Women's Division I Tennis Coaches Call for Vote on No-ad Format

Yesterday afternoon, I was contacted by Lin Loring, head women's coach at Indiana University regarding the process that led to the recent NCAA announcement that Division I tennis would use a no-ad format for the coming season. The decision to go to no-ad was arrived at by the ITA Division I Operating Committee and the NCAA Division I Committee, but was not put to a vote of coaches. Loring provided me with the following petition, asking for such a vote. If you would like to discuss this with him, or add your school to the list, Loring's contact information is in the link I provided above.

To Whom It May Concern:

We the Head Women’s Tennis Coaches at the schools listed below want to express our concern over the recent changes made to college tennis by the NCAA Tennis Committee and the ITA. We strongly believe these decisions do not represent the wishes of the majority of Women’s Coaches in NCAA Division I. Three major changes were made: the de-emphasis of doubles, the use of no-ad scoring and the practice of abandoning all dead singles matches. We are very open to discussions to shorten the length of team matches, but it must be a representative process. Again, we are convinced these changes, in their current format, do not represent the wishes of Women’s Head Coaches, and more importantly the women college players. Please allow the Women’s Head Tennis Coaches to vote before you make such a dramatic change to women’s college tennis.

Indiana University

UCLA

Stanford University

University of Colorado

University of Michigan

Boston University

Loyola Marymount

Stephen F. Austin

Florida State University

North Texas State

Eastern Michigan University

University of Albany

University of Minnesota

Louisiana Tech Univ.

Rutgers University

University of Utah

Mississippi State Univ.

Furman University

Marquette University

IUPU Indianapolis

Abilene Christian University

Texas A & M

University of Wisconsin

Cal Poly San Louis Obispo

University of Louisville

Murray State University

Drake University

San Diego State

SIU Carbondale

Indiana Purdue FW

Dartmouth University

University of Pennsylvania

University of Mass Amherst

University of Missouri

Univ. of Alabama Birmingham

NJ Institute of Technology

CSU Fullerton

Howard University

University of Tennessee Martin

Wake Fores University

Morgan State University

William & Mary

Santa Clara University

Seton Hall University

U.S. Air Force Academy

Florida International Univ.

Missouri State University

U. C. Santa Barbara

University of Illinois

DePaul University

University of Cincinnati

University of Toledo

Brown University

Marshall University

Butler University

SUNY Buffalo 

Sacred Heart University

Quinnipiac University

Bryant University

University of Northern Iowa

University of Notre Dame

Long Beach State Univ.

Virginia Commonwealth

North Carolina A&T

Univ. of Evansville

Liberty University

Eastern Illinois University

South Alabama

Youngstown State

U.S. Naval Academy

Florida Gulf Coast

George Mason University

University of Akron

University of Montana

Washington State University

Purdue University

St. Mary’s College

Cleveland State University

UNC Greensboro

Niagara University

Virginia Tech

University of Hartford

U.C. Irvine

University of Iowa

University of Rhode Island

Creighton University

Michigan State University

Wichita State University

University of Richmond

Bucknell University

Univ. Nevada Las Vegas

University of Nebraska

Xavier University

University of Kentucky

Brigham Young University

Univ. of Southern California

University of Washington

U. C. Riverside

University of Central Florida

U. C. Berkeley

University of Wyoming

Sam Houston State University

UM Kansas City

Lamar University

University of New Orleans

U. of Northern Colorado

Vanderbilt University

Middle Tennessee State U.

Northwestern State Univ.

Univ. of LA Lafayette

Arkansas State University

Univ. of Nebraska Omaha

UNC Asheville

University of Connecticut

Nicholls State University

Longwood University

Bowling Green University

Kansas State University

Saint Joseph’s University

Univ. of Wisconsin Green Bay

Elon University

Univ. of California Davis

Cornell University

Chicago State University

UM Balitmore County

Stony Brook University

Seattle University

University of Kansas

Sam Houston State University

Louisiana State University

Winthrop University

University of Louisiana Monroe

Samford University

Miami University

Montana State University

East Tennessee University

University of Maryland

University of Pittsburgh

University of Massachusets

Binghamton University

Louisiana Tech

Western Carolina University

Univ. of Texas El Paso

University of Idaho

Saint Peter’s University

Kalamazoo Center Court Dedicated to George Acker; Mats Wilander Teams With Juniors for Two Wins in Opening Night Exhibition

©Colette Lewis 2014--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Seven-time grand slam singles champion Mats Wilander was the star of the opening ceremonies for the USTA Boys 16 and 18 National Championships Saturday night at Stowe Stadium, pairing with two reigning Kalamazoo champions to win two sets of doubles.

