Tagged with: NCAA Tournament, Super Regional Previews

A new era begins this weekend with the introduction of the Super Regionals which will take place on campus sites across the country. Up until this point all Round of 16 matches have taken place at the finals site but a change was announced back in January 2017 with “part of the rationale for the change being to provide teams with another opportunity to generate local support and highlight their programs in a championship-caliber competition.” The other main reason was to reduce the congested schedule, which always is made worse by rain, plus the new format allows for the semifinals and finals to be played on Saturday/Sunday as opposed to Monday/Tuesday.

Three of the eight Super Regionals will match teams that have already played this season with Florida and Tennessee set to meet for a third time while Virginia/Stanford and Mississippi State/TCU will meet for a second time.

There will be no first-time meetings however Columbia, Stanford and North Carolina will try to defeat Ohio State, Virginia and USC for the first-time in program history.

The biggest underdog in terms of UTR Power 6s are California (-3.1) and Tennessee (-2.56) while the teams with the lowest expected winning percentage according to Slam.Tennis are Cal and Oklahoma which are both projected to have just a 6% chance of winning.

The three matches expected to the closest according to UTR-P6 and Slam EWP are Mississippi State/TCU, USC/UNC, and Baylor/UCLA which makes sense due to the closeness of seeding.

Every team that goes on the road will be making the trip by plane with the shortest travel distance 530 miles while the longest is 2800 miles. Down below I have the distances which show Stanford, UNC, Cal, and UCLA will be traveling over 1000 miles with Stanford just short of 3000 miles.

The coldest host site will be Columbus (OH) with temps expected to be in the low 60s while the hottest will be in Gainesville (FL) with match-time temps expected to be right at 90 degrees. As of today there is a greater than 50% chance of rain on matchday at Texas, Mississippi State, and Baylor with Mississippi State the only site that doesn’t have an indoor option in town (Tuscaloosa 85 miles away the closest).

Travel Distance:

Stanford to Virginia – 2800 miles

North Carolina to USC – 2500 miles

Cal to Texas – 1750 miles

UCLA to Baylor – 1400 miles

Oklahoma to Wake Forest – 1100 miles

TCU to Mississippi State – 550 miles

Tennessee to Florida – 530 miles

Columbia to Ohio State – 530 miles

Weather Forecast:

Stanford at Virginia – 70 degrees – 15% chance of rain

North Carolina at USC – 70 degrees

Cal at Texas – 75 degrees – 90% chance of rain

UCLA at Baylor – 70 degrees – 60% chance of rain

Oklahoma at Wake Forest – 80 degrees – 10 % chance of rain

TCU at Mississippi State – 73 degrees – 80% chance of rain

Tennessee at Florida – 91 degrees

Columbia at Ohio State – 64 degrees

UTR-Power 6 Variance:

Cal at Texas: UT +3.10

Tennessee at Florida: UF +2.56

Oklahoma at Wake Forest: WF +1.81

Columbia at Ohio State: OSU +1.30

Stanford at Virginia: UVA +0.96

TCU at Mississippi State: TCU +0.60

North Carolina at USC: UNC +0.32

UCLA at Baylor: BU +0.53

Slam.Tennis Expected Winning Percentage (EWP):

Cal at Texas: UT 94%

Oklahoma at Wake Forest: WF 94%

Columbia at Ohio State: OSU 88%

Tennessee at Florida: UF 87%

Stanford at Virginia: UVA 80%

UCLA at Baylor: BU 71%

North Carolina at USC: USC 56%

TCU at Mississippi State: MSU 55%

#16 Columbia at #1 Ohio State (Saturday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#1 Ohio State def. #86 Cleveland State 4-0; def. #35 Vanderbilt 4-0

#16 Columbia def. #125 Bryant 4-0; def. #34 Penn State 4-0

All-Time Series: Ohio State 1-0

Most Recent Meeting: 2007 – Ohio State 4-0 (NCAA First Round)

Home/Road Records:

Ohio State 18-0 at home

Columbia 4-2 on road

Notes:

Jackie Tang is listed at No. 3 singles on Columbia’s submitted lineup however he last played on March 3rd – in the first two rounds Adam Ambrozy, Rian Pandole, and Tim Wang moved up a spot with Austen Huang playing at No. 6.

