Im going to change the format up a little this week and give a few highlights from the weekend along with any quotes I may have been able to get from coaches. I’ll then follow it up with a recap for each team so you can either read it all or scroll straight to your team.
The two teams with the toughest schedule this past weekend were Tennessee and Mississippi State with each facing a pair of top 25 teams with Tennessee getting the harder draw of #6 Texas A&M at home and #14 Georgia on the road. Tennessee earned a split of those two matches coming up with a huge 4-3 road win on Sunday at Georgia. Meanwhile Mississippi State faced #19 Vanderbilt and #21 Kentucky at home and swept the weekend to remain unbeaten in the SEC.
I spoke with Tennessee Assistant Coach James McKie Sunday night about the weekend and he had this to say: To win in Athens is always special, its only the 4th time since 1990 the Vols have won here. This group is really starting to come together. They are starting to look like a real team on and off the court which is great. As a coach theres nothing better than seeing your players thrive in such a tough environment. We had a great meeting Saturday night about embracing the atmosphere and accepting no one is on our side. I also asked about a few of the big individual performances they had this weekend and he had this to say about Adam Walton, Scott Jones and Luca Wiedenmann: Walts is on fire, hes playing some really good tennis and I think hes starting to believe he can beat anyone out there. Jonesy once again so clutch down the stretch. Luca goes in for his first match of the year and clinches is just huge, he has been preparing all year and today he got the call and produced. Very proud of him.
Mississippi State Head Coach Matt Roberts had this to say about his team this weekend: One of my favorite things about this weekend is how we came out and played in doubles and how the team rallied and played for each other even when seeing some of the consistent spots in tough matches. Roberts was very pleased with how the team rallied around each other on Friday when the Bulldogs lost their two points against Vandy at 1 and 6 where they had been previously unbeaten in SEC play. Weve only lost one doubles point in the SEC this year which has been a goal and were playing a new level of dubs this year Roberts said.
Alabama
The Tide only had one match this weekend and that was at Texas A&M which was a match they were going to be highly unlikely to win to begin with. Actually picking up two points in a 5-2 loss was a very solid performance that most would not have expected. Bama was dominated in doubles and the 2-5 spots in the lineup but Mazen Osama and Alexey Nesterov managed to pick up 3 set wins at the 1 and 6 spots, respectively. Nesterov played a full 3rd and emerged victorious in impressive fashion 6-1 while Osama played a 10-point match tiebreak against Patrick Kypson and came out on top 10-3. The bad news for Bama fans is there is still no Patrick Kaukovalta in the lineup.
Arkansas
Coming off a big win over Georgia the Hogs entered this week with a brutal road stretch ahead. At UCF Wednesday, South Carolina Friday and Florida Sunday. I probably dont have the skills to draw that out and insert it, but for the geographically inclined, draw the lines for that trip in your head. Unfortunately the results for the Hogs were no better than the prospects of the long travel as they dropped all three matches. On Friday the Razorbacks dropped a 5-2 decision to South Carolina with Jose Salazar and Pedro Alonso picking up wins at 1 and 5. The remaining 4 singles matches were fairly easy straight set losses as Arkansas never really put themselves in a position to win this one. The shining spot in Sundays 6-1 loss to Florida was Jose Salazar who picked up a 6-4, 6-4 win at #1 over Floridas #8 Alfredo Perez. In what was a rough weekend for Arkansas Jose Salazars definitely proved his worth as a #1 picking up win wins over the #8 and #46 ranked players in the nation.
Auburn
Auburns woes continued this weekend as they dropped to 0-6 in the conference. The Tigers dropped a 5-2 decision at home to Kentucky on Friday followed by a 4-2 loss at home to Vanderbilt on Sunday. The Tigers did manage to pick up a 5-0 win over Alabama State on Sunday following the Vanderbilt match. Auburn was very competitive on Friday against Kentucky picking up wins at 5 and 6 and going three sets on 1, 2 and 4. That was the kind of match that has to give the Tigers a little bit of confidence and may have been of more help come Sunday had they been playing someone not quite the caliber of Vanderbilt. Unfortunately for Auburn the Commodores were just too much to overcome but they did pick up a couple of huge wins at 1 and 2 by Edward Nguyen and Mateo De Vincentis over ranked foes #22 Cam Klinger and #56 Danny Valent.
Florida
A very routine ho-hum weekend for the Gators who simply rolled over Ole Miss and Arkansas with a pair of 6-1 wins and improved to 7-1 in the conference. McClain Kessler got back in the lineup again for Florida on Friday even though he was listed 7th on the depth chart this week and got back to his winning ways. The lone loss against Ole Miss was at 4 where freshman Duarte Vale lost to Filip Kraljevic 6-2, 6-3. Whether or not that had anything to do with the lineup change for Sunday I dont know but Vale got some rest and the Gators slid everyone up a spot with Perez-Blanco, Andrade and Kessler playing 4, 5 and 6 with each coming away victorious as Perez took the only loss on Sunday for the Gators.
Georgia
It seems like every week Georgia does something unexpected and unfortunately for them since they beat Ohio State the rest of the surprises have been for the worse. Georgia easily handled LSU 4-0 on Friday but then dropped an extremely tough 4-3 decision to Tennessee Sunday indoors after the weather just wouldnt cooperate. The Bulldogs were once again a man short as Walker Duncan did not play, but this week he sat both singles and doubles while last weekend he played doubles. That doesnt seem to bode well for the prospects of seeing him sooner rather than later and Georgia is definitely a different team without him. Since the South Carolina match where Reinberg sat out and now the last several with Duncan out, the Bulldogs have really struggled at 6 and have tried a few different guys there. Makes you wonder how things might have looked had Paul Oosterbaan not left the team at the end of February to pursue professional opportunities.
