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 Filho would win in straight sets to make it 2-1. UCF came back and forced three third sets and after Korey Lovett won at No. 1 and Mariano Porter at No. 4 the Knights led 3-2. Louisville’s Nicolas Rouanet and Brandon Lancaster each went up early breaks in the third set on the two remaining courts and both would win 6-3 in the third with Rouanet getting the clincher. Below are some quotes from Louisville’s recap:
“Setting up Brandon were freshmen Parker Wynn and Clement Filho,” said Ecarma. “What a bright future those two have. Sean and Parker are playing at such a high level. I told all the guys that we are better as a unit than separate parts. Other teams have individual superstars, we have a group of individuals that have super chemistry and when you have that anything is possible.”
May 12, 2017 at Columbus, Ohio (OSU Varsity Tennis Courts)
Singles
1. #42 Korey Lovett (UCF) def. #111 Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) 6-7 (0-7), 6-0, 6-2
2. Parker Wynn (LOU) def. Harrison Richmond (UCF) 7-5, 6-3
3. Nicolas Rouanet (LOU) def. Danny Kerznerman (UCF) 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
4. Mariano Porter (UCF) def. George Hedley (LOU) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4
5. Brandon Lancaster (LOU) def. Chris Barrus (UCF) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
6. Clement Filho (LOU-MT) def. Kalman Boyd (UCF) 7-5, 6-3
Doubles
1. #23 Sean Donohue/Parker Wynn (LOU) def. #64 Mariano Porter/Harrison Richmond (UCF) 6-3
2. #72 Korey Lovett/Danny Kerznerman (UCF) def. Nicolas Rouanet/Ciro Lampasas (LOU) 7-5
3. Kalman Boyd/Chris Barrus (UCF) def. Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff/George Hedley (LOU) 7-6 (7-5)
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (2,6,1,4,5,3)
NCAA Championship First Round Match
T-3:20
Tang delivers! Columbia 4, Purdue 2 on a comeback 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in match 3 pic.twitter.com/rb6Zvw2MiP
— Columbia Mens Tennis (@ColumbiaMTennis) May 12, 2017
In my opinion the match of the day was the one that kicked things off in Charlottesville with Columbia winning a 4-2 thriller over Purdue. Columbia won the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then it didn’t take long for Timothy Wang to make it 2-0 after he rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6.
Purdue tied it at 2-2 after Gergely Madarasz won in three sets at No. 1 and Stephan Koenigsfest won in two close sets at No. 4 but Columbia’s Victor Pham put the Lions back in front with a three set win at No. 2.
Despite trailing Purdue had to like its chances because Athell Bennett was up an early break in the third set at No. 5 plus Benjamin Ugarte had a match point at No. 3 when Columbia’s Jackie Tang served at 4-5 (40/40).
Tang managed to fight off the match point to hold for 5-5 and then after Ugarte went up 40/0, Tang came back to break for 6-5. Bennett had upped his lead on Adam Ambrozy to 4-0 but he wouldn’t get to finish because Tang served out the match at love to give Columbia the 4-2 win.
May 12, 2017 at Charlottesville, Va. (Snyder Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #97 Gergely Madarasz (PUR) def. #101 Shawn Hadavi (COL) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
2. #57 Victor Pham (COL) def. Ricky Medinilla (PUR) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
3. Jackie Tang (COL) def. Benjamin Ugarte (PUR) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
4. Stephan Koenigsfest (PUR) def. Alex Keyser (COL) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Athell Bennett (PUR) vs. Adam Ambrozy (COL) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 4-0 unfinished
6. Timothy Wang (COL) def. Renan Hanayama (PUR) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
1. #65 Victor Pham/Richard Pham (COL) def. Ricky Medinilla/Stephan Koenigsfest (PUR) 6-4
2. Gergely Madarasz/Athell Bennett (PUR) vs. Shawn Hadavi/Jackie Tang (COL) 5-4, unfinished
3. Christopher Grant/Michal Rolski (COL) def. Benjamin Ugarte/Renan Hanayama (PUR) 6-1
Match Notes:
Purdue 20-13; National ranking #41
Columbia 18-4; National ranking #23
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (6,1,4,2,3)
NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship First Round Charlottesville Regional
T-3:10
#21 Northwestern 4, #45 Utah State 2
May 12, 2017 at Berkeley, Calif. (Hellman Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #37 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. Kai Wehnelt (USU) 6-1, 6-2
2. #67 Konrad Zieba (NU) def. Jaime Barajas (USU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Sam Shropshire (NU) def. Samuel Serrano (USU) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
4. Dominik Stary (NU) def. Jack Swindells (USU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
5. Sergiu Bucur (USU) def. Ben Vandixhorn (NU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Jason Seidman (NU) vs. Jonas Maier (USU) 7-5, 5-7, 2-3, unfinished
Doubles