Columbia has never advanced past the NCAA Round of 16 losing to the eventual national champ in each of its past three appearances – lost to USC 5-0 in 2014, lost to Virginia 4-0 in 2015, and lost to Wake Forest 4-1 in 2018. Also lost to the eventual national champ Virginia 4-0 in the 2017 NCAA Second Round.

Ohio State has only dropped the doubles point twice this year going 1-1 in those two matches – lost to Texas 4-1; def. Michigan 4-2

Ohio State’s John McNally and Hunter Tubert are a perfect 20-0 in dual-match doubles play

Ohio State’s JJ Wolf has only dropped five sets in dual-match play while going 25-1 at the top spot

Ohio State’s John McNally has won 13 of his last 14 completed matches

Ohio State’s Kyle Seelig has won his last 12 completed matches (last loss on March 14 vs. Texas’s Yuya Ito)

Ohio Sate’s Martin Joyce has won 7 straight matches (6 in straight sets)

Ohio State’s Alex Kobelt has won his last 9 completed matches and is 20-1 on the season

Columbia’s Victor Pham has won his last 8 completed matches

Columbia’s Jack Lin and Adam Ambrozy have won their last 5 completed matches

Columbia’s Tim Wang has won 9 of his last 10 matches (8 in straight sets)

Columbia’s Austen Huang has won 7 of his last 8 completed matches

If table below is blocked by the page border click here to view separately

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Saturday, 1 p.m. ET @ Ohio State
1	1	Ohio State	31-2	31-2		82.24
16	16	Columbia	19-3	16-6		80.94
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	23	Martin Joyce JJ Wolf	Ohio State		15	4	vs.	30	Jack Lin Will Matheson	Columbia		6	5
2	51	Alex Kobelt Kyle Seelig	Ohio State		15	1			Vic Pham Rian Pandole	Columbia		18	2
3		John McNally Hunter Tubert	Ohio State		20	0			Jason Lui Adam Ambrozy	Columbia		3	2
Projected Singles Lineup
1	2	JJ Wolf	Ohio State	14.75	25	1		37	Victor Pham	Columbia	14.12	16	3
2	26	John McNally	Ohio State	13.64	19	3		22	Jack Lin	Columbia	13.77	11	6
3	60	Kyle Seelig	Ohio State	13.57	17	5		107	Adam Ambrozy	Columbia	13.20	8	4
4	111	Martin Joyce	Ohio State	13.43	21	6		117	Rian Pandole	Columbia	13.24	7	1
5		Alex Kobelt	Ohio State	13.53	20	1			Tim Wang	Columbia	13.32	15	4
6		Hunter Tubert	Ohio State	13.32	17	5			Austen Huang	Columbia	13.29	15	2
Bench Players
7		Tim Seibert	Ohio State		1	1			Alex Keyser	Columbia	12.99	4	0
8		James Trotter	Ohio State		5	1		125	Jackie Tang (list at 3)	Columbia	13.29	5	1

Prediction & Thoughts: Ohio State 4-1 – Columbia has the talent to hang with Ohio State but it’ll be tough to overcome an expected 2-0 deficit from dropping the doubles point and No. 1 singles.

#9 North Carolina at #8 USC (Saturday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#8 USC def. #84 Northern Arizona 4-0; def. #31 San Diego 4-0

#9 North Carolina def. #121 Navy 4-0; def. #18 Georgia 4-0

All-Time Series: USC 6-0

Most Recent Meeting: 2018 – USC 4-2 (NCAA Round of 16)

Home/Road Records:

USC 11-2 at home

UNC 4-4 on road

Notes:

USC has won 9 straight matches matches

Logan Smith is listed at No. 4 singles in USC’s submitted lineup however he hasn’t played the last four matches

USC’s Brandon Holt has won 10 straight matches with his last loss coming back on March 9th.