Kentucky
Kentucky split a pair of weekend battles on the road with a 5-2 win at Auburn followed by a 5-2 loss at Mississippi State. Kentucky remains at 5-2 in the conference in a3 way tie for 4th but they are going to have to find some answers at the bottom of the lineup. The Wildcats have dropped 4 of their last 5 decisions at the #5 and #6 spots using a plethora of different lineups there. This weekend was no exception as the Kentucky dropped all 4 matches at 5 and 6. As tough as they are finding things at the bottom, its just the opposite at the top. Ryotaro Matsumura has been on fire lately and added a pair of wins including a 6-2, 6-3 win over #3 Nuno Borges of Mississippi State. Matsumura has only lost one match since losing 1&1 to Borges in the fall and avenged that loss in convincing fashion Sunday.
LSU
LSU dropped a pair of non-conference matches to Tulane and Memphis this week, sandwiched around a 4-0 loss to Georgia in conference play Friday. That drops the Tigers to 1-5 in conference play who are looking for any kind of momentum at the moment. While they were blanked on Wednesday and Friday, the Tigers did manage to win a couple matches against Memphis Sunday after capturing their first doubles point since March 9th and then followed that with a 3 set win by Julian Saborio on court 4.
Mississippi State
The Bulldogs continued their hot streak taking down #19 Vanderbilt on Friday and #21 Kentucky on Sunday. For the first time this dual match season the top dog, Nuno Borges lost, and it happened both days. While it might sound like the key to beating Mississippi State, think again. The Bulldogs have not lost a dual match in two years when Borges loses. He lost 3 times last year (Alabama, Kentucky, Texas A&M in SEC tourney) and Mississippi State was victorious all three times. He has now lost twice this year and again the Bulldogs won them both. Probably the hottest player on the team right now is Strahinja Rakic who posted a dominating 6-3. 6-0 win over Baker Newman Friday followed by a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Enzo Wallart on Sunday. Fellow teammates Niclas Braun and Florian Broska also posted a pair of wins this weekend on courts 4 and 5, respectively. As mentioned earlier Mississippi State is now 6-0 in conference play and 5-1 in doubles.
Ole Miss
Can you say ouch? Literally? The Rebels have a very talented squad but they are simply hurting right now as the injury bug has bitten. Gustav Hansson and Fabian Fallert have been sidelined since being hurt on March 9th and have not played since. That leaves the Rebels with 6 active players and Zvonimir Babic hurting to the point where he served underhanded at Florida. To make matters worse Finn Reynolds had to retire from his match in the 2nd set. I have no idea what happened there but for the Rebels sake I hope he isnt injured. Ole Miss took it on the chin 6-1 at Florida and 5-2 at South Carolina this weekend and will look to get back to winning ways against Alabama Friday.
South Carolina
The Gamecocks tallied a pair of 5-2 wins this weekend over Arkansas and Ole Miss to level their conference record at 4-4. Paul Jubb, Yancy Dennis and Wood Benton all posted 2-0 weekends for South Carolina and the team grabbed two solid wins over top 40 teams will have the Gamecocks moving back toward the top 25 in the rankings this week.
Tennessee
Tennessee dropped a tough 5-2 decision to Texas A&M and rebounded with a huge 4-3 upset on the road at Georgia Sunday. The Vols picked up wins from Adam Walton and Scott Jones on courts 4 and 5 Friday, both coming in 10-8 match tiebreak wins. The same pair along with Timo Stodder and Luca Wiedenmann gave the Vols 4 singles wins on Sunday. Adam Walton is on fire at the moment with two big top 25 wins over #25 Valentin Vacherot and #21 Jan Zielinski. Its not just the ITA ranking but even the UTRs for these guys shows that Walton (13.39) has stepped up his game in beating Vacherot (14.00) and Zielinski (14.02).
Texas A&M
The Aggies kept pace with Mississippi State posting a pair of wins to move to 6-0 in the conference. The win on Friday at Tennessee was a big conference win made all the more impressive after Tennessee went into Georgia and won on Sunday. A&M seems to just be rolling along and we are all waiting to see what the standing looks like when they get to battle Mississippi State and Florida, the only two teams that look to be able to challenge them at the moment. The loss by Kypson to Osama on Sunday was a bit of a surprise but anything can happen in a 10 point breaker if you go there.
Vanderbilt
The Dores dropped a 4-2 decision at Mississippi State on Friday and then turned things around at Auburn Sunday with a 4-2 win. Cam Klinger got a big win over #3 Nuno Borges of Mississippi State Friday but showed how you cant take anything for granted in the SEC in dropping a match to Edward Nguyen Sunday who had lost his last 10 matches dating back to February 4th. George Harwell continued to impress for Vandy as was the lone Commodore to post a pair of singles wins and move his individual record to 4-2 in the SEC.
Standings
|
Team |
Record |
|
Mississippi State |
6-0 |
|
Texas A&M |
6-0 |
|
Florida |
7-1 |
|
Kentucky |
5-2 |
|
Tennessee |
5-2 |
|
Vanderbilt |
5-2 |
|
South Carolina |
4-4 |
|
Georgia |
2-5 |
|
Arkansas |
2-6 |
|
Alabama |
1-5 |
|
LSU |
1-5 |
|
Ole Miss |
1-7 |
|
Auburn |
0-6 |
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