NCAA Roundtable Part II; First Round Drama as D-I Team Championships Begin; Four Americans Reach $50K Semifinals; Finals Set at Delray Beach Grade 4

Part II of the Tennis Recruiting Network's NCAA Division I Roundtable was posted this morning, with the panel asked to pick a possible upset victim in the regionals and give their choices to win the team championships.

As is customary in the first round, there were no huge upsets, but several No. 3 seeds did beat No. 2 seeds.  Because the men kick off play this year in Waco next Thursday, all their first round matches were today, while only half of the women's first round matches were on the schedule.

Two women's matches were decided in the last match on. The first saw No. 2 seed Georgia Tech, playing without No. 2 Paige Hourigan, defeat Wichita State 4-3, with Yellowjacket Megan Kurey saving two match points in the second set, then coming from 5-3, 30-0 down in the third set against Abby Stevens to claim the 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 victory at line 4. Due no doubt to Hourigan's absence, a doubles lineup dispute delayed the match's start by 40 minutes.  The other 4-3 decision came in the Vanderbilt regional, where No. 3 seed Oklahoma outlasted No. 2 seed Ohio State. Christina Brigante of Oklahoma defeated Ferny Aneles Paz of Ohio State 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 at line 4 to put the Sooners in the final against Vanderbilt.

The draw is here, with today's women's results below (regional host in parentheses in 2 vs 3):

[2] LSU def. [3] New Mexico 4-0 (Texas Tech)

[2] Georgia Tech def. [3]Wichita State 4-3 (Florida)

[2] Clemson def. [3] South Alabama 4-0 (Alabama)

[3] Oklahoma def. [2] Ohio State 4-3 (Vanderbilt)

[3] Mississippi State def. [2] Houston 4-2 (Cal)

[2] Pepperdine def. [3] Auburn 4-2 (Stanford)

[3] DePaul def. [2] Kentucky 4-1 (Michigan)

[2] Ole Miss def. [3] Denver 4-1 (Miami)

[1] Miami def. [4] North Florida 4-0

[1] Stanford def. [4] Stony Brook 4-0

[1] Michigan def. [4] Miami Ohio 4-0

[1] Vanderbilt def. [4] Murray State 4-0

[1] Alabama def. [4] Samford 4-0

[1] Florida def. [4] Bethune Cookman 5-0

[1] Texas Tech def. [4]New Mexico St 4-0

[1] Cal def. [4]Bryant 4-0

The men had even more drama, with two matches decided by third-set tiebreakers. No. 3 seed San Diego State defeated No. 2 seed San Diego 4-3 in the Southern Cal regional, with the match coming down to line 6. Freshman Santiago Cevallos of San Diego State defeated Ciaran Fitzgerald  6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3), for the Aztecs' first NCAA win since 2003.

At the Norman regional, No. 2 Northwestern and No. 3 Harvard battled through a lightning delay and a tornado evacuation, with Northwestern claiming a 4-3 victory when Harvard's Kenny Tao was overruled on match point leading 6-5 in the tiebreaker against Fedor Baev. It was Tao's third overrule of the match, meaning a point penalty had to be assessed, which gave Baev a 7-6 lead. According to the Harvard twitter account, Baev then hit an ace, giving Northwestern a 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(6) victory. Northwestern's reward is a match with overall No. 1 Oklahoma.

Three No. 3 seeds beat No. 2 seeds in the men's action, with the already discussed San Diego State win, Pepperdine beating Florida 4-3, and Drake defeating Louisville.  Other 4-3 victories were Mississippi State's over Denver and Tulsa's over North Carolina State.

Only one No. 1 seed lost so much as a point in today's action, which you can see from the results below. Thanks to Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today for the template for these results. 

[2] Stanford def. [3] Tennessee (Duke) – 4-2

[2] Mississippi State def. [3] Denver (UNC) – 4-3

[2] Minnesota def. [3] Princeton (Virginia) – 4-1

[2] Vanderbilt def. [3] Notre Dame (Ohio St) – 4-1

[2] Cal def. [3] Texas A&M CC (Texas) – 4-0

[2] Florida State def. [3] Troy (UGA) – 4-0

[2] South Florida def. [3] Boise State (VT) – 4-0

[3] Pepperdine def. [2] Florida (Wake Forest) – 4-3

[2] Oklahoma St def. [3] New Mexico (A&M) – 4-0

[2] Tulsa def. [3] NC State (TCU) – 4-3

[2] Columbia def. [3] Georgia Tech (Ole Miss) – 4-1

[2] Texas Tech def. [3] UCSB (UCLA) 4-2

[3] San Diego State def. [2] San Diego (Southern Cal) – 4-3

[3] Drake def. [2] Louisville (Illinois) - 4-2

[2] LSU def. [3] Texas-San Antonio (Baylor) – 4-0

[2] Northwestern def. [3] Harvard (Oklahoma) - 4-3

  

[1] Duke def. [4] South Carolina State - 4-0

[1] North Carolina def [4] William & Mary - 4-0

[1] Virginia def. [4] St. John's - 4-0

[1] Ohio State def. [4] Buffalo - 4-0

[1] Georgia def. [4] Winthrop - 4-0

[1] Texas def. [4] Navy – 4-0

[1] Virginia Tech def. [4] East Tennessee State – 4-1

[1] Wake Forest def. [4] George Washington - 4-0

[1] Texas A&M def. [4] Eastern Kentucky – 4-0

[1] TCU def. [4] Marist - 4-0

[1] UCLA def. [4] Florida Gulf Coast  - 4-0

[1] Ole Miss def. [4] Alabama State – 4-0

[1] Southern Cal def. [4] Idaho – 4-0

[1] Oklahoma def. [4] New Mexico State – 4-0

[1] Illinois def. [4]Wisconsin-Green Bay - 4-0

[1] Baylor def. [4] Bryant – 4-0

The men's draw is here.

At the $50,000 Women's Pro Circuit event in Indian Harbour Beach, all three French Open wild card contenders advanced, with No. 7 seed Katerina Stewart beating No. 3 seed Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-1, 6-1, Louisa Chirico beating Francoise Abanda of Canada 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, and Allie Kiick beating Jessica Moore of Australia 6-4, 6-4.  Stewart and Kiick will play in the semifinals, with Chirico taking on No. 5 seed Maria Sanchez, the fourth American in the semifinals. Sanchez defeated Storm Sanders of Australia 7-6(1), 6-3 and, although she has no chance for the wild card, the former Southern Cal star can play a significant role in its distribution. 

At the $10,000 men's Futures in Orange Park, No. 4 seed Stefan Kozlov reached the semifinals, defeating Wil Spencer 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4. He'll face Sekou Bangoura, who beat Tennys Sandgren 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).

At the ITF Grade 4 in Delray Beach, wild card Oliver Crawford will meet No. 5 seed Patrick Kypson for the boys title.  In the girls final, No. 4 seed Hurricane Tyra Black will face wild card Taylor Johnson. Draws and the order of play for Saturday can be found here