Tagged with: SEC

There were some very tight matchups for all the top SEC Men’s teams this week. While Mississippi State and Texas A&M managed to escape unscathed the Gators were not so lucky and fell on Sunday in a shocker to South Carolina just two days after beating #1 Wake Forest at Wake. Two huge road wins forMisissippi Statepushed their winning streak to 10 while A&M has now won four in row since dropping a non-conference match to TCU.

Things went pretty much according to plan on the women’s side with one notable exception where Tennessee picked up their first SEC win on Thursday with an upset of #15 Auburn at home. South Carolina continues to set the pace at the front with Florida and Vanderbilt both sitting one loss behind them waiting for their head to head battles.

Men

Alabama

Alabama played two competitive matches against Ole Miss and Arkansas but ultimately fell in defeat in both. Friday saw the much anticipated return of Patrick Kaukovalta for the Tide but it was clear he hadn’t had any match play in a while as he was quickly dispatched by Grey Hamilton 6-2. 6-2. Alabama picked up wins from Edson Ortiz and Riccardo Roberto and were locked in a battle down 3-2 with Mazen Osama and Thibault Cancel left on courts 1 and 2, respectively. Osama held a break advantage in the second set but lost the advantage and ended up in a tiebreak which he lost 7-4 on a line call he was not pleased with to say the least. That clinched the match for Ole Miss 4-2 with Cancel’s match suspended at 4-5 in the 3^rd. On Sunday the Tide had another decent opportunity facing an Arkansas squad that entered the weekend 2-6 in SEC play. Bama got off to a good start taking the doubles point but quickly surrendered four singles matches in straight sets including a second set retirement from Riccardo Roberto. The match was played out and Alabama picked up wins on the final two courts from Mazen Osama and Alexey Nesterov to make it 4-3. The losses drop Alabama to 1-7 in SEC play and currently in position to have to play the first round 12^thvs. 13^th “play-in” match in the SEC tournament as they are tied with LSU for 11^th/12^th but LSU owns the head to head tiebreaker.

Arkansas

The Razorbacks only had one SEC match this weekend with Alabama on Sunday but it was triple header day as they had a pair of matches against Nebraska-Omaha scheduled after the Alabama match. Arkansas entered the match 2-6 while Bama was 1-6 so it was a matter of winner gets the advantage in trying to avoid the bottom two spots in the standings. Arkansas dropped the doubles point but came back strong with four straight set wins in singles by Oscar Mesquida, Josh Howard-Tripp, Alex Reco and Jose Alonso on courts 2, 3, 4, and 6, respectively. After clinching the win the Hogs dropped the remaining two matches to make it a 4-3 final.

Auburn

Another week, another pair of losses for the Tigers. The Tigers have showed some promise as of late but this weekend was just a bit too much to ask as they had to face Tennessee and Georgia. In Friday’s matchat Tennessee the Tigers dropped the doubles point and five of six first sets and it was too big a hill to climb. Auburn’s sole win in the 6-1 loss came from Matteo De Vincentis at #2 singles as he knocked off Luis Valero 7-6, 7-6. De Vincentis is the clear #1 on this team and maybe they are just holding the freshman back to get him a little more experience before really putting his feet to the fire but he has shown great potential with some solid wins this year. Sunday Auburn headed to Athens to face Georgia and had to be thinking that if they played their best they had an outside shot an upset. The Bulldogs are banged up right now missing a couple starters and have dropped some unexpected matches so maybe this was Auburn’s day? Then again maybe not. Georgia took the doubles point and straight set wins on courts 1-5 before Brandon Laubser gave Auburn their only point in a 10-7 match tiebreak win over Alex Phillips on court 6.