USC’s Laurens Verboven is 7-1 in his last 8 completed matches

USC’s Daniel Cukierman has won 5 straight matches

USC’s Riley Smith has only finished 2 of his last 8 matches (5 of the unfinished matches were in a third set)

USC’s Jake Sands has won 6 straight matches – all in straight sets

UNC’s Ben Sigouin has won 5 of his last 6 completed matches (was leading in his last three unfinished matches)

UNC’s Josh Peck has won 7 of his last 9 completed matches

UNC’s Brian Cernoch has won 6 of his last 7 completed matches

UNC’s Bo Boyden has won 8 straight matches

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Saturday, 5 p.m. ET @ USC
8	8	USC	22-7	21-8		82.16
10	9	North Carolina	20-6	20-5		82.48
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	10	Brandon Holt Riley Smith	USC		12	4	vs.	13	William Blumberg Bo Boyden	North Carolina		17	3
2		Jack Jaede Laurens Verboven	USC		11	6		90	Brian Cernoch Benjamin Sigouin	North Carolina		8	6
3		Daniel Cukierman Tanner Smith	USC		11	4			Mac Kiger Simon Soendergaard	North Carolina		17	2
Projected Singles Lineup
1	6	Brandon Holt	USC	14.42	16	3	vs.	19	WIlliam Blumberg	UNC	14.39	7	5
2	24	Daniel Cukierman	USC	13.98	17	5		39	Benjamin Sigouin	UNC	14.15	13	5
3	40	Laurens Verboven	USC	13.72	9	4		110	Josh Peck	UNC	13.46	13	7
4		Riley Smith	USC	13.31	9	8		116	Brian Cernoch	UNC	13.58	14	6
5		Jake Sands	USC	13.36	14	5			Bo Boyden	UNC	13.47	20	3
6		Mor Bulis	USC	13.37	8	6			Simon Soendergaard	UNC	13.43	8	3
Bench Players
7	57	Tanner Smith	USC	13.34	6	1			Mac Kiger	UNC	13.14	9	4
8	84	Logan Smith (list at 4)	USC	13.37	3	3			Ladd Harrison	UNC	11.69	1	1

Prediction & Thoughts: USC 4-3 – home court advantage will be big for the Trojans with so many of these matches expected to be decided by a few deuce points here and there. If this match were on a neutral court I probably go the other way and take UNC. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Mac Kiger plays at No. 6 singles after the beating Soendergaard took against Georgia freshman Blake Croyder.

Oklahoma at #4 Wake Forest (Friday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#3 Wake Forest def. #132 Morgan State 5-0; def. #36 Kentucky 4-1

#21 Oklahoma def. Arizona 4-0; def. #13 Texas A&M 4-3

All-Time Series: Oklahoma 5-3

Most Recent Meeting: 2017 – Wake Forest 7-0

Home/Road Records:

Wake Forest 18-0 at home

Oklahoma 2-5 on road

Notes:

Wake Forest has won 16 straight matches

Wake’s Borna Gojo has won his last 10 completed matches (last loss Feb 17 to Ohio State’s JJ Wolf)

Wake’s Petros Chrysochos has won his last 9 completed matches

Wake’s Bar Botzer has won his last 9 completed matches

Wake’s Melios Efstathiou has won 12 of his last 13 completed matches

OU’s Spencer Papa has lost his last 4 completed matches

OU’s Alex Bakshi has won 4 of his last 5 completed matches

OU’s Jochen Bertsch is listed at #7 singles but he started OU’s last two matches winning both in straight sets

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Friday, 4 p.m. ET @ Wake
3	4	Wake Forest	31-3	24-10		82.16
21		Oklahoma	16-10	14-12		80.35
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	63	Borna Gojo Alan Gadjiev	Wake Forest		10	8	vs.	25	Alex Bakshi Stefano Tsorotiotis	Oklahoma		7	3
2	55	Petros Chrysochos Bar Botzer	Wake Forest		16	5			Jake Van Emburgh Ferran Calvo	Oklahoma		5	2
3		Melios Efstathiou Sid Banthia	Wake Forest		12	8			Spencer Papa Max Stewart	Oklahoma		3	2
Projected Singles Lineup
1	11	Borna Gojo	Wake Forest	14.45	11	3	vs.	32	Spencer Papa	Oklahoma	13.70	8	8
2	8	Petros Chrysochos	Wake Forest	14.47	21	2		41	Alex Bakshi	Oklahoma	13.58	11	6
3	50	Bar Botzer	Wake Forest	13.72	23	2		77	Jake Van Emburgh	Oklahoma	13.58	13	7
4		Rrezart Cungu	Wake Forest	13.00	16	8			Ferran Calvo	Oklahoma	13.34	12	6
5		Melios Efstathiou	Wake Forest	13.40	20	7			Mason Beiler	Oklahoma	13.39	15	5
6		Sid Banthia	Wake Forest	13.12	20	7			Jochen Bertsch	Oklahoma	12.76	10	6
Bench Players
7		Yuval Solomon	Wake Forest	12.79	7	5			Stefano Tsorotiotis	Oklahoma	12.90	8	3
8		Julian Zlobinsky	Wake Forest	12.93	12	3			Max Stewart	Oklahoma	12.89	7	3

