Despite these matches being on television the stands were packed and the crowds were loud which made for a great environment for those of us that watched from home. I hope today was a glimpse into the future and not just a once a year thing. I’d love to be able to watch multiple matches every weekend and I want to applaud both Fox Sports, the Pac-12 Network, and ESPN for getting matches on its different platforms. The Tennis Channel broadcasted the finals of the Oracle/ITA Masters back in September but I don’t believe they’ve had any college tennis on since so maybe that’s something that will change in the future.
Now to the matches themselves – the Pac-12 regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament were at stake as No. 4 USC hosted No. 9 UCLA. USC got off to a nice start in doubles as Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine drilled Gage Brymer and Austin Rapp 6-1 at No. 3. USC’s Nick Crystal and Laurens Verboven jumped out to an early break lead on Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki but the UCLA No. 1s broke back to even it at 3-3. McDonald and Redlicki would break to go up 5-4 and then Redlicki served it out to give UCLA the 6-4 win. The doubles point would be decided at No. 2 between UCLA’s Joseph Di Giulio/Karue Sell and USC’s Max de Vroome/Jack Jaede. After Sell held for 6-5, UCLA would break Jack Jaede from 30-40 to win it 7-5 and give UCLA the doubles point.
DiGiulio/Sell break Jaede/DeVroome as they win 7-5 and Bruins take the doubles point! pic.twitter.com/sWciNED7PjUCLA Men’s Tennis (@uclatennis) April 17, 2016
The doubles portion wasn’t shown on TV so after it finished up there was about a 15 minute break until singles got underway at 1:30pm local time. UCLA would first sets at 1, 2, 3, and 6 while USC got the opening set at 4 and 5.
USC freshman Jake DeVine put the first point on the board for the Trojans after he rolled over UCLA senior Karue Sell 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4. UCLA junior Gage Brymer would put the Bruins back ahead 2-1 with a 6-2, 6-2 rolling of USC freshman Logan Smith at No. 3.
UCLA junior Joseph Di Giulio took a 6-0 first set over USC junior Rob Bellamy at No. 6 but Bellamy hung tough in the second. Bellamy fought off three match points while serving at 4-5, 15-40 but he found himself down 30-40 on his 5-6 service game. Di Giulio mishit the return which brought Bellamy forward but Bellamy wasn’t able to do enough with the mid-court forehand and would get passed at the net a few shots later to drop the match 6-0, 7-5.
Joey D! DiGiulio rips the winner up the line and defeats Bellamy 6-0, 7-5. Bruins now lead 3-1! pic.twitter.com/ifhHZvuCGlUCLA Men’s Tennis (@uclatennis) April 17, 2016
USC sophomore Thibault Forget would pull the Trojans to within 3-2 after he defeated UCLA sophomore Logan Staggs at No. 5. Forget took the first set 6-3 then he broke Staggs at love to go up 5-4 in the second. Forget went down 0-30 but he’d take the next four points to close it out 6-3, 6-4.
Line 5 singles: Forget defeats Staggs 6-3, 6-4. Trojans trail the UCLA Bruins 2-3 #usc #usctennis #trojans #fighton pic.twitter.com/nFSS53q2ncUSC Men’s Tennis (@USCMensTennis) April 17, 2016
UCLA sophomore Martin Redlicki won the first set 7-5 at No. 2 but USC junior Nick Crystal would take the second 6-2. Redlicki broke Crystal to go up 3-1 in the third then he held for 4-1. After a few holds, Redlicki went up 40-30 on his 5-3 service game but he pushed a forehand well wide to bring up the deciding point. Crystal chose to receive into the ad-court, which in hindsight probably wasn’t his best option, because Redlicki swung his lefty serve out wide and then followed it up with a big forehand that Crystal couldn’t get back and that was it – UCLA 4 USC 2 – FINAL.
The match at No. 1 was abandoned with UCLA’s Mackenzie McDonald leading Max de Vroome 7-6, 6-5*. Below is a highlight clip from the Pac-12 Network and down below the box score was a post-match interview with Martin Redlicki.
Here are the seeds for next week’s Pac-12 Tournament – UCLA 1, USC 2, Cal 3, Stanford 4, Oregon 5, Washington 6, Utah 7, Arizona 8. UCLA and USC get a double-bye and won’t play until the semifinals on Friday. Both the semifinals and finals will be broadcast LIVE on the Pac-12 Network so don’t forget to tune in.
#4 UCLA 4, #9 USC 2
Post-Match Quotes from UCLA’s recap
“It means a lot to sweep USC this year, said UCLA head coach Billy Martin of beating the Trojans at home and on the road. “This is a very good USC team. They’re going to be very determined to beat us next week in Ojai should we play each other.
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When it comes to Big 12 tennis you never know what to expect. Eighth-ranked Oklahoma was coming off a 4-0 rout over Baylor while No. 10 Texas Tech was coming off a 4-1 loss to Oklahoma State. Logic would say that OU would roll over Tech but logic got left outdoors while the teams went indoors due to inclement weather.