Florida

What an up and down weekend for the Gators. The highs and lows don’t get much higher and lower than this. The Gators went into Winston-Salem and knocked off #1 Wake Forest 4-3 on Friday on an extremely windy day. Doubles proved to be a foreshadowing of the match as the Gators eventually triumphed 7-6 (11-9 in the breaker) on court 2 in a long tiebreak that saw both teams with match points. Florida upped the lead to 2-0 as McClain Kessler posted an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win over Yuval Solomon. Wake evened things up at 2-2 with wins on courts 2 and 4 over Ingildsen and Perez-Blanco. The freshmen duo of Duarte Vale and Oliver Crawford then punched the ticket for the Gators as they won on courts 5 and 3, respectively, and the Gators had the match 4-2. Things were played out on court 1 as Perez dropped a second set tiebreaker and the match to Petros Chrysochos 6-4, 7-6. The win moved the Gators into the virtual #6 position in the rankings and things were looking very good for the Gators. Then came Sunday. Florida, who has been extremely strong in doubles this year, dropped the doubles point to the Gamecocks and found themselves in a hole the entire day. With a 3-2 deficit, Duarte Vale registered a come from behind win 7-5 in the 3^rd to knot the match at 3-3. It all came down to court 6 where McClain Kessler had battled back from a second set deficit to split sets, but he eventually fell 6-3 and Florida fell 4-3 to the Gamecocks.

Georgia

Georgia hosted a pair of matches this weekend but received some bad news during the week that Robert Loeb was going to be unable to go. Add that to the already ailing Walker Duncan and the Bulldogs were without their 5 and 6 singles players as well as key doubles players. The loss of Duncan and Loeb was clearly evident in doubles against Mississippi State Friday in the battle of the Bulldogs as Mississippi State took the point and a 1-0 lead into singles. Mississippi State was cruising on courts 1 and 2 and while it made things look bleak Georgia got things going in the remaining courts in the first set. Court 3 was locked up even and Georgia held a break advantage on courts 4-6. However, the promise vanished almost instantly on all courts as Georgia squandered 5-3, 5-3, and 5-2 leads on courts 4-6. The Bulldogs managed to get the first set on 5 in a tiebreak but lost the remaining five first sets. Mississippi State went on to close the match out with wins on courts 1, 2 and 6 and play was suspended with Georgia taking a 4-0 loss. The Bulldogs needed a break and while there may not be any easy days in the SEC they got about the best thing they could have asked for in a visiting Auburn Tiger team Sunday that had yet to win an SEC match. The Bulldogs got back on track posting a 6-1 victory with the only loss coming in a 10 point match tiebreak on court 6. At this point you have to believe that Georgia is just looking to get healthy for the SEC tournament and subsequent NCAA tournament.

Kentucky

Kentucky entered the weekend 5-2 in the SEC in a solid 4^th place with a home match looming against conference leading Texas A&M. First however they had to deal with LSU Friday. No issues there as the Wildcats posted a 7-0 win to move to 6-2 as they awaited the Aggies on Sunday. The weather in Lexington turned bad on Sunday which meant the match with A&M was going to be moved indoors which had to a good thing for Kentucky. A&M took the doubles point and with only four indoor courts it was setting up to be a long day. In the first four matches on A&M posted a win on court 1 but Kentucky rallied to take courts 2-4 and suddenly the Wildcats had a 3-2 lead with courts 5 and 6 left to be played. Kento Yamada dropped his match on court 5 to even the match at 3-3 and leave it all up to Austin Hussey on court 6. Hussey dropped the first set 7-5 and was down a break the entire set in the second but with Smith trying to serve it out for A&M Hussey broke and leveled the set at 5-5. Unfortunately for Kentucky Smith came right back and took the final two games to post a 7-5, 7-5 win for Texas A&M and give the Aggies a 4-3 win. Kentucky remains locked in a three way tie for 4^th in the conference at 6-3 with Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

LSU

LSU took it on the chin this weekend with a pair of 7-0 losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Even though both matches were sweeps the Tigers did manage to show some fight as three of the six singles matches on each day went 3 sets. Unfortunately for the Tigers they lost all six of the 3 set decisions (two of them in 10 point match tiebreaks). LSU now sits at 1-7 in the SEC, tied for 11^th with Alabama but owns the head to head tiebreaker in trying to avoid the 12^th place spot and a first day match in the SEC tournament.