Prediction & Thoughts: Wake Forest 4-0 – OU has to get the doubles point to have a reasonable shot because they’ll be big underdogs at 1, 2, and 3 singles

#12 Stanford at #5 Virginia (Saturday)

Road to the Super Regionals:

#5 Virginia def. #107 St. John’s 4-0; def. #17 South Carolina 4-1

#12 Stanford def. #70 Fresno State 4-0; def. #51 UCSB 4-0

All-Time Series: Virginia 5-0

Most Recent Meeting: 2019 – Virginia 4-2 (National Team Indoors Round of 16)

Home/Road Records:

Virginia 10-0 at home

Stanford 4-2 on road

Notes:

Virginia has won 11 of its last 12 matches

Virginia’s Carl Soderlund has won 9 of his last 10 completed matches

Virginia’s Brandon Nakashima has won 8 of his last 9 completed matches

Virginia’s Gianni Ross has won 6 of his last 7 completed matches

Virginia’s Ryan Goetz has lost 4 of his last 6 matches since returning from a two-month absence due to injury

Virginia’s Aswin Lizen has won 5 of his last 6 completed matches

Stanford’s William Genesen has won his last 4 completed matches

Stanford’s Sameer Kumar and Timothy Sah has split their last four singles matches

Stanford’s Alexandre Rotsaert did not play in the last two matches (status for this one is unknown)

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Saturday, 1 p.m. ET @ UVA
5	5	Virginia	23-4	17-10		81.37
12	12	Stanford	19-6	16-9		80.41
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	33	Henrik Wiersholm Brandon Nakashima	Virginia		17	3	vs.	21	Axel Geller Alexandre Rotsaert	Stanford		10	5
2		Carl Soderlund Aswin Lizen	Virginia		1	0			Sameer Kumar Timothy Sah	Stanford		13	8
3		Gianni Ross William Woodall	Virginia		2	0			Jack Barber Sangeet Sridhar	Stanford		2	0
Projected Singles Lineup
1	3	Carl Soderlund	Virginia	14.46	19	4	vs.	13	Axel Geller	Stanford	14.08	10	6
2	82	Brandon Nakashima	Virginia	13.96	16	5		63	Alexandre Rotsaert	Stanford	13.65	12	7
3	114	Henrik Wiersholm	Virginia	13.55	15	4		91	William Genesen	Stanford	13.51	11	3
4		Gianni Ross	Virginia	13.19	14	6			Sameer Kumar	Stanford	13.27	12	4
5		Ryan Goetz	Virginia	13.26	8	7			Timothy Sah	Stanford	13.16	13	7
6		Aswin Lizen	Virginia	12.95	13	7			Sangeet Sridhar	Stanford	12.74	9	3
Bench Players
7		Matt Lord	Virginia	12.28	3	5			Michael Genender	Stanford	13.11	7	4
8		William Woodall	Virginia	12.20	2	2			Jack Barber	Stanford	12.74	3	1

Regular Season Meeting:

#13 Virginia 4, #10 Stanford 2
Feb 15, 2019 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)
Doubles Competition
1) Axel Geller/Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) d. Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (UVA) 6-1
2) Sameer Kumar/Timothy Sah (STAN) d. Henrik Wiersholm/Brandon Nakashima 6-4
3) Jack Barber/William Genesen (STAN) led Gianni Ross/Ryan Goetz (UVA) 5-4, unfinished
Order of Finish: 1,2
Singles Competition
1) No. 119 Carl Soderlund (UVA) d. No. 10 Axel Geller (STAN) 6-4, 7-5
2) No. 61 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) vs. Henrik Wiersholm (UVA) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0, unfinished
3) Brandon Nakashima (UVA) d. No. 33 William Genesen (STAN) 6-1, 6-2
4) No. 43 Sameer Kumar (STAN) d. No. 68 Gianni Ross (UVA) 6-2, 6-4
5) No. 72 Ryan Goetz (UVA) d. Michael Genender (STAN) 6-4, 6-0
6) Aswin Lizen (UVA) d. Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) 6-1, 6-4
Order of Finish: 3,6,5,4,1

Prediction & Thoughts: Virginia 4-1 – Stanford just hasn’t been consistent enough down the stretch with too many close matches against teams that shouldn’t have been able to keep it that close.

