East Tennessee State Wins Tight Match Over Charlotte

The day after the Charlotte women defeated East Carolina, East Tennessee State strolled into the University area and took a close one from the 49ers, 4-3.



The day before, Charlotte dropped the doubles point on their way to victory. Against East Tennessee State the Lady Niners opened the day by winning two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. But when it came down to the singles matches, they could not come up with the necessary three wins. Typically the team that takes the doubles point is well positioned to win the match, but based on the last two days you might say that theory may need a revision. The odds will always favor the team that earns the doubles point, but in the last three matches I've seen at Georgia Tech and Charlotte, the doubles point winner has gone on to lose the match.

On court one in singles, #74 ranked Yevgeniya Stupak of East Tennessee defeated Ana Spivakovsky in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). Spivakovsky fell behind a break early in the first set but came back to even it up, but she could not take advantage in the tie break. In the second set she jumped up a break early but Stupak broke her back shortly after and this one was even until they reached a tie break.



On court two, Yudeshnee Pillay of Charlotte breezed through her opponent, Tara Byrne, 6-2, 6-1. On court six, Kimber Redfern of Charlotte once again dominated her opponent and won it easily, 6-1, 6-0. That made it two days in a row that Redfern won her match in a rout. While she doesn't hit a lot of big balls, she gets a lot of balls back and she moves her opponents around the court consistently. It's a formula that has served her well these last two days.



The match came down to court four, where the 49ers' Andrea Rivera took the first set on Buccaneers freshman Paula Jamie from Madrid, Spain, 7-5. Jamie plays with a two-handed forehand and backhand and has very consistent strokes. After she won the second set, Jamie was broken in the first game of the third set. She quickly broke back and then held at 2-1. She was moving Rivera around the court and Rivera was not able to keep her strokes in play. Jamie went on to win the third set 6-3 and clinch the match for East Tennessee.

The loss dropped Charlotte to 9-4 on the season and I later found out it was their first loss at home this season. East Tennessee State, who plays in the Atlantic Sun conference, raised their record to 7-4. It was a tough loss for Charlotte as their only singles wins came at the two and six positions. To win those close matches, you have to be able to win at four, five and six. Maybe next time.

Time.

Charlotte Defeats East Carolina

On Saturday, March 21 I had the opportunity to see the Charlotte women's tennis team for the first time this season. The Lady Niners were off to an 8-3 start while their opponent, East Carolina, was coming into the match at 10-3. I wasn't sure what to expect from these teams from the Atlantic 10 and Conference USA, respectively. I did think it would be a competitive contest.

East Carolina took the doubles point on a cool and very sunny day in Charlotte. The Pirates won at courts one and three by a score of 8-4 on each court. It's never a good sign when you lose the doubles point.

When singles play started you could tell Charlotte was going to make this a tough match. They jumped out to big leads on courts one, five and six and won each of those first sets fairly easily. On court six, Kimber Redfern of Charlotte fell behind 2-0 in the second set and it looked like that match might turn, but instead Redfern quickly found the zone she was in when she won the first set 6-2, and breezed the rest of the way to win it 6-2 over Tamara Sachs. She was simply better at keeping the ball in play and making her opponent take one more shot. On court four, Brooke Walter from East Carolina was breezing through Gabi Vergara and won it decisively 6-1, 6-2. A short while later, the Lady Niners closed out the match on court five and the match was tied at 2-2.



On court one, after Charlotte senior Yudeshnee Pillay won her first set over Jessica Cook 6-3, it looked she would be a lock to win it in straight sets. Cook played a lot looser in the second set and held on for a 6-4 win, sending it to a third. Pillay fought back and took the final set 6-3, giving Charlotte the lead. Charlotte would later close out the matches on courts two and three to take the match 5-2.

The Charlotte men's team did not have a match scheduled and they were out to cheer the Lady Niners on, following their practice session. Good stuff. With the win, Charlotte improved its record to 9-3 and all of these wins will come in handy when being considered for the NCAA tournament later in the season.

Time.

Georgia Tech Takes Down Notre Dame In a Thriller

I was in Atlanta last weekend for a big, regular season non-conference women's match between fourth ranked Notre Dame and seventh ranked Georgia Tech. I was expecting that this one would be a classic and it certainly was. Notre Dame came into the match 14-1 while the Lady Jackets were 7-4. Their losses all came at the hands of top ranked schools. When the match started the indoor stands were 90% full on a cool and rainy day in Atlanta. No one knew that this would turn out to be a seven hour match or that we would experience a power loss that knocked the lights out for 15 minutes. That's what helped make the day so memorable.



As Bryan Shelton has turned Georgia Tech into one of the leading power teams in the NCAA, he has consistently scheduled the top teams in the country for his non-conference schedule. As a fan this is great because you know you will always have a chance to see some of the best women's college tennis in the country and it also helps his team to stay sharp as they prepare for post season play. It doesn't hurt that the ACC is also one of the best conferences in the country in tennis.