Mississippi State

The Bulldogs had their biggest SEC road test to date over the weekend and came away shining. Friday they had to travel to Athens to face a Georgia team that nobody on the Mississippi State roster had ever beaten. There was a great crowd at Magill and it was even Manny bobble-head day (yes, I had someone get me one – sweeeeet). Even though Georgia was hurting without their 5 and 6 singles players, Mississippi State took no mercy on the top of their lineup as they posted quick 2&2 and 1&2 wins on the top 2 courts to add to the doubles point for a 3-0 advantage. After that it was a race between Strahinja Rakic and Trevor Foshey on 3 and 6 to see who could clinch first. After trailing 5-2 in the first set Foshey ticked off 11 of the next 12 games and clinched the match 7-5, 6-1 while Rakic was ready to toss the ball for his 2^nd serve on match point when Ponwith walked off the court seeing the match was clinched. Coming off the high of beating Georgia for the first time things didn’t get any easier as the Bulldogs headed to Rocky Top for a battle with #19 Tennesse Sunday. I traveled down to that match and it was well worth the drive as the match was tight right from the start. Tennessee got off to a good start taking the doubles point in a tiebreaker on court 1. Mississippi State garnered five of the six first sets in singles but you knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Sure enough the Vol’s battled back only allowing two of those five matches to be taken by the Bulldogs in straight sets. Leading 2-1, the remaining four matches all went 3 sets and were all tight. Foshey dropped a 6-4 decision in the 3^rd to knot the match at 2 and then Borges got a late break to win his match on 1 and make it 3-2 Bulldogs. Scott Jones had a break advantage on court 5 for Tennessee so it appeared it was all coming down to Oradini vs. Valero on court 2. Oradini broke for 3-2 but Valero broke right back for 3-3 and it was getting very tense. Oradini held for 4-3 and then managed to break and hold to close it out 6-3 in the 3^rd and give the Bulldogs a 4-2 win whichpropelled them all the way up to #7 inthe ITA rankings. Oradini must like something about the courts at Tennessee as he clinched two spectacular matches there in the SEC tournament last year as well over Alex Fennell from South Carolina and Hady Habib from Texas A&M.

Ole Miss

The Rebels got back on track this weekend as Fabian Fallert was back in the lineup and they posted a 4-2 win over Alabama and a couple of non-conference gimme’s over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The match with Alabama was a tight one in Oxford but the Rebels pulled it off with a stellar performance from Grey Hamilton taking a 6-2, 6-2 victory over much heralded freshman Patrick Kaukovalta for Alabama and capped it with a second set come from behind win by Tim Sandkaulen over Mazen Osama. The Rebels continue to try to get healthy as they have missed two of the trio of Hansson, Fallert and Babic for the last several matches. Against Bama it was Hansson and Babic that were out. If the Rebels can get Hansson back and healthy they can be a dangerous team but he has missed so much time at this point that even getting back on the court will be tough without recent match play.

South Carolina

South Carolina had all weekend to prepare for the arrival of the #10 Florida Gators, and it could have been that much more intimidating as they watched the Gators knock off #1 Wake Forest on the road Friday. Evidently that didn’t scare the Gamecocks at all, if anything it may have motivated them even more as they pulled off an improbable 4-3 upset. The reuniting of Harrison O’Keefe and Yancy Dennis at #1 doubles proved to be a catalyst as the Gamecocks took the doubles point over a very good Florida doubles team that sees all three pairings ranked including the #1 team in the nation. South Carolina followed that up with wins on courts 1 and 2 by Gabriel Friedrich and Paul Jubb. Friedrich trailed 5-1 in the 2^nd set and battled back to take it. South Carolina dropped matches at 3, 4 and 5 and left it all up to Wood Benton on 6 who was up a set and 5-3 only to lose the 2^nd set in a breaker. However, not to be discouraged, Benton battled in the 3^rd and took the 6-3 victory followed by a racket toss out of the stadium as the Gamecocks grabbed a top 10 win and moved to 5-4 in the conference.