#14 Tennessee at #3 Florida (Saturday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#3 Florida def. #95 Florida Gulf Coast 4-0; def. #28 Florida State 4-0

#14 Tennessee def. #103 Radford 4-0; def. #19 NC State 4-2

All-Time Series: Florida 35-26 (via UT)/Florida 43-29 (via UF)

Most Recent Meeting: 2019 – Tennessee 4-3 (SEC Tournament Semifinals)

Home/Road Records:

Florida 13-1 at home (1 loss to TN)

Tennessee 7-2 on road

Notes:

Florida’s Oliver Crawford has won 8 of his last 9 completed matches

Florida’s Sam Riffice has won 13 of his last 15 matches (though lost 2 of last 3)

Florida’s Johannes Ingildsen has won 9 of his last 11 completed matches (though split his last 4)

Florida’ Alfredo Perez has won his last 8 completed matches

Florida’s Andy Andrade has won 5 of his last 6 completed matches

Florida’s Duarte Vale has won his last 12 completed matches

Florida’s McClain Kessler has won his last 7 matches

Tennessee’s Timo Stodder has won 10 of his last 12 matches (though split his last 4)

Tennessee’s Adam Walton has won 10 of his last 11 completed matches

Tennessee’s Scott Jones has won 9 of his last 11 completed matches (though lost last 2)

Tennessee’s Luca Wiedenmann has won 7 of his last 8 completed matches (though lost last match)

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Saturday, 12 p.m. ET @ Florida
4	3	Florida	23-3	18-8		82.91
14	14	Tennessee	22-7	16-12		80.35
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1		Johannes Ingildsen McClain Kessler	Florida		4	3	vs.	6	Preston Touliatos Timo Stodder	Tennessee		15	4
2		Alfredo Perez Sam Riffice	Florida		2	0			Patrick Harper Scott Jones	Tennessee		2	3
3		Andy Andrade Duarte Vale	Florida		3	0			Adam Walton Andrew Rogers	Tennessee		2	0
Projected Singles Lineup
1	9	Oliver Crawford	Florida	14.28	15	8	vs.	23	Timo Stodder	Tenn	14.08	16	8
2	54	Sam Riffice	Florida	14.08	18	5		51	Adam Walton	Tenn	13.97	19	3
3	113	Johannes Ingildsen	Florida	13.63	18	5			Scott Jones	Tenn	13.61	18	8
4		Alfredo Perez	Florida	13.73	8	1			Luca Wiedenmann	Tenn	13.32	15	5
5	59	Andy Andrade	Florida	13.65	16	7			Preston Touliatos	Tenn	13.05	12	10
6	90	Duarte Vale	Florida	13.54	14	1			Andrew Rogers	Tenn	12.32	6	1
Bench Players
7		Lukas Greif	Florida	13.49	11	1			Martim Prata	Tenn	12.69	8	8
8		McClain Kessler	Florida	13.42	8	1			Patrick Harper	Tenn	12.75	4	3

Regular Season Meetings:

#8 Florida 5, #22 Tennessee 2
Mar 17, 2019 at Knoxville, TN
Singles competition
1. #24 Oliver Crawford (UF) def. #59 Timo Stodder (UT) 6-2, 7-5
2. #93 Adam Walton (UT) def. #54 Andres Andrade (UF) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0
3. #48 Sam Riffice (UF) def. Scott Jones (UT) 6-3, 6-4
4. #79 Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. Preston Touliatos (UT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
5. Lukas Greif (UF) def. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
6. Duarte Vale (UF) def. Martim Prata (UT) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #36 Timo Stodder/Preston Touliatos (UT) def. #73 Duarte Vale/McClain Kessler (UF) 6-3
2. Martim Prata/Adam Walton (UT) vs. Johannes Ingildsen/Alfredo Perez (UF) 5-4, unfinished
3. Scott Jones/Pat Harper (UT) def. Oliver Crawford/Sam Riffice (UF) 6-4
Match Notes:
Florida 12-2; National ranking #8
Tennessee 11-5; National ranking #22
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,3,2,1,5,4)