1. Jack Swindells/Jonas Maier (USU) def. #80 Sam Shropshire/Konrad Zieba (NU) 7-5
2. #53 Strong Kirchheimer/Dominik Stary (NU) def. Samuel Serrano/Kai Wehnelt (USU) 6-2
3. Andrew Nakajima/Jaime Barajas (USU) def. Chris Ephron/Michael Lorenzini (NU) 6-2
Match Notes:
Utah State 23-9; National ranking #45
Northwestern 22-10; National ranking #21
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,5,2,4,3)
T-3:39
#29 Tulane 4, #49 Washington 2
May 12, 2017 at Austin, Texas (Caswell Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #18 Constantin Schmitz (TLN) vs. Jake Douglas (UW) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 3-2, unfinished
2. Ewan Moore (TLN) def. #100 Mitch Stewart (UW) 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-5
3. #117 Sebastian Rey (TLN) def. Gal Hakak (UW) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
4. Enzo Sommer (UW) def. Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) 7-5, 6-4
5. Amit Batta (UW) def. Tyler Schick (TLN) 6-2, 6-3
6. Chi-Shan Jao (TLN) def. Piers Foley (UW) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
1. #70 Sebastian Rey/Chi-Shan Jao (TLN) def. Jake Douglas/Piers Foley (UW) 7-6 (7-2)
2. Kawika Lam/Enzo Sommer (UW) def. Tyler Schick/Ewan Moore (TLN) 6-4
3. Constantin Schmitz/Luis Erlenbusch (TLN) def. Amit Batta/Wendell Watanabe (UW) 6-4
Match Notes:
Washington 12-12; National ranking #49
Tulane 19-5; National ranking #29
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,4,6,3,2)
NCAA Championships First Round
T-3:43
#24 Oregon 4, #34 Memphis 2
May 12, 2017 at College Station, TX (George P Mitchell Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #27 Thomas Laurent (OREGON) def. #82 Ryan Peniston (MEMPHIS) 7-5, 6-4
2. Simon Stevens (OREGON) def. #98 Andrew Watson (MEMPHIS) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
3. Kai Lemke (MEMPHIS) def. Akihiro Tanaka (OREGON) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5
4. Jayson Amos (OREGON) vs. Chris Patzanovsky (MEMPHIS) 6-3, 3-6, 5-5, unfinished
5. Cormac Clissold (OREGON) def. Jan Pallares (MEMPHIS) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
6. Matt Story (MEMPHIS) def. Ethan Young-Smith (OREGON) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
1. Jayson Amos/Armando Soemarno (OREGON) def. #85 Kai Lemke/Andrew Watson (MEMPHIS) 6-3
2. Thomas Laurent/Cormac Clissold (OREGON) def. Felix Rauch/Ryan Peniston (MEMPHIS) 6-4
3. Jan Pallares/Matt Story (MEMPHIS) def. Simon Stevens/Akihiro Tanaka (OREGON) 6-3
Match Notes:
Memphis 15-9; National ranking #34
Oregon 19-6; National ranking #24
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,5,1,3,2)
T-3:00
#20 South Carolina [2] def. #73 East Tennessee State [3] 4-0
#26 Cornell [2] def. #43 Rice [3] 4-0
#29 Tulane [2] def. #49 Washington [3] 4-2
#18 Mississippi State [2] def. #38 SMU [3] 4-0
#42 Louisville [3] def. #28 UCF [2] 4-3
#25 Illinois [2] def. #55 Drake [3] 4-0
#33 Florida State [2] def. #36 Arkansas [3] 4-1
#24 Oregon [2] def. #34 Memphis [3] 4-2
#21 Northwestern [2] def. #45 Utah State [3] 4-2
#30 Wisconsin [2] def. #47 San Diego [3] 4-1
#27 Ole Miss [2] def. #37 UC Santa Barbara [3] 4-1
#17 Michigan [2] def. #84 Valparaiso [3] 4-0
#32 Kentucky [2] def. #40 Georgia State [3] 4-0
Florida Regional
#19 Georgia Tech [2] def. #39 Minnesota [3] 4-1
#15 Florida [1] def. #108 Florida Gulf Coast [4] 4-0
In looking at the rankings of the participating teams, I am really stuck by the number of sub-100 teams in the 64 team bracket. Of the first round winners, the median rank is 16.5 and very appropriate. 38% percent of the losing teams are ranked at 100 or below and the median rank for this group is 85.5. The 32 highest ranked un-selected teams have a median rank of 62.5, outranking the group that lost on Friday by 13 points.
I love the quantification that Steve has applied to the losers/winners of the first round and couldn't agree more with his unwritten but inferred point that many of the teams that are in the NCAA tourney–but ranked at 100 or worse– really don't belong in the NCAA tourney. In fact, if I'm understanding his medians correctly, the 32 highest ranked un-selected teams (62.5) outranked the Friday losing group (85.5) by 23 points, not 13, making his point even stronger.
Bobby. Are you keeping secrets? No mention of the Georgia suspensions whatsoever from your end.
I'd heard about the suspensions but like most didn't have any details – I just saw something online which isn't very good (https://www.dawgnation.com/football/dawgnation/breaking-police-investigating-uga-tennis-drug-scandal)
Victoria, your inference and understanding are 100% correct: the median difference is a full 23 points. Afraid my aptitude for statistics is stronger than my ability to carry out subtraction in my head. I am trying not to judge here…just highlighting a pattern in the observations. If my alternate group of higher-ranked teams had been selected, I am guessing we would have seen an impact on the first round of results. More upsets would have resulted and the median for the winners would have likely dropped.