Tennessee

The Volunteers were careful not to overlook Auburn on Friday in anticipation of conference leading Mississippi State coming to town on Sunday. Tennesee posted a 6-1 win in a match that was never in doubt as the Vol’s took doubles and five singles matches in straight sets with Luis Valero taking a tough 7-6, 7-6 loss at #2 for the only point surrendered. With Auburn out of the way it was time to focus on Mississippi State in a match that was sure to be a battle. The double matches on 2 and 3 were split so it all came down to court 1 where the pair of Luis Valero and Preston Touliatos gave up a late break on match point to eventually send things to a tiebreak, but they were able to emerge victorious and give Tennessee the 1-0 lead heading into singles. Tennessee got off to a bit of a slow start in singles surrendering five of the six first sets but they roared back taking three of those in the second and forcing a third. The Bulldogs grabbed two of those in straight sets for a 2-1 lead but Luca Wiedenamnn posted a 6-4 third set win to even the match at 2-2. Timo Stodder was locked in a battle on 1 with #3 Nuno Borgesinwhen Borges got a late break to take the match 6-4 in the 3^rd. Meanwhile Scott Jones was up a break on 5 and it looked like it was coming down to senior Luis Valero on 2. Valero got broken to go down 3-2 but broke right back for 3-3 and the crowd was going crazy. However, it wasn’t to be as Valero was broken again at 3-4 and was closed out 6-3 when Oradini held clinching a 4-2 victory for Mississippi State and leaving Jones unfinished on 5 leading 5-3. This was one of those matches that could have gone either way on several courts with just a few key points.

Texas A&M

The Aggies had a tough road in front of them as they were at Vanderbilt and Kentucky, two tough places to play. The match at Vanderbilt ended in a 4-3 decision for the Aggies but wasover a little earlier than it might look. It was still a very tightly contested match but after dropping the doubles point the Aggies rallied for four singles wins on courts 4, 5, 1 and 3 to clinch the match 4-1. The two remaining matches were in a 3^rd set already and Rinderknech retired at 0-3 making it 4-2 and Smith dropped a 6-4 3rd to make it 4-3. With one match down A&M headed to Lexington where they saw rain in the forecast and knew that meant a long day indoors at the 4 court Hillary Boone Tennis Center. A&M grabbed the doubles point but proceeded to drop the matches on 2,3, and 4 in the four court facility and found themselves in a 3-2 hole with two matches left.Aguilar and Smith came up big as Aguilar was off first with a 4&2 win to even the match at 3-3 and then Smith took a hard fought 7-5, 7-5 win on court 6 to give the Aggies the 4-3 win. The two wins pushed A&M to 8-0 in conference play and tied with Mississippi State for the top spot with four matches remaining.

Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt welcomed the #6 Texas A&M Aggies to town Friday and quickly snagged the doubles point as their welcoming gift. However, the Commodores dropped the first four singles decisions to finish before rallying for the final two wins in a 4-3 loss. George Harwell and Danny Valent provided the Dores with their singles victories. After a tough grind Friday, Vandy had a chance to try and make things a little easier Sunday as they took on 1-6 LSU. It was senior day in Nashville and the Dores provided a nice gift to the seniors with a 7-0 win. Max Freeman was out of the singles lineup on Sunday so George Harwell slid up to 5 and Alex Ross saw his first SEC action of the season at 6.

Full Results

Friday March 30
Ole Miss def. Alabama 4-2
Tennessee def. Auburn 6-1
Florida def. Wake Forest 4-3
Mississippi State def. Georgia 4-0
Kentucky def. LSU 7-0
Texas A&M def. Vanderbilt 4-3

Saturday March 31
Ole Miss def. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 4-0
Ole Miss def. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 4-0

Sunday April 1
Arkansas def. Alabama 4-3
Arkansas def. Nebraska-Omaha 5-0
Arkansas def. Nebraska-Omaha 4-0
Georgia def. Auburn 6-1
South Carolina def. Florida 4-3
Texas A&M def. Kentucky 4-3
Vanderbilt def. LSU 7-0
Mississippi State def. Tennessee 4-2

Women

Alabama

The Tide dropped a pair of matches to Georgia and Tennessee moving them to 0-9 in SEC play. The match with Georgia Thursday was a quick one as Alabama dropped doubles and three singles matches in which they failed to get more than three games in any set. The lone bright spot for the Tide was at #2 singles where Smith Hinton had a 7-6, 2-1 lead over Kennedy Shaffer when play was suspended. Things weremuch different in Knoxville on Saturday as the Crimson Tide actually held a 2-1 lead after picking up singles wins from Andie Daniell and Smith Hinton in the top two spots after dropping the doubles point. Tennessee countered with a pair of 7-5 second sets on 3 and 4 to close those matches out and regain a 3-2 lead while the matches on court 5 and 6 both went to a third set. Tennessee managed to clinch on court 6 with a 6-3 victory in the third set and send Bama to its 9^th consecutive SEC loss.

