by Bobby Knight | Oct 17, 2016 | Blog
It was a day for the 2s at the Oracle events with both No. 2 seeds winning the singles titles as the Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu and a player from a Division 2 school winning the Oracle Cup Men’s Singles Championship and Women’s Doubles Championship. UCLA freshman and No. 2 seed Ena Shibahara ran her collegiate record to 15-1 with a tough three-set win over Pepperdine sophomore and top seed Luisa Stefani. The pivotal point of the match came late in the third set when Shibahara broke Stefani’s 5-5 service game on the no-ad (40/40) point. Shibahara then held from 40/15 to close it out 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.Match point for Shibahara ?...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 15, 2016 | Blog
Oracle ITA Masters Singles – you can view doubles and consolation bracket results on the tournament’s home page. D1 – Women’s Semifinals [1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine 12.26) def. [5] Hayley Carter (North Carolina 11.93) 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3[2] Ena Shibahara (UCLA 12.07) def. [3] Sara Daavettila (N Carolina 11.96) 6-3, 6-3 Championship (Sunday 12:30 p.m. PT) [1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine 12.26) vs. [2] Ena Shibahara (UCLA 12.07)D1 – Men’s Semifinals[20] Shawn Hadavi (Columbia 13.72) def. [9] David Biosca (East Tennessee St 14.20) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1[2] Ryotaro Matsumura (Kentucky 14.45) def. [19] Adam Moundir (Old Dom...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 15, 2016 | Blog
Qualifying for November’s National Indoor Intercollegiates in New York City is underway at 8 different sites across the country. There are 12 ITA Regions on both the men’s and women’s sides with the winner at each location earning a spot in the main draw at the last big event on the fall college tennis schedule. The other 16 regionals (8 men/8 women) will take place next week. Down at the bottom of this post I have a list of those that have already qualified for the NIICs so I wouldn’t expect to see any of them participating at an ITA Regional (unless they are trying to qualify for doubles). Players must at least make the quarterfinals...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 14, 2016 | Blog
Oracle ITA Masters Singles – you can view doubles and consolation bracket results on the tournament’s home page.D1 – Women’s Round of 16 [1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine 12.26) def. [16] Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa 10.87) 6-3, 6-1 [9] Blair Shankle (Baylor 11.48) def. [8] Viktoriya Lushkova (Okla St 11.63) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4[4] Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine 12.06) def. [20] Kana Daniel (Penn 10.68) 6-1, 7-5[5] Hayley Carter (North Carolina 11.93) def. [12] Laura Gulbe (Pepperdine 11.22) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5[3] Sara Daavettila (N Carolina 11.96) def. [14] Maeva Razakasoa (Long Bch St 11.01) 6-2, 6-2[11] Katarina Adamovic (Oklahoma State 11.45) def....
by Bobby Knight | Oct 13, 2016 | Blog
The Oracle ITA Masters got underway on Thursday morning in Malibu with mixed doubles and progressed through the singles draws as the day went on. 12 of the 16 men’s singles matches were won by the higher seed with Columbia’s Shawn Hadavi, Old Dominion’s Adam Moundir, Denver’s Diogo Rocha, and Valparaiso’s Jeffrey Schorsch the four lower seeds to prevail. On the women’s side the higher seed won 15 of 16 matches on Thursday with the lone seeded upset coming when Penn’s Kana Daniel, seeded No. 20, defeated Rice’s Katherine Ip, seeded No. 13, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. You can view doubles and consolation bracket results...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 13, 2016 | Blog
The ITA Oracle Cup (formerly Small College Nationals) gets underway today in Sunrise, Arizona, with the top players from D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO competing for a chance to win the Oracle Cup. The participants earned their spots after winning an ITA Regional Championship in September with a few at-large selections awarded at the NAIA and JUCO level due to their being less than eight ITA regions. There were nine qualifiers at D3 level due to their being nine ITA regions so a play-in match was held between the winners of the Northwest and Southwest Regions.CMS’s Nikolai Parodi got an at-large into the D3 men’s draw after finishing as runner-up to...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 12, 2016 | Blog
The draws are out for the second Oracle ITA Masters in Malibu with this year’s format differing a good bit from last year. Last year the singles field was limited to 16 players with the field selected based on preseason ITA rankings; this year the field has been expanded to 32 players with the goal to have one player per conference. The other change relates to doubles – last year there was a men’s and women’s doubles draw but this year those have been scrapped in favor of a mixed doubles draw. The seeding is completely based on Universal Tennis Rating using a UTR from a few days ago. Texas freshman Yuya Ito is the top seed in the...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 12, 2016 | Blog
It took about a month but Monmouth Athletic Director Marilyn McNeil announced the hiring of Alex Kasarov as the Hawks new men’s head coach. Kasarov was the men’s assistant coach at Davidson for the last two season and replaces Kyle Bailey who departed after a few months to become the new men’s assistant at South Carolina. Hofstra Director of Atheltics Jeffrey Hathaway announced the hiring of Jason Pasion as the Pride’s new men’s and women’s head coach. Pasion had a successful two-year stint at D2’s NYIT where he won over 70 percent of his matches and led both the men’s and women’s program to deep runs at...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 10, 2016 | Blog
Wake Forest sophomore Petros Chrysochos is your 2016 Saint Francis Health System Men’s All-American Champion after overpowering Ohio State junior Hugo Di Feo. Chrysochos entered the match as the higher ranked player but it was Di Feo that got off to the quick start after breaking from 30/40 to take an early 2-1 lead. Chrysochos immediately broke back, from 15/40, and then held at love to go ahead 3-2. Di Feo held from 40/15 and then went up 0/30 on Chrysochos’s serve but the Demon Deacon took the next four points to hold for 4-3. After a pair of holds, Di Feo went up 30/0 on his 4-5 service game but Chrysochos won the next three points to take a...
by Bobby Knight | Oct 9, 2016 | Blog
Ohio State sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo just started her second year of collegiate tennis but she’s already claimed two Grand Slams after winning the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. Di Lorenzo was playing her fifth match of the week while her opponent, UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara, was taking the court the 11th time since beginning the pre-qualifying rounds nine days earlier. Shibahara started the match off with a hold and break but Di Lorenzo broke back and held to even it at 2-2. It stayed on serve until Di Lorenzo broke to go up 5-4 and then she served it out from 40/30 to take the opening set 6-4. There were four straight holds to start the...
Latest Comments