Texas Tech took the early 1-0 lead after it won the doubles point by winning tiebreaks at No. 2 and No. 3 while No. 1 was also in a tiebreak as well.
Tech took four opening sets in singles but it’d be Oklahoma’s Andrew Harris that would finish first with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Hugo Dojas at No. 2.
Andrew Harris wins 6-3, 6-1 at #2. Dual tied at 1-all. pic.twitter.com/xpbW9GZJnrOklahoma Tennis (@OU_MTennis) April 17, 2016
Texas Tech went back ahead when Felipe Soares ousted Axel Alvarez 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 and then Bjorn Thomson would make it 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Maxime Mora at No. 6. Jolan Cailleau would clinch the win by defeating Alex Ghilea 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4.
Texas Tech set a new regular season mark for wins with 24 and also snapped OU’s 13-match home winning streak over Big 12 opponents.
“We can learn from this,” Roddick said. “We’ve played a lot better in the last 45 days and we aren’t going to let one match slow that down. We just have to get back to work this week and play at a high level.”
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Rice and Tulane played a wild match that started outdoors and finished indoors. Tulane won 6-2 at No. 2 doubles but Rice took the point by winning 7-5 in the tiebreak at both No. 1 and No. 3.
Back-to-back, 7-5 tiebreaks to take the doubles point over @GreenWaveMTenn pic.twitter.com/uqjm2Vu2kNRiceTennis (@RiceTennisSID) April 17, 2016
Tulane would take first sets at 1, 2, and 3 while Rice took the opening set at 4, 5, and 6. Rice junior David Warren put the Owls up 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 rout over Tulane freshman Tyler Schick at No. 5. Tulane junior Sebastian Rey put the Green Wave on the board with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Adam Gustafsson at No. 3 but Rice freshman Jake Hansen made it 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Chi-Shan Jao at No. 4.
Tulane sophomore Constantin Schmitz trimmed the Rice lead to 3-2 with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over Jamie Malik at No. 2 which left just two matches left on court.
Tulane senior, and current ITA No. 1, Dominik Koepfer had just split sets with Tommy Bennett at No. 1 while the match at No. 6 was midway through the third sets.
Rice freshman Emanuel Llamas jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set on Tulane senior Ian Van Cott but Van Cott would break, hold, and break to put the match back on serve at 4-3. Llamas would break back to go up 5-3 but after falling behind 0-40 on his serve play would be halted due to rain.
It was decided that the match would be completed indoors at the MET in downtown Houston so after a one hour and five minute delayed play resumed. Koepfer had a 3-0 lead when they went indoors but Bennett would take the next three to even it at 3-3. Koepfer finished out the match by winning the last three games to take it 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3.
In the deciding match at No. 6, Van Cott would get the break to put the match back on serve and then he’d come back from 15-30 down to hold from 40-30 to tie it at 5-5. Llamas got a quick hold for 6-5 but once again Van Cott would come back from 15-30 down to hold from 40-30 to send the match to a tiebreak. Van Cott led 6-4 in the tiebreak and had the match on his racket but Llamas got the mini-break back, won the new two points on his serve, and then took the last one on Van Cott’s serve to win it 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6) to clinch the Rice win.
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George Washington punched its ticket to the dance by beating VCU 4-3 in the finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. It was the third year in a row these teams had met in the finals and was also the fifth time in the last six years that GW had earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
GW took the doubles point by winning the decider at No. 2 doubles by a 7-5 score then the Colonials jumped out to a 3-0 lead after getting straight wins from Julian Tverijonas and Chris Reynolds at No. 1 and No. 3.
VCU charged back and tied the match at 3-3 with wins from Vitor Lima, Catalin Fifea, and Louis Ishizaka at 2, 4, and 6 but GW’s Cahit Kapukiran would clinch the championship with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Arvid Noren at No. 5.
Atlantic10Conference (@atlantic10) April 17, 2016
.@GWMensTennis Claims Third Consecutive A-10 Crown https://t.co/ANnz5cDTpT #RaiseHigh pic.twitter.com/9Vo5cHH6sGGW Sports (@GW_Sports) April 17, 2016
George Washington 4, VCU 3
George Washington 14-8
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Columbia won the Ivy League regular season title for the third year in a row with a 5-1 win on the road at Penn. Columbia actually locked up the Ivy League’s NCAA automatic berth on Friday when it beat Princeton but this win over Penn gave them the outright regular season title.
Columbia won a tight doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 then the Lions took four first sets in singles. Mike Vermeer, Eric Rubin, and Timothy Wang would win in straight sets with Wang clinching the win at No. 6.
Two of the three remaining matches were played out with CU’s Shawn Hadavi winning a 10-point supertiebreak at No. 1, Penn’s Blaine Willenborg winning at No. 5 when a regular 7-point tiebreak was played at 3-3, while the match at No. 2 was abandoned because the guys wanted to play it out but the officials wouldn’t let them since the other courts were already playing tiebreaks.
Interesting stat: Mike Vermeer’s 3-year career stats for singles – 18-0 in Ivies (3 matches not finished), 49-4 overall. 7-0 this year in Ivies – talk about Mr. Automatic!!