Arkansas

For a team entering the weekend at 1-6, a pair of road matches at #12 Florida and #6 South Carolina was not something Arkansas had to be very excited about. The Hogs played in Gainesville on Thursday and came up on the short end of a 4-1 loss after taking the doubles point. Singles got off to a rough start as the Hogs dropped courts 5 and 6 only managing 3 games total. Courts 1 and 4 followed in straight set losses to clinch the match. Things didn’t get any easier Saturday as Arkansas would lose the doubles point and three quick singles matches on courts 3, 4 and 6 to end things.

Auburn

Auburn entered the weekend ranked 15^th but only 4-3 in the SEC and was looking to justify that ranking as they traveled to previously SEC winless Tennessee and then a showdown with #8 Georgia. Unfortunately for the Tigers they fell victim to Tennessee’s first conference win on Thursday 4-2. Auburn managed to get a pair of singles wins from Jaeda Daniel and Taylor Russo and squared the match at 2-2 but that would be all they would get as Tennessee closed it out. With that match behind them Auburn had to move on to Athens for a showdown with #8 Georgia on Saturday. The showdown turned out to be a letdown as Georgia cruised to a 4-1 victory taking the doubles point and courts 4, 5 and 6 where Auburn managed a total of 12 games. The lone point for Auburn again came at the hands of the hot Jaeda Daniel who downed #45 Kennedy Shaffer 6-0, 6-4.

Florida

Florida had a busy three match weekend in front of them culminating in a big match on Tennis Channel at the USTA National Campus against #7 Texas on Sunday. First things first though the Gators had to get by Arkansas and Missouri. Thursday the Gators dispatchedthe Razorbacks 4-1 in quick fashion after dropping the doubles point for the first time in four matches. Anna Danilina, McCartney Kessler, Peggy Porter and Katie Kubicz provided the singles wins for the Gators. From there it was a matchup against the 0-8 Missouri Tigers Saturday that went pretty much as you would expect. Florida in a romp 4-0 as the Gators gave up a mere 6 games in the three singles matches. That set the stage for the big match against Texas on Tennis Channel at the USTA National Campus. Unfortunately for the Gators it just wasn’t their day as the Longhorns made quick work of them taking all six first sets en route to a 4-0 win with straight set singles wins over the Gators on courts 1, 3, 4 and 6. Due to the allotted air time for Tennis Channel the match started with singles so doubles was not contested.

Georgia

Georgia started play Thursday with a pretty routine 4-0 win over Alabama, but it wasn’t so much the girls that got the press on this day, it was head coach Jeff Wallace. Wallace notched his 707^th career win surpassing the legendary Dan Magill, his former head coach, who had 706 wins. Not ready to stop just yet, Wallace led his Lady Bulldogs into a home battle against #15 Auburn on Saturday and notched his 708^th career win with a 4-1 victory. Mariana Gould was first off in singles improving her dual match record to 10-1 this year. While Auburn cut the lead to 2-1, Georgia closed things out with wins from Christofi and Coppoc.

Kentucky

The Wildcats had only one match this weekend, and it was a tough one, at #2 Vanderbilt on Saturday. Vandy took the doubles point but Kentucky struck right back with a 6-2, 6-2 win from Lesedi Jacobs on court 5. While Kentucky was putting up a fight on courts 3 and 4 that eventuallywent three sets, they just couldn’t find another match to keep it alive and Vanderbilt closed things out with straight set wins on courts 1, 2 and 6.

LSU

LSU hosted the Mississippi schools this weekend and had to be thinking that a split would be a good result against the #10 Rebels and the #25 Bulldogs. If that is indeed what the Tigers were thinking then they emerged pleased as they lost a tough battle to Ole Miss 4-2 but turned around and beat Mississippi State 4-2. Against #10 Ole Miss the Tigers dropped the doubles point but after Ole Miss got a win on court 6, LSU got two of their own from Jessica Golovin and Kennan Johnson to tie the match at 2-2. However Ole Miss proved to be too much as they notched straight set wins on courts 5 and 1 to clinch the match 4-2. Sunday was a different story though as the Tigers were able to come back after dropping the doubles point and get singles wins from Ryann Foster, Eden Richardson, Jessica Golovin and Luba Vasilyuk. Kennan Johnson was up 5-2 in the 3rd when play was suspended.

