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2015 NCAA 1st Round Previews,
Alabama State,
Columbia,
Georgia Tech,
Minnesota,
Ole Miss,
Princeton,
St John's,
VirginiaVirginia Regional
Snyder Tennis Center – Charlottesville, VA
[3] Virginia (23-3) vs. [49-64] St. John’s (15-8) – Friday 1pm – #3 Virginia received the ACC’s automatic bid after beating #12 Wake Forest 4-2 in the ACC Championship while St. John’s got the Big East’s automatic bid after defeating Marquette 4-2 in the Big East Championship. St. John’s finished the year on a 6-match winning streak and won 11 of its final 12. The Red Storm went 0-6 against ranked teams on the year.
Doubles Records: Virginia 23-3, St. John’s 11-11
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Virginia 87, St. John’s 78
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of May 1st. For more details about UTR check out their website.
The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #). An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #8 Ryan Shane (VA 14.85) vs. Lucas Hejhal (SJU 13.07)
2. #20 Mitchell Frank (VA 14.69) vs. Erick Reyes (SJU 13.35)
3. #77 Collin Altamirano (VA 14.74) vs. Robert Livi (SJU 13.11)
4. #19 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA 14.80) vs. Elio Livi (SJU 12.22)
5. Alexander Ritschard (VA 14.04) vs. Vaidik Munshaw (SJU 12.69)
6. J.C. Aragone (VA 14.04) vs. Freddy Ruiz Acevedo (SJU 11.99)
Others who could play Mac Styslinger (VA 13.99)
St. John’s starting 3 went 39-14 in dual match play but they’ll be no match for Virginia’s top 3. Hoos take the doubles point and get wins from Shane, Altamirano, and Aragone. Prediction: Virginia 4-0.
[17-32] Minnesota (20-7) vs. [33-48] Princeton (19-7) – Friday 10am – #25 Minnesota got in as an at-large after falling 4-0 to Ohio State in the Big 10 semifinals while #36 Princeton got an at-large selection from the Ivy League. Princeton went 7-7 against ranked opponents with its best win over #20 Mississippi State and its worst loss to #55 Penn State. The Tigers went just 1-3 down the stretch while the Gophers won 10 of its final 12.
Doubles Records: Minnesota 22-5, Princeton 14-12
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Minnesota 82, Princeton 79
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #22 Leandro Toledo (MINN 14.05) vs. #75 Zack McCourt (Princeton 13.62)
2. #60 Matic Spec (MINN 14.15) vs. Thomas Colautti (Princeton 13.45)
3. Felix Corwin (MINN 13.49) vs. Alexander Day (Princeton 13.01)
4. Ruben Weber (MINN 13.55) vs. Joshua Yablon (Princeton 13.24)
5. Jack Hamburg (MINN 13.46) vs. Dan Richardson (Princeton 12.77)
6. Mathieu Froment (MINN 12.93) vs. Diego Vives (Princeton 12.77)
Others who could play: Kial Kaiser (PRIN 12.37), Luke Gamble (PRIN 12.98)
Minnesota won the doubles point in 6 of its final 7 matches while Princeton dropped the point in 4 of its final 6 so I’d be very surprised if Minnesota didn’t take the early 1-0 lead. Minnesota had a pretty top heavy lineup this year with Toledo (18-7), Spec (21-2), and Corwin (17-4) combining to go 56-13 in dual match play while Weber (11-10), Hamburg (9-10), and Froment (9-8) went just 29-28. Princeton got the best play from McCourt (17-6), Colautti (15-4), Richardson (10-4), and Vives (10-2) at 1, 2, 5 and 6 while Day (11-11) and Yablon (10-9) were right at .500 at 3 and 4.
#1 singles – Leandro Toledo won 9 of his final 11 and went 6-7 against ranked players while Zack McCourt won 5 of his final 7 and went 2-5 against ranked opponents. Prediction: DNF with McCourt (PR) leading.
#2 singles – Matic Spec finished the regular season on a 13-match winning streak including a win over #23 Jared Hiltzik while Thomas Colautti won 10 of his final 12 including a win over #108 Dragos Ignat. Prediction: DNF with it all even.
#3 singles – Felix Corwin won 11 of his final 13 while Alexander Day dropped his last 4. Prediction: Corwin (MN) in 2
#4 singles – Both players dropped 5 of their final 7 though Weber’s competition was much tougher. Prediction: Weber (MN) in 2.
#5 singles – Jack Hamburg won 4 of his last 5 with 5 other matches going unfinished while Dan Richardson won 3 of his final 4. Prediction: Hamburg (MN) in 2.
#6 singles – Mathieu Froment dropped his final 2 after winning the 4 before that while Diego Vives split his final 4. Prediction: DNF with Vives (PR) leading.
If this match wasn’t halted at the clinch it wouldn’t surprise me if it finished 4-3 but I think Minnesota wraps it up quicker by getting the doubles point and straight set wins from Corwin, Weber, and Hamburg. Prediction: Minnesota 4-0
Mississippi Regional
Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center – Oxford, MS
[14] Ole Miss (17-8) vs. [49-64] Alabama State (12-15) – Friday 4pm – #14 Ole Miss got in as an at-large after losing 4-1 to #7 Georgia in the SEC semifinals while Alabama State earned its first ever NCAA bid by beating Jackson State 4-2 in the SWAC Championship. Alabama State finished the year on a 7-match winning streak and won 10 of its final 11. The Hornets went 0-5 against ranked opponents getting shut out in 4 of the 5 (lost to Alabama 4-1).