#13 Tennessee 4, #3 Florida 3
4/20/2019 at Gainesville, Fla. (Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. #11 Oliver Crawford (UF) def. #28 Timo Stodder (UT) 6-4, 6-2
2. #71 Adam Walton (UT) def. #52 Sam Riffice (UF) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
3. Scott Jones (UT) def. #91 Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 6-4, 6-2
4. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) def. #50 Andres Andrade (UF) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
5. Alfredo Perez (UF) def. Martim Prata (UT) 6-2, 6-2
6. #94 Duarte Vale (UF) def. Preston Touliatos (UT) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. #10 Timo Stodder/Preston Touliatos (UT) def. Oliver Crawford/Alfredo Perez (UF) 6-1
2. Pat Harper/Andrew Rogers (UT) def. McClain Kessler/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 6-3
3. Duarte Vale/Andres Andrade (UF) vs. Scott Jones/Adam Walton (UT) 5-2, unfinished
Match Notes:
Tennessee 20-7; National ranking #13
Florida 21-3; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (5,6,1,3,4,2)

Prediction & Thoughts: Florida 4-2 – Tennessee’s upset over Florida in the SEC Semifinals was a big surprise but I don’t think the Gators will get caught again. Having Alfredo Perez at 4 and Andy Andrade at 5 will give Florida a much better chance to sweep those spots as opposed to if they were reversed.

#11 UCLA at #6 Baylor (Friday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#6 Baylor def. #42 Utah 4-0; def. #20 Michigan 4-1

#11 UCLA def. #106 Grand Canyon 4-0; def. #25 Oklahoma State 4-0

All-Time Series: Baylor 9-6

Most Recent Meeting: 2017 – UCLA 4-0

Home/Road Records:

Baylor 15-0 at home

UCLA 3-1 on road

Notes:

Baylor’s Johannes Schretter has won 5 of his last 6 completed matches

BU’s Matias Soto has won his last 4 completed matches (only lost once this year at No. 2 singles)

BU’s Adrian Boitan has won 7 of his last 8 matches (6 in straight sets)

BU’s Will Little has won 6 of his last 7 completed matches

BU’s Sven Lah has won 5 straight and 13 of his last 15 completed matches

BU’s Jimmy Bendeck has won 7 of his last 8 completed matches

UCLA has 15 of its last 16 matches (only loss was to Cal in Pac-12 Tournament)

UCLA’s Maxime Cressy has won his last 6 completed matches (all in straight sets)

UCLA’s Keegan Smith has won his last 12 completed matches (11 in straight sets)

UCLA’s Govind Nanda has won 6 of his last 7 completed matches

UCLA’s Ben Goldberg has lost 4 of his last 6 completed matches

UCLA went 47-12 in dual-match play at 1, 2, and 3 singles but just 23-24 at 4, 5, and 6 singles

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Friday, 7 p.m. ET @ Baylor
6	6	Baylor	24-5	21-8		81.40
11	11	UCLA	19-5	17-7		80.87
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	1	Jimmy Bendeck Sven Lah	Baylor		15	4	vs.	2	Maxime Cressy Keegan Smith	UCLA		16	0
2		Matias Soto Will Little	Baylor		7	3			Govind Nanda Connor Rapp	UCLA		6	6
3		Johannes Schretter Constantin Frantzen	Baylor		9	2			Bryce Pereira Patrick Zahraj	UCLA		12	8
Projected Singles Lineup
1	20	Johannes Schretter	Baylor	13.73	11	7	vs.	18	Maxime Cressy	UCLA	14.54	14	3
2	25	Matias Soto	Baylor	13.85	18	4		36	Keegan Smith	UCLA	13.97	15	2
3	112	Adrian Boitan	Baylor	13.81	15	4		68	Govind Nanda	UCLA	13.77	17	4
4	78	Will Little	Baylor	13.47	15	3			Patrick Zahraj	UCLA	13.15	6	6
5	76	Sven Lah	Baylor	13.48	21	3			Ben Goldberg	UCLA	12.78	9	9
6		Jimmy Bendeck	Baylor	13.06	13	4			Eric Hahn	UCLA	12.66	4	3
Bench Players
7		Kyrylo Tsygura	Baylor	13.42	5	1			Mathew Tsolakyan	UCLA	12.78	4	8
8		Constantin Frantzen	Baylor	12.82	7	1			Roscoe Bellamy	UCLA	12.20	0	0