Mississippi State

While Mississippi State has one huge win over Vanderbilt on their record, they are lacking in quantity which is becoming increasingly more important as the season progresses and the number of counted wins increases. This weekend was a chance for the Bulldogs to face two other mid level SEC teams that would be quality wins they so dearly need. However, things just didn’t go the way of the Bulldog’s this weekend as they dropped a 4-1 decision at Texas A&M and a 4-2 decision at LSU. The pair of losses ended a 5 match winning streak for Mississippi State, one in which Anastasia Rentouli had clinched each match with a a three set victory.

Missouri

The Tigers remained winless in the SEC as they were shutout by both #6 South Carolina and #12 Florida this weekend. I can only imagine that the Tigers must be wondering when they get to play Alabama and maybe give themselves a shot to win against the other team that has yet to win an SEC match.

Ole Miss

The #10 Rebels finally posted a pair of SEC wins in a weekend to move away from the .500 mark and get to 6-4 in the conference. While their in-state counterpart was unable to beat LSU or Texas A&M this weekend, the Rebels handled their business with 4-2 decisions over both schools. Arianne Hartono and Tereza Janatova both went 2-0 in singles on the weekend at #1 and #6, respectively.

South Carolina

The Gamecocks just keep rolling as they scored 4-0 wins over Missouri and Arkansas to push their conference record to 10-0. Their opponents this weekend had only managed one SEC win between them so the pair of shutouts was pretty much to be expected. The wins made it 13 in a row for South Carolina who did not drop a single set in either match.

Tennessee

The Vols finally got off the schneid and posted a victory with a 4-2 upset at home over #15 Auburn. The doubles point came down to a tiebreak on court 1 where Ariadna Riley and Kaitlin Staines scored a 7-6(6) victory to give Tennessee the point. Sadie Hammond gave Tennessee a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-4 victory on court 1 but Auburn answered with wins on courts 2 and 5 to knot the match at 2-2. From there however it was all Tennessee as Kaitlin Staines and Johanna Silva provided the final 2 points and clinched the 4-2 victory. Not ready to settle for just one win, the Volunteers took on Alabama Saturday and registered another 4-2 win for a very successful two-win weekend.

Texas A&M

The Aggies played host to the Mississippi schools this weekend posting a 4-1 win over #25 Mississippi State anddropping a 4-2 decision to #10 Ole Miss. The split moved A&M to 5-4 in the conference, one loss ahead of four schools that all have five losses. It’s a six team log jam for 5^th through 10^th right now so every win counts. With the win on Friday over Mississippi State coach Mark Weaver recorded his 50^th win in his 3rd season. The victory had been A&M’s 5^th straight which was subsequently a streak that ended at the hands of Ole Miss. Sunday was Senior Day in College Station but it just wasn’t quite enough for the Aggies. A&M got the doubles point and a win from Macarena Olivares but that was all they could manage.

Vanderbilt

The Commodores had only to prepare for a home match against Kentucky this weekend and the preparation was obviously good. Vandy charged out of the gate with the doubles point but then surrendered a point on court 5 to make it 1-1. However, that was as close as the Dores were going to let the Wildcats get as they posted straight set wins on courts 1, 2 and 6 and pushed their conference record to 8-1.

Full Results

Thursday March 29
Georgia def. Alabama 4-0
Florida def. Arkansas 4-1
Tennessee def. Auburn 4-2
South Carolina def. Missouri 4-0

Friday March 30
Ole Miss def. LSU 4-2
Texas A&M def. Mississippi State 4-1

Saturday March 31
Tennessee def. Alabama 4-2
South Carolina def. Arkansas 4-0
Georgia def. Auburn 4-1
Florida def. Missouri 4-0
Vanderbilt def. Kentucky 4-1
Tennessee def. Western Kentucky 4-0

Sunday April 1
Texas def. Florida 4-0
LSU def. Mississippi State 4-2
Ole Miss def. Texas A&M 4-2