But he wasn't the only legendary member of the tennis community on the minds of the thousand or so spectators who gathered for the RX Optical and Greenleaf Trust Exhibition on a beautiful summer evening. George Acker, the former Kalamazoo College men's tennis coach who died in 2011, was honored prior to the doubles exhibition, with the center court re-christened George Acker court.  Acker, who won seven NCAA Division III national titles at Kalamazoo College between 1959 and 1993, was NCAA Division III coach of the year in 1982 and 1991. Hundreds of former players, colleagues, friends and alumni were present for the unveiling of of the lettering behind each baseline, and his wife and daughters were recognized by Kalamazoo College president Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, who spoke of Acker's countless contributions to the college and the community over the years.

The dedication of the court was followed by the introduction of the seeded players, and then on to the tennis.  Comedian Michael Kosta, who played tennis at the University of Illinois and has been doing stand up comedy for the past decade, was the Master of Ceremonies, and he poked fun at everyone and everything: Wilander's doubles faults,  a 17-year-old line judge, the chair umpire's hometown of Findlay, Ohio, the "veteran" ballrunners; nothing escaped his notice.

The first set had the top-seeded doubles team of Collin Altamirano and Deiton Baughman split up, with Altamirano and Wilander facing Baughman and Cameron Lickle, who is a partner in the Wilander on Wheels venture that crisscrosses the country providing clinics and instruction.  Although Wilander will be 50 in a few weeks, he more than held his own with the younger players on the court, and he and Altamirano, the reigning Kalamazoo 18s singles champion, took the first set 6-3.  Wilander then played another set with Paul Oosterbaan of Kalamazoo, who is the reigning 18s doubles champion, with Lickle partnering Stefan Kozlov, a member of the second-seeded doubles team.

Kozlov and Lickle led 5-1, but Wilander and Oosterbaan came all the way back to force at tiebreaker at 5-5, with Kozlov pulling out a wood racquet during the eighth game.

"I found it in my bag," the 16-year-old Wimbledon boys finalist said as he held the Borg Bancroft racquet. "Just like I found that flag in my bag (the US flag in the Wimbledon final against Noah Rubin, his doubles partner this week). It was an exhibition, obviously, and I wanted to have some fun and I played really well with it actually."

After a few entertaining points, Kozlov returned to his Head racquet, but he continued to have fun, teasing the ballrunners and smiling often.

"It's my first time playing this exhibition, and they do a really good job with it," said Kozlov, who got into the spirit of the exhibition by hitting a tweener early in a long point his team eventually won. "Michael was pretty funny."

Oosterbaan was part of the exhibition last year with Mark Knowles, so he knew what to expect, and was more than willing to serve every point for his team late in the tiebreaker, which he and Wilander won 12-11.

"I think my serves a little harder than his, I'm not sure though," said the 6-foot-9 18-year-old. "This was awesome.  I think Stefan and I started a little slow, but we picked it up and it got competitive and fun at the end. A lot of long rallies.  Mats was cracking jokes and keeping it fun, even when I was struggling at the beginning.  It was a great experience to play with a grand slam champion."

As for Kosta's needling, Oosterbaan took it in stride.

"That made it more fun," said Oosterbaan. "I'm glad he could come and it was fun hearing him talk to everyone, keep it lively."

Wilander was making his second appearance in a Kalamazoo exhibition, the first being in 1988 against Andre Agassi, when he had already won two slam titles that year and would win the US Open a few weeks later.

Wilander spoke briefly of the international reputation of the tournament, saying that it was the goal of any young pro to beat the American who had won Kalamazoo, even though he admitted to having difficulty spelling it.

In the actual tournament competition, there were few upsets in doubles, with 14 of the 16 teams in both the 18s and 16s making it through to the third round.

In the day's last match, Trevor Johnson and Mitch Stewart defeated No. 7 seeds Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz 4-6, 7-6(7), 10-8, a contest that drew a large crowd to the stands and landing above court 5.  Tillman Haynes and Jesse Ruder-Hook defeated Clay Court finalists and No. 12 seeds Yancy Dennis and Brian Tsao 7-6(1), 6-7(4), 10-3.

In the 16s, Aleks Huryn and Abhin Sharma defeated No. 14 seeds William Genesen and Johnathan Small 6-2, 4-6, 13-11 and Nick Stachowiak and Christopher Yun downed No. 5 seeds Sam Riffice and Brandon Holt 6-3, 6-4.

For complete draws and Sunday's singles schedule, see the tournament website.

My Kalamazoo Preview; NCAA Goes No-Ad in Team and Individual Championships

One of the best Kalamazoo tournaments in years begins this morning with two rounds of doubles, with all singles first round matches in both the 16s and 18s scheduled for Sunday.  My preview is available this morning at the Tennis Recruiting Network.  Despite all the excitement of this week, a real spirit-dampening press release was issued by the NCAA on Thursday.