Doubles Records: Ole Miss 14-13, Alabama State 13-12
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Ole Miss 82, Alabama State 65
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #18 Nik Scholtz (OM 14.17) vs. Takura Mlambo (ASU 12.17)
2. #86 Stefan Lindmark (OM 14.27) vs. Ronald Mataba (ASU 11.24)
3. Gustav Hansson (OM 13.77) vs. Patrik Cvik (ASU 11.23)
4. William Kallberg (OM 13.28) vs. Karlo Skvorc (ASU 10.39)
5. Ricardo Jorge (OM 13.14) vs. Jarred Thompson (ASU 9.78)
6. Zvonimir Babic (OM 12.95) vs. Adam Coyne (ASU 10.75)
Others who could play: Vinod Gowda (OM 12.99)
This one won’t be pretty as Ole Miss should be off the court in around 90 minutes after taking the doubles point and picking up singles wins from pick any 3. Prediction: Ole Miss 4-0
[17-32] Columbia (14-5) vs. [33-48] Georgia Tech (14-12) – Friday 1pm – #17 Columbia got the automatic bid for winning the Ivy League while #42 Georgia Tech got the last at-large bid (by .10) after making its run to the ACC semifinals which included wins over #35 Notre Dame and #15 Virginia Tech. These teams are pretty familiar with each other after playing a hidden dual at the MLK Invitational in Atlanta back in January. Georgia Tech took 5 of 9 singles matches however none of the match-ups will be the same.
Doubles Records: Columbia 14-5, Georgia Tech 14-12
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Columbia 82, Georgia Tech 81
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #17 Winston Lin (COL 14.12) vs. #53 Christopher Eubanks (GT 13.87)
2. #108 Dragos Ignat (COL 13.84) vs. Carlos Benito (GT 13.54)
3. Ashok Narayana (COL 13.63) vs. Nathan Rakitt (GT 13.19)
4. Mike Vermeer (COL 13.50) vs. Michael Kay (GT 13.44)
5. Shawn Hadavi (COL 13.31) vs. Cole Fiegel (GT 13.15)
6. Bert Vancura (COL 12.76) vs. Eduardo Segura (GT 13.47)
Others who could play: Max Schnur (COL 13.16)
Max Schnur is actually listed at #4 in Columbia’s lineup however he’s only played in half of Columbia’s matches and just gone 3-7 so I’m guessing he doesn’t play.
Dual-Match Singles Records – # in ( ) is W-L vs. ranked:
1. Lin 13-8 (5-6) vs. Eubanks 14-11 (4-9)
2. Ignat 13-7 (1-4) vs. Benito 15-7 (3-5)
3. Narayana 12-3 vs. Rakitt 5-14 (0-7)
4. Vermeer 12-3 (0-1) vs. Kay 10-13 (0-5)
5. Hadavi 12-6 vs. Fiegel 17-9 (0-1)
6. Vancura 10-5 vs Segura 14-9 (0-1)
#1 singles – Lin won 4 of his last 5 with the loss coming to #75 Zack McCourt in a match where a 10-point tiebreak was played in lieu of a 3rd set while Eubanks lost 7 of his last 9 though all but one of those matches was against a top 75 opponent. Prediction: Lin (CU) in 3
#2 singles – Ignat won 6 of his last 7 while Benito won his last 2 over #57 Raphael Hemmeler and #68 Amerigo Contini. Benito started out the year playing at #5 and has progressed all the way up to #2. Prediction: Benito (GT) in 3
#3 singles – Narayana won his last 4 and 7 of his last 8 while Rakitt lost his last 3 and 10 of his last 11. Rakitt started out the year playing at #1 and has slowing dropped to #3. Prediction: Narayana (CU) in 2.
#4 singles – Vermeer finished the year on a 6-match winning streak while Kay lost 7 of his last 8. Vermeer has wins over JT Nishimura and Florin Bragusi on his resume. Prediction: Vermeer (CU) in 2
#5 singles – Hadavi finished the year on a 5-match winning streak while Fiegel dropped his final 2 after winning the 3 prior. Hadavi’s signature wins were against Northwestern’s Alp Horoz and Georgia’s Paul Oosterbaan while Fiegel beat Wake’s Christian Seraphim, FSU’s Cristian Mendez, and Georgia’s Paul Oosterbaan. Prediction: Fiegel (GT) in 2
#6 singles – Vancura won 5 of his last 6 while Segura won his final 3 after losing the 4 prior. Segura started off the year playing at #3 before slowly sliding down the lineup despite putting up decent results. Prediction: Segura (GT) in 2
The doubles point very well could be the key to this one and I look for Columbia to take the point for the 10th time in the last 11 matches. I’ve got Benito, Fiegel, and Segura in singles for GT with Lin, Narayana, and Vermeer for CU. Prediction: Columbia 4-3
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