Aron (Hiltzik) like that is impressive. I have a lot of respect for Aron and all the Illini and for us to win straight-set matches like that is a good sign.

“There are some things that we can do better. Our attitude wasn’t the best in some places. We let some opportunities go and as we go through the season and we get into our top matches on the road against top teams, we have to capitalize on those opportunities. There are always ways to get better but there is absolutely no doubt that I am happy to get this win and also to celebrate Kelubia Mabatah who has had an unbelievable battle the last two or three years. We are so proud of him and happy to have him here among friends. It puts everything into perspective. We are happy to be out here representing TCU and we will be ready for a super tough match at home against Texas A&M. They are on fire right now so we will see what we can do. Hopefully we will get a huge crowd on Monday.”

 

Texas A&M won its 12th straight match on Thursday night with a 7-0 win over No. 45 Tennessee. Texas A&M won the doubles point fairly comfortably but Tennessee gave them a pretty good fight at just about every spot in the singles lineup. Jordi Arconada, Aleksandre Bakshi, and Hady Habib won in straight sets while Arthur Rinderknech, AJ Catanzariti, and Valentin Vacherot won in three sets. Below is a look at the who, what, when, and where of the 12-match winning streak – as you can see A&M is getting it done at the top spot and down low and they’ve overcome the loss of the doubles point six times.

#8 Texas A&M 7, #45 Tennessee 0
Mar 23, 2017 at College Station, TX (George P Mitchell Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #12 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. #34 Timo Stodder (UT) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2)
2. #116 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. Luis Valero (UT) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. #119 Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Scott Jones (UT) 6-1, 7-6 (9-7)
4. Aleksandre Bakshi (TAMU) def. Srdjan Jakovljevic (UT) 6-4, 6-4
5. Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Jack Schipanski (UT) 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 1-0 (12-10)
6. Hady Habib (TAMU) def. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. #80 Scott Jones/Timo Stodder (UT) 6-2
2. Aleksandre Bakshi/Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) vs. #42 Luis Valero/Jack Schipanski (UT) 4-3, unfinished
3. Hady Habib/Jordi Arconada (TAMU) def. Luca Wiedenmann/Srdjan Jakovljevic (UT) 6-3
Match Notes:
Tennessee 9-9, 1-5
Texas A&M 13-3, 6-0; National ranking #8
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3); Singles (6, 4, 3, 2, 5, 1)
A-251

Post Match Quotes – Steve Denton, Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Head Coach
About the match…
“Obviously we got off to a good start today after having a solid doubles effort. I thought our guys played pretty well out there and that set the tone for us for the night. We were able to keep the momentum going in singles. I was impressed with how Tennessee played, they have some really good players and our guys had to step up to a good challenge tonight. Especially with how the conditions were tonight it was a hard night to play good tennis. For the conditions, I thought the level of tennis was really high. Throw Tennessee’s record out the window, just look around the league and see how close all of the matches are. We came out on the right side of three tiebreakers, otherwise the match would have looked really different at the end of the night.”

On Jordi’s winning streak and match clinching of late…
“Jordi is playing with a lot of confidence and that continued tonight. He has continued to play well and even after playing the tough match he did on Sunday. Coming back from the dead, losing eight of the first nine game, he just keeps finding a way. He continues to come out every match and compete for every point. I thought all of our guys did that tonight.”

 

Other Notable Men’s Results Since Tuesday:

• #6 Texas def. #86 UT Arlington 7-0 
• #7 Oklahoma State def. #64 Wichita State 4-0
• #14 Georgia def. #66 LSU 4-1
• #15 Mississippi State def. #53 Arkansas 4-1
• #30 Tulane def. Dartmouth 4-1
• #31 Wisconsin def. #54 San Diego 5-2
• #40 Washington def. Hawaii 6-1
• #49 Ole Miss def. #44 Auburn 4-0
• #51 Drake def. Nebraska 7-0
• #54 San Diego def. #61 Princeton 4-0
• #57 Duke def. #67 NC State 5-2
• #74 Pepperdine def. #61 Princeton 6-1
• #107 Dartmouth def. #66 LSU 4-3

 

Notable Women’s Results Since Tuesday:

• #6 Georgia Tech def. #47 Northwestern 7-0
• #18 Arkansas def. #32 Tulsa 6-1
• #15 Baylor def. #20 Texas A&M 4-0
• #49 Arizona State def. #42 UNLV 6-1

 

I added a tab at the top of the site for rankings and when you click on it it will show you the current real-time ITA Top 30. I’ll update it throughout the weekend as matches go final. This feature is only available for College Tennis Today subscribers so for just $.33 a day you can view it too!

 

This coming weekend definitely doesn’t have the juiciest schedule though there should still be enough here to whet your appetite. Below are the higher profile matches from each conference though you’ll notice there isn’t much from the Pac-12 because most of the schools are off this week. The matches between top 25 teams are in bold and if a Power 5 school is playing a Power 5 school from another conference I listed it under both conferences though I only put it in bold once.