by Bobby Knight | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog
The final day of the FGCU Invitational was cut short a little with LSU and Memphis leaving after doubles due to a 6-hour rain delay. Kentucky waited out the delay and played singles with the host Florida Gulf Coast with Kentucky winning 4 of 6 matches. Kentucky ended up the big winner during the 3-day tournament winning 15 of 21 singles matches and 6 of 10 doubles matches. Kentucky’s Jake Stefanik, Gus Benson, and Kevin Lai each went 3-0 in singles while Ryotaro Matsamura went 2-0. Memphis’s Ryan Peniston, Andrew Watson, Kai Lemke each went 2-0 as did LSU’s Gabor Csonka.Sunday Results Singles/DoublesKentucky 4-2/2-0Memphis 0-0/2-1LSU...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 10, 2016 | Blog
Kentucky and Memphis were the big winners on Day 2 of the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Kentucky went 9-2 overall including 6-1 in singles with freshman Ryotaro Matsamura rolling for a second day in both singles and doubles. Memphis’s Ryan Peniston knocked off LSU’s #78 Justin Butch in 2 close sets and Memphis freshman Chris Patzanovsky picked up a win over LSU’s Tam Trinh. Sunday wraps up the tournament with each starting dual-match play in the coming weeks. Below the scores are quotes from 3 of the 4 coaches.Saturday Results Singles/DoublesKentucky 6-1/3-1Memphis 5-2/2-1LSU 2-5/1-2FGCU 1-6/1-32-day totalsKentucky 11-4/4-4Memphis...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 9, 2016 | Blog
LSU’s guys were the top performers in Day 1 of the FGCU Invitational as they went 5-2 in singles and 2-1 in doubles. Kentucky had 2 freshmen make their debuts as Ryotaro Matsumura (14.08) won in straight sets over Memphis’s Felix Rauch (12.63) while Enzo Wallart (13.17) lost a tough 3-setter to Memphis’s Kai Lemke (13.38).Friday Results Singles/DoublesLSU 5-2/2-1Kentucky 5-3/1-3Memphis 3-4/2-1FGCU 2-6/2-22016 FLORIDA GULF COAST INVITE – DAY ONE RESULTSSingles Competition#87 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Nils Ellefsen (Kentucky) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2Ryan Peniston (Memphis) def. Trey Yates (Kentucky) 6-1, 6-4Ryotaro Matsumura (Kentucky)...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 9, 2016 | Blog
Despite its early exit in Waco I’d still consider last season a success for Illinois because after years of playing second fiddle to Ohio State the Illini beat the Buckeyes not once, not twice, but three times. Illinois won its second Big Ten Tournament Championship in the last four years and won its first regular season Big Ten Championship since 2005 though they did have to share it with Ohio State and Minnesota. The first and third wins over Ohio State came in tournament play but the second win snapped the Buckeyes 97-match Big Ten regular season winning streak which dated back to 2005.Brad Dancer enters his 11th season as head coach of the Illini and...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 8, 2016 | Blog
The dual-match season gets underway in a few places this weekend while there are still a few more weeks of individual play at other schools.BYU opens its season tonight at 5:30pm MST against Southern Utah and Washington opens up on Saturday with a doubleheader against Seattle. Washington will have live scoring and streaming video available at this link.Florida Gulf Coast hosts the FGCU Invitational with players coming from #30 LSU, #45 Memphis, and Kentucky.Central Florida hosts the UCF Spring Invitational with players coming from Florida A&M and The Citadel.Florida State was the big winner at the Rainbow Warrior Invitational, which...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 6, 2016 | Blog
Earlier today the ITA released its first team and individual rankings of the 2016 season. The individual rankings are based off the computer so therefore they had several big shakeups from the initial rankings which were based solely off last season’s rankings with the seniors removed.I did my own Top 20 and took into account roster additions and subtractions from last season while the first 6 team rankings are done by the ITA’s National Ranking Committee with each voter probably knowledgeable on their region but not much outside it. I highlighted all the teams below that moved at least 4 spots from the final rankings of last season and put them in...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 5, 2016 | Blog
The ITA’s first team rankings of the season should be out shortly so here is my top 20 along with a few questions for each team. I’m thinking that both Oklahoma and Baylor will have some January roster additions and Wake Forest should have their guys added in a few days. It seems like there are more teams counting on freshman this year than I can remember in the past. I can’t see anyway that Virginia isn’t the preseason #1 because they’ve got it all. Here is my top 20 – if you’ve done one yourself add yours to the comment section below – I’m sure we’ll all have many differences and opinions.1....
by Bobby Knight | Jan 5, 2016 | Blog
2015 was a historic season for South Florida with the Tampa-based Bulls making its first ever appearance in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. USF started playing tennis in 1966 (school founded in 1956) and prior to last season they had made the NCAAs 10 times (not bad) but had only managed to get past the first round on 5 occasions. Head coach Matt Hill was able to get his 2014 team into the second round (beat Florida State 4-2) but after dropping a tough doubles point to Florida, and then enduring a 3-hour rain delay, the Gators were just too strong in singles and shut them out 4-0.The experience of making it to the second round had to give the team a belief that they...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 4, 2016 | Blog
When I was in Naples at the ITA Coaches Convention I heard someone mention that the SEC schools would be able to stream matches again this year after not being able to last year due to ESPN/SEC Network holding the streaming rights. I reached out to Tammy Wilson, the SEC’s Director of Communications, and she told me that the SEC schools can stream tennis this year as long as the following guidelines are met. * Production must involve a multi-channel, multi-court offering for the viewer* Distribution must take place via the institution’s official athletic department website* Any single-feed production will remain the property of SECN and...
by Bobby Knight | Jan 2, 2016 | Blog
North Carolina has a lot of tradition (been playing tennis since 1908) but prior to last season it had never made the NCAA quarterfinals in consecutive years. Sam Paul had to feel confident going into the 2015 season, due to having an experienced starting 6, but as the season rocked on the injury bug took turns biting his starters and some of his reserves. Throughout the course of the season Brayden Schnur (knee-7), Ronnie Schneider (shoulder-3), Esben Hess-Olesen (back-21), and Oystein Steiro (foot-11) would miss a combined 51 starts which meant Paul constantly had to shuffle both his singles and doubles lineups. Despite all the changes the Tar Heels still...
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