The NCAA Division I Tennis Committee announced the format for the 2015 championships (and beyond) and it features, most dramatically, no-ad scoring for singles and doubles, including the individual championships. 

I've never liked no-ad, believing it to be antithetical to the nature of the game, so this is very bad news for me.  I've heard all the arguments for revising the format in the past two years, but they haven't changed my mind about this, and I fear the level of play will decline when top players rightfully ask how this prepares them for the rigors of professional tennis. I'm disappointed that USTA Player Development is on board with this, especially for the individual tournament, where the winner, if American, would go from no-ad best of three to a best-of-five-sets match at the US Open. 

I'll have to do a lot more thinking about this before I decide how it will affect my coverage of the college version of the sport, but I am leaning toward cutting back on Division I, perhaps focusing more on Division III, and returning primarily to junior tennis coverage, where I started.  I'll be giving that some thought in the coming weeks and months, but I won't be purchasing plane tickets to Waco, Texas any time soon.

Draws Released, Kalamazoo Nationals Begin Saturday with Doubles, Opening Ceremony

The qualifying has been completed, so the Kalamazoo draws are now available for both singles and doubles at the tournament website, ustaboys.com.  The top three seeds in the 18s qualifying--No. 9 Deiton Baughman, No. 19 Reilly Opelka and No. 11 Logan Smith--made it through and are seeded in the main draw.

The five other qualifiers in the 18s are: Jimmy Bendeck, Jake Jacoby, Alexander Lebedev, No. 12 qualifying seed Austin Hussey and No. 6 qualifying seed Ciro Riccardi.  Bendeck won his match 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) over Charles Tan.  Three lucky losers were given entry: Pally Ray(7), Nathan Brown(11) and Fred Mesmer.

In the 16s, the qualifiers are Jackson Suh(1), Maxwell Cancilla(14), Aleks Huryn, Max Pham(8), Vatsal Bajpai(11), Jason Kerst (in a third set tiebreaker), Aleksandar Kovacevic and Brian Cernoch(2).  One lucky loser is into the 16s, No. 3 seed Sebastian Arcila.   None of the 16s qualifiers were seeded in the main draw.

The complete list of seeds is in the post below this one.

Main draw plays begins Saturday with first round doubles at 8 a.m. Another round of doubles, which will feature all seeded teams, is also on the schedule, followed by the opening ceremonies featuring Mats Wilander. Wilander and 2013 18s doubles champion Paul Oosterbaan of Kalamazoo will play the top-seeded boys doubles team of Collin Altamirano and Baughman.

The schedule for Saturday's doubles can be accessed via the "Match Times" tab on the home page later today. The first round of singles is Sunday, with times to be posted Saturday evening.

Jared Donaldson No. 1 Seed in 18s; John McNally Top Seed in 16s at Kalamazoo

With the completion of qualifying, the seeds have been announced for the 2014 USTA National Boys 16s and 18s Championships at Kalamazoo. Draws will be up later today.

BOYS 18s:

1. Jared Donaldson
2. Ernesto Escobedo
3. Noah Rubin
4. Stefan Kozlov
5. Collin Altamirano
6. Francis Tiafoe
7. Michael Mmoh
8. Taylor Fritz
9. Deiton Baughman
10. Alex Rybakov
11. Logan Smith
12. Henrik Wiersholm
13. Tommy Paul
14. Jordi Arconada
15. Dan Kerznerman
16. Sameer Kumar
17. Walker Duncan
18. Jacob Hansen
19. Reilly Opelka
20. Aron Hiltzik
21. Nathan Ponwith
22. Daniel Grunberger
23. McClain Kessler
24. Trevor Johnson
25. William Griffith
26. Vincent Lin
27. Dan Stefan
28. Dennis Wang
29. Cameron Klinger
30. Josh Silverstein
31. Yancy Dennis
32. Korey Lovett

BOYS 16s:

1. John McNally
2. Jacob Brumm
3. Patrick Kypson
4. Gianni Ross
5. Alex Phillips
6. Sam Riffice
7. Zeke Clark
8. William Blumberg
9. Connor Hance
10. Ulises Blanch
11. Liam Caruana
12. William Genesen
13. Evan Zhu
14. Alexander Keyser
15. Jordan Benjamin
16. Sebastian Mermersky
17. Jason Lui
18. Robert Loeb
19. Nicholas Beaty
20. Chase Wood
21. William Howells
22. Trent Bryde
23. Brandon Holt
24. JJ Wolf
25. Timothy Sah
26. Jacob Walker
27. Vasil Kirkov
28. Johnathan Small
29. Caleb Chakravarthi
30. Jake Van Emburgh
31. Kyle Seelig
32. Anudeep Kodali