Prediction & Thoughts: Baylor 4-3 – UCLA’s strength is the top of its lineup and to win this match they probably need to sweep those spots plus either win doubles or pick up a win in the bottom three. I think Baylor gets at least one of the top three and probably at least two if not all three of the bottom three.

#24 California at #2 Texas (Saturday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#2 Texas def. #148 Tennessee Tech 4-0; def. #37 South Florida 4-1

#24 California def. #64 Drake 4-1; def. #15 Illinois 4-1

All-Time Series: Texas 11-5

Most Recent Meeting: 2018 – Texas 4-0 (NCAA Second Round)

Home/Road Records:

Texas 15-1 at home

California 4-3 on road

Notes:

Texas’s Christian Sigsgaard has won 6 of his last 7 completed matches

Texas’s Yuya Ito has split his last 4 matches after winning 22 of the prior 23

Texas’s Leo Telles has lost his last 3 completed matches

Texas’s Harrison Scott has won his last 5 completed matches and 7 of his last 8

Texas’s Colin Markes has won 7 of his last 8 matches

Texas’s Rodrigo Banzer has won 6 of his last 7 completed matches

Cal’s Bjorn Hoffmann has won his last 10 completed matches

Cal’s Jack Molloy has won 3 of his last 4 completed matches

Cal’s Ben Draper has lost 2 of his last 3 completed matches after winning the previous 13

Cal’s Paul Barretto has lost 4 of his last 5 completed matches

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Saturday, 2 p.m. ET @ Texas
2	2	Texas	25-3	19-7		82.38
24		California	16-12	20-8		79.28
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	5	Harrison Scott Christian Sigsgaard	Texas		12	6	vs.	28	Yuta Kikuchi Jacob Brumm	Cal		8	11
2		Colin Markes Leonardo Telles	Texas		13	9			Paul Barretto Can Kaya	Cal		16	5
3		Chih Chi Huang Yuya Ito	Texas		14	5			Jack Molloy Ben Draper	Cal		5	1
Projected Singles Lineup
1	7	Christian Sigsgaard	Texas	14.11	15	7	vs.		Yuta Kikuchi	Cal	13.47	9	9
2	12	Yuya Ito	Texas	14.30	24	3			Jack Molloy	Cal	13.42	10	10
3	80	Leonardo Telles	Texas	13.42	13	5			Paul Barretto	Cal	13.36	8	11
4	55	Harrison Scott	Texas	13.61	17	5			Ben Draper	Cal	12.88	15	5
5		Colin Markes	Texas	13.63	18	3			Jacob Brumm	Cal	13.00	4	8
6		Rodrigo Banzer	Texas	13.31	11	3			Bjorn Hoffmann	Cal	13.15	20	5
Bench Players
7		Chih Chi Huang	Texas	13.18	11	5			Mert Zincirli	Cal	11.92	1	4
8		Johnny Goodwin	Texas	12.32	1	1			Dominic Barretto	Cal	12.63	4	2

Prediction & Thoughts: Texas 4-0 – Horns are just too good top to bottom to get picked off in this one. Cal’s Yuta Kikuchi retired in his last match against Illinois (one game from defeat) so you wonder if he’ll be 100%.

#10 TCU at #7 Mississippi State (Saturday)

Road to the Super Regionals

#7 Mississippi State def. #140 Alabama State 4-0; def #62 South Alabama 4-0

#10 TCU def. #41 Harvard 4-1; def. #27 Arizona State 4-1

All-Time Series: Tied 3-3

Most Recent Meeting: 2019 – TCU 4-1 (National Team Indoors Round of 16)

Home/Road Records:

Mississippi State 12-0 at home

TCU 5-2 on road

Notes:

Mississippi State has won 13 straight matches (last loss March 10 to Florida)

MSU’s Nuno Borges is a perfect 24-0 at No. 1 singles (only dropped 6 sets in dual-match play)