Death, taxes, and @ColumbiaMTennis winning the @Ivy_Athletics Championship! #RoarLionRoar pic.twitter.com/hKfNTspegbColumbia Athletics (@GoColumbiaLions) April 17, 2016
6 – Timothy Wang (CU) def. Ismael Lahlou 6-4, 6-4
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Jackson State won its fourth SWAC Championship, but first since 1998, with a 4-1 win over Alabama State. The Tigers took the doubles point and then picked up straight set wins from Federico Boscarino, Stylianos Gkontsaris, and Richie Agarwal at 2, 4, and 6 with Agarwal clinching the championship. Alabama State got a straight set win from Takura Mlambo at No. 1 in a losing effort.
Jackson State claims men’s SWAC Championship crown pic.twitter.com/HcQAqejNdXThe SWAC (@theswac) April 17, 2016
Jackson State 4, Alabama State 1
3. Richie Agarwal/Federico Mendieta (JKST) def. Ronald Mataba/Karlo Skvorc (ALST) 7-5
Match Notes:
Jackson State 6-18
Alabama State 7-10
Order of finish; Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,4,1,6)
Other Notable Ranked Sunday Scores
#19 South Florida def. #38 Memphis 4-0
#55 Cornell at #46 Princeton 4-3
#36 Dartmouth def. Yale 4-1
#48 Harvard def. Brown 5-2
#1 Virginia def. Miami FL 7-0
#5 North Carolina def #64 Duke 6-1
#7 Wake Forest def. Louisville 6-1
#22 Florida State def. Boston College 6-1
#43 Notre Dame def. #42 NC State 6-1
#3 Ohio State def #47 Wisconsin 4-0
#15 Northwestern def. Michigan State 4-0
#17 Illinois def. #21 Michigan 4-1
Minnesota def. #39 Penn State 4-3 – MN recap – Justyn Levin won decider 6-4 in 3rd at #5
Nebraska def. #59 Purdue 4-2
#70 Indiana def #67 Iowa 4-0
#6 Georgia def #32 Ole Miss 4-0
#13 Florida def. Tennessee 6-1
#20 Kentucky at #63 Auburn 4-1
#45 Vanderbilt def #34 Alabama 4-2
#58 South Carolina def #12 Arkansas 4-3 – SC recap – Andrew Schafer won the decider 6-4 in the 3rd at #2 – Redlicki didn’t play singles for Ark.
#73 Utah def. Arizona 6-1
#24 Tulsa def. Central Florida 7-0
#31 San Diego def. #56 Pepperdine 4-0
#44 Old Dominion def. Middle Tennessee State 4-3
San Diego State def. #57 Utah State 4-3
#68 Boise State def. UNLV 4-1
Portland def. #71 Pacific 4-1
#72 UNC Wilmington def. #53 Georgia State 4-3
Agree about the USC match – didn't even bother me that USC lost, it was great to see the new facility packed. Men's and Women's together plus the free In and Out burgers were great. Even after the food was served the fans stayed! The seats filled and people were sitting on steps between sections and standing along the back, great day of tennis. Stevie Johnson was there supporting his team. It may be a rivalry, but you could see that the guys on both teams are great friends. Solid respect and sportsmanship.
Wow, what a scene yesterday in L.A. I've been going to USC tennis matches for many years, and I've never seen it so packed (literally SRO) and the atmosphere so electric. A great idea to hold the men's and women's matches together when it's USC-UCLA. And what a great venue, the refurbished tennis center.
still shocked Arkansas lost but outside of FL and UGA the SEC is wild week in and week out with any of the teams 3-13 beating each other. Bama beats Ole Miss, Ole Miss beats MS State, MS State beats Bama, Ole Miss beats SCAR who beats AR who beat Ole Miss who beat MS State who beat AR. Wild Wild Wild
Still a long shot – they would need to beat Arkansas again and probably also Texas A&M to move up enough to get in the at-large range.
Can South Carolina make the tournament now>
Right now ND is right in the middle of that group with NC State just on the outside. I'll have my projections out in a few hours with the full list.
I guess it would depend on what the others around them did – losing to Utah in the first round wouldn't be as bad as losing to a team ranked outside the top 125 like Penn State did losing to Minnesota. Washington also needs USC and Texas to stay as high as possible because those are its two best wins.
it was an amazing win for TTU, recovering the loss for OSU.
Do you see Notre Dame in that group of teams from 37-43, or will the win over NCST push them above that group?
I assume if Washington loses to Utah first round of the Pac 12 tournament, they'll have no chance of making the NCAAs?
It definitely didn't help but they are still ok as of this moment. It looks like there's going to be a big log-jam of teams from 37-43 that will only be separated by a few tenths of a point. I'm definitely not counting on them to beat Illinois or Northwestern next week but they need to avoid a loss to anybody ranked below them at the Big Ten Tournament or they'll be in trouble. <br /><br />Still can't believe they lost to Minnesota.
Is Penn State in big trouble after losing to Minnesota?