My Conversation with Lauren Embree; First Four Matches at Men's Team Indoor Complete; Qualifier Lim Reaches Final of ITF Grade 3 in Mexico

Last week at the Dow Corning Tennis Classic I had the opportunity to sit down with former Florida great Lauren Embree, who had a difficult 2014, but is healthy now as she reenters the professional ranks.  My interview with her is available at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Jonathan Kelley will be supplying a recap of the first day at the ITA Men's Team Indoor in Chicago after it's complete, but I'll post the results of the first four matches now, just to keep the clutter down in his article.  The only upset in the bottom half came early, with No. 11 seed Baylor defeating No. 6 seed Duke 4-1.

I had hoped to watch on the live stream, but that hasn't been reliable, nor was the live scoring. I'm confident it will get better, but I was certainly spoiled by the quality of the streaming and the point-by-point scoring Virginia provided at the Women's Team Indoor last week. They have actually set a new standard now and should be given full credit for doing so.

If there is a recap up on the winning team's website, I've linked it via the score.

Men’s Team Indoor Championships 1st round
Feb 13, 2015
#3 Virginia 4, #17 TCU 0
Singles
1. Mitchell Frank (UVa) def. #18 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-3, 6-4
2. #4 Ryan Shane (UVa) def. #48 Nick Chappell (TCU) 7-6(1), 6-3
3. #1 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVa) def. Arnau Dachs (TCU) 6-1, 6-3
4. Alexander Ritschard (UVa) vs. Will Stein (TCU) 6-1, 6-7, 0-0 DNF
5. J.C. Aragone (UVa) vs. #85 Facundo Lugones (TCU) 6-4, 5-6 DNF
6. #61 Mac Styslinger (UVa) vs. #112 Guillermo Nunez (TCU) 3-6, 6-6 DNF

Doubles
1. ##24 Stein/Chappell (TCU) def. #37 Corinteli/Shane (UVa) 7-5
2. #41 Kwiatkowski/Styslinger (UVa) def. Nunez/Norrie (TCU) 7-6(2)
3. Altamirano/Frank (UVa) def. Blake/Johnson (TCU) 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,2,1)

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Men’s Team Indoor Championships 1st round
Feb 13, 2015
#10 Baylor 4, #6 Duke 1
Singles
1. #9 Nicolas Alvarez (DUKE) def. #10 Julian Lenz (BU) 6-4, 6-2
2. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) def. #38 Jason Tahir (DUKE) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4
3. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU) def. #77 Raphael Hemmeler (DUKE) 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-1
4. #95 Bruno Semenzato (DUKE) vs. Diego Galeano (BU) unfinished
5. Chris Mengel (DUKE) vs. Mate Zsiga (BU) unfinished
6. Vince Schneider (BU) def. Josh Levine (DUKE) 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-3

Doubles
1. #34 Nicolas Alvarez/Raphael Hemmeler (DUKE) vs. #40 Tony Lupieri/Mate Zsiga (BU) unfinished
2. Julian Lenz/Diego Galeano (BU) def. Josh Levine/Jason Tahir (DUKE) 6-2
3. Vince Schneider/Felipe Rios (BU) def. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DUKE) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (2,1,6,3)

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Men’s Team Indoor Championships 1st round
Feb 13, 2015
#2 Oklahoma 4, #19 Mississippi 1
Singles
1. #59 Nicholas Scholtz (MISS) def. #26 Andrew Harris (OKLA) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
2. #11 Axel Alvarez (OKLA) vs. #78 Stefan Lindmark (MISS) 3-6, 6-4, 5-6, unfinished
3. #31 Dane Webb (OKLA) def. Gustav Hansson (MISS) 6-2, 6-4
4. Spencer Papa (OKLA) def. William Kallberg (MISS) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8)
5. #63 Alex Ghilea (OKLA) def. Zvonimir Babic (MISS) 7-5, 6-3
6. Jose Salazar (OKLA) vs. Vinod Gowda (MISS) 5-7, 6-6, unfinished
Doubles
1. #5 Axel Alvarez/Dane Webb (OKLA) vs. #55 Gustav Hansson/William Kallberg (MISS) 5-4, unfinished
2. Spencer Papa/Andrew Harris (OKLA) def. Nicholas Scholtz/Zvonimir Babic (MISS) 6-2
3. Jose Salazar/Alex Ghilea (OKLA) def. Stefan Lindmark/Grey Hamilton (MISS) 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,5,1,4)
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Men’s Team Indoor Championships 1st round
Feb 13, 2015
#7 North Carolina 4, #10 UCLA 2
Singles
1. #6 Brayden Schnur (UNC) vs. #2 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 3-4, unfinished
2. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. #44 Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3
3. #88 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) def. Brett Clark (UNC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. Oystein Steiro (UNC) def. Gage Brymer (UCLA) 6-1, 7-5
5. #104 Jack Murray (UNC) def. Karue Sell (UCLA) 6-2, 6-0
6. #75 Robert Kelly (UNC) def. #90 Austin Rapp (UCLA) 1-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4
Doubles
1. #6 Mackenzie McDonald/Martin Redlicki (UCLA) def. Brayden Schnur/Oystein Steiro (UNC) 6-1
2. Joseph Di Giulio/Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Brett Clark/Robert Kelly (UNC) 6-2
3. Jack Murray/Ronnie Schneider (UNC) vs. Dennis Mkrtchian/Austin Rapp (UCLA) 4-4, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (5,4,3,6,2)
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This week's ITF Grade 3 tournament in Mexico drew a large contingent of Americans, and although semifinal action isn't yet complete for the day, qualifier Rachel Lim is through to the final. Lim, the Easter Bowl 14s champion last year, defeated fellow American Amanda Meyer 7-6, 6-4 according to the live scoring website.  Hanna Chang and Zeke Clark were also in the semifinals but their results are not known at the moment.