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Friday Recap: Baylor Bounces TCU; UCLA Men Win at Stanford; Stanford Women Win at UCLA; Texas A&M Men Over South Carolina; South Carolina Women Win at Texas A&M

Friday was a stacked day with nine matchups between top 25 teams with six of those coming on the women’s side. The highest profile match on the men’s side took place in Waco with sixth-ranked Baylor hosting ninth-ranked TCU. The Bears claimed the doubles point with a 6-4 win at No. 1 and a 7-6(5) win at No. 3 and then in singles each team won three opening sets. Only two of the six matches would finish in straight sets with Baylor’s Sven Lah winning 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5 while TCU’s Alex Rybakov won 7-5, 6-3 at No. 1. Baylor’s Will Little put the Bears up 3-1 with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 4 and Jimmy Bendeck clinched at No. 6...

Sweet 16 Is Set – Illinois Rally Stuns Oklahoma State, Texas Triumphs Over Tulane, Pac-12/Big 12 Send 4

For the most part Friday was a pretty dull day but Saturday delivered us some gems including two big comeback wins. I’ll start with the upset of the day which came in Stillwater when Illinois rallied from 3-0 down to stun No. 11 seed Oklahoma State 4-3. The Cowboys took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then each team took three opening sets in singles. Oklahoma State seniors Lucas Gerch and Lukas Finzelberg made quick work of their opponents at No. 3 and No. 6 to make it 3-0 but Illinois started winning all the close sets and got back in the match. Aron Hiltzik put the Illini on the board with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 2 which...

Another Power 5 Job Opens Up, NCAA Regional Previews – Wake Forest & Stanford

The number of head coaching jobs at Power 5 schools is now up to six after LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva announced on Monday that men’s head coach Jeff Brown was resigning after 20 years. Brown won just over 60 percent of the 517 matches he coached and was an even .500 against SEC competition. Brown’s LSU teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament 17 times however this year the Tigers fell well short after going 10-17 overall and just 3-9 in the SEC. Brown’s best seasons in Baton Rouge came in his first two seasons when he led the Tigers to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA semifinals. Alleva called the resignation a “mutual...

Wake Rolls NC State, Close Matches in Nashville, Weekend Preview

It was senior day in Raleigh but unfortunately for the host Wolfpack they only had five healthy players and their opponent happened to be No. 1 Wake Forest. Wake took the doubles point after only dropping three games and then the Deacs won five of six matches in singles with NC State freshman Alexis Galarneau salvaging the day for the Pack with a win over Borna Gojo at No. 2. The women’s SEC Tournament in Nashville had it all on Thursday with three matches coming down to the final court and one that started outside on the back courts and then and finished inside on just five courts after the rain came.  Mississippi State won the opener over...

Cal Outduels Oregon, Florida Fights Off Mississippi State, Arkansas Upsets Kentucky

Cal came into Friday evenings match against No. 23 Oregon with a perfect 33-0 record all-time against the Ducks but the streak nearly came to an end. Cal picked up the all-important doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but Oregon came back in singles and picked up three quick straight set wins from Akihiro Tanaka, Cormac Clissold, and Ty Gentry to go in front 3-1. Cal came back to tie it up with Andre Goransson and Filip Bergevi each winning in straight sets so the match would be decided in a third set at No. 1 between a pair of Frenchmen. Cal senior Florian Lakat (Paris) took the first set 6-4 but Oregon sophomore Thomas Laurent (Montpellier)...