MSU’s Gio Oradini has split his last 6 matches

MSU’s Strahinja Rakic has won his last 3 completed matches and 6 of his last 7

MSU’s Niclas Braun has won his last 5 completed matches

MSU’s Trevor Foshey has won his last 9 completed matches (6 in straight sets)

MSU’s Florian Broska has won 4 of his last 5 completed matches

TCU’s Alex Rybakov has won 13 of his last 15 completed matches

TCU’s Alastair Gray has split his last 4 completed matches

TCU’s Reese Stalder has lost 6 of his last 8 completed matches

TCU’s Bertus Kruger has lost 6 of his last 8 completed matches

TCU’s Luc Fomba has won 4 of his last 5 completed matches

TCU’s Sander Jong has won his last 5 completed matches

ITA	Seed	School	W/L	Dubs W/L		UTR P6			Saturday, 2 p.m. ET @ Mississippi State
7	7	Mississippi State	24-3	23-4		80.76
9	10	TCU	21-6	18-9		81.36
Projected Doubles Lineup
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM			ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	DM
Pos	ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L		ITA Rank	Player	Team	UTR	W	L
1	3	Nuno Borges Strahinja Rakic	Mississippi State		16	6	vs.	15	Alex Rybakov Alastair Gray	TCU		14	6
2	32	Niclas Braun Giovanni Oradini	Mississippi State		16	2		22	Bertus Kruger Reese Stalder	TCU		16	8
3		Trevor Foshey Gregor Ramskogler	Mississippi State		15	6			Luc Fomba Sander Jong	TCU		8	10
Projected Singles Lineup
1	1	Nuno Borges	Miss State	14.47	24	0	vs.	4	Alex Rybakov	TCU	14.41	16	3
2	61	Giovanni Oradini	Miss State	13.66	13	8		28	Alastair Gray	TCU	13.90	15	4
3		Strahinja Rakic	Miss State	13.31	10	11			Reese Stalder	TCU	13.25	14	10
4		Niclas Braun	Miss State	13.38	13	4			Bertus Kruger	TCU	13.30	14	9
5		Trevor Foshey	Miss State	13.20	15	5			Luc Fomba	TCU	13.41	17	5
6		Florian Broska	Miss State	12.74	11	10			Sander Jong	TCU	13.09	12	7
Bench Players
7		Gregor Ramskogler	Miss State	12.68	4	0			Eduardo Roldan	TCU	12.62	2	1
8		Stedman Strickland	Miss State	10.86	0	0			Juan Martin	TCU	12.50	0	1

Regular Season Meeting

#15 TCU 4, #3 Mississippi State 1
Feb 15, 2019 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)
Singles Competition
1. #5 Nuno Borges (MS) vs. #8 Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-7, 6-6, unfinished
2. #66 Giovanni Oradini (MS) vs. #75 Alastair Gray (TCU) 2-6, 6-3, 2-3, unfinished
3. Reese Stalder (TCU) def. Strahinja Rakic (MS) 6-1, 6-4
4. #83 Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. #64 Niclas Braun (MS) 7-5, 6-3
5. Luc Fomba (TCU) def. #98 Trevor Foshey (MS) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Sander Jong (TCU) def. Florian Broska (MS) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles Competition
1. #34 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MS) def. Alex Rybakov/Alastair Gray (TCU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. #48 Reese Stalder/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. #6 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini (MS) 6-3
3. Trevor Foshey/Gregor Ramskogler (MS) def. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU) 6-2
Match Notes:
TCU 5-2; National ranking #15
Mississippi State 6-1; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,6,4,5)

Prediction & Thoughts: Mississippi State 4-2 – TCU really blitzed Mississippi State in the meeting at the National Indoors but this one will be outdoors though rain may push the time up or back or even by a day. The match at No. 1 singles should be a gem with Borges only dropping six sets this year though one of those was to Rybakov. TCU has struggled recently in the middle of the lineup while MSU has excelled and that’s where the match will be won or lost.

1 Comment

181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 5:39 pm

The problem with the super regional is that the travel obligations are unequal. For instance, Stanford goes to Virginia this weekend and if they win they have to return to the bay area. Then a few days later they need to fly to Orlando. Florida on the other hand is within 100 miles from all their matches. All least with the 16 team format they was no need to traverse the country.

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