The match started out with the Irish taking the doubles point, with wins on courts one and two. After the teams split on one and three, the point came down to court two. After almost 90 minutes, ND pulled out a 9-7 win. As a GT follower, you know the women have won many matches over the years after losing the doubles point, including when they won the national championship over UCLA, so you never think they can't win four singles matches. The truth is you don't want to put yourself in that situation if you don't have to.

In singles, Georgia Tech's defending national singles champion, Amanda McDowell, looked strong in defeating 35th ranked Kelsy Tefft in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. On court three, GT's #44 ranked Christy Striplin beat Kristen Rafael rather quickly, 6-1, 6-2.

Just before Notre Dame evened the match at 2-2 on four, the lights went out in the Bill Moore Tennis Center. It reminded some people of the tornado that swept through downtown Atlanta this very weekend last year. It wasn't a weather outage and it took about 15 minutes for the teams to get back out on the courts. The disruption had no impact on the match.

On court two, fifth ranked Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech battled back after losing the first set in what was the best match of the day and defeated 55th ranked Kristy Frilling 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Frilling is a lefty and has a really impressive game. She is especially tough at the net, but she did not come to the net much in this singles match. Falconi never gave up although there were a few times where she lost serve in the second and third sets but each time she was able to get the break back, and then some.

Several of the guys on the GT men's team also attended this match. Guillermo Gomez, the Jackets number one player spent some time with me talking about their season. The men's team is young but they are very competitive and have been in every match. Kenny Thorne is really going to have a good team next season, and they still may surprise some teams before this season is over. If they can get a few solid wins in the ACC, I think they will have a good chance for an at-large bid in the NCAAs in May. Ryan Smith, Miguel Muguruza and Kevin King also stayed throughout the day to cheer on their female counterparts. I love it when teams support one another like that.

The match came down to court six after ND won on court five. Sasha Krupina of Georgia Tech dominated early in the first set and I have to admit I was thinking this would be a breeze. After taking a 4-1 lead, ND's Kail Krisik really started to play tough and took the set to 5-5. Krupina seemed nervous and had to really settle down and she did just enough to break Krisik and take the first set 7-5. Krupina really struggled in the second set and went down 6-1 and it wasn't looking good. She got her one game on her last service game of the set and I think that helped give her some confidence for the third. After holding her serve she got a quick break and I think that was all she needed. Krupina went on to win the set 6-2 and the Lady Jackets had another win over the Fighting Irish.

The day also was promoted as "Ace for the Cure," where donations were accepted for breast cancer research. The Yellow Jackets raised over $650 from this fundraiser. Fans contributed by donating, pledging per ace, buying raffle tickets and purchasing pink hats and visors. The Jackets registered 12 aces on the day, including nine by Krupina.

Georgia Tech is now 4-0 all time against Notre Dame since they started playing in 2006. I bet these two will have one more shot at each other later this year at the NCAA national championships. Who would not want to see that one? I've been to a ton of college matches over the last 10 years and this match easily falls into my top 10 memorable matches. It was a classic played by two great teams. Can you do it again, please?

Time.

Charlotte Splits Doubleheader

I visited the UNC Charlotte tennis complex on March 7 to see how the Niners would compete against George Washington and later against North Carolina Central. They came into the matches 1-7 and not being too familiar with A-10 teams I thought they would have a tough time with the Colonials, but the match was closer than I thought.

Charlotte started off by winning the doubles point after winning on both courts one and three by a score of 9-7.

In singles Charlotte was able to pull out victories on courts two and four, but that was all they would get in this match as they fell to 1-8 on the season.



I focused my attention on court five, where Charlotte senior Brad Clinard from High Point, NC had a tough time with Alex Sohaili. Clinard went down 6-1 in the first set but was hanging with Sohaili in the second. At one point Clinard was getting a bit frustrated and after putting a forehand in the net he quickly flipped the ball back at Sohaili and caused him to speak out to the USTA official. The official gave a warning to Clinard, but it was petty. When I talked to Clinard after the match he admitted that he shouldn't have flipped it to him the way he did and agreed with the official's position, but I told him I still thought it was a petty moment. Clinard ended up losing the set 6-4.

The match came down to court six where Jesse Hutchinson of Charlotte battled with Arya Vayghan. The two were playing a lot of long points and after they split the first two sets by identical 6-3 scores, things got a lot tighter in the third. Vayghan was able to pull it out 7-6 by winning the tie break 10-3.

When the second match started, I knew the outcome would be a lot different for the Niners. Charlotte grabbed control on all three courts during doubles, but the match on court three wasn't even close. The NC Central team was simply not able to play at a Division I level and they went down easily 8-0. On courts one and two Charlotte won by scores of 8-5 and 8-4.

In singles, I focused on courts four, five and six. On five, Brad Clinard got off to a fast start and won it 6-1. His teammates on four and six were in control in closer matches and both won their first sets. All three of them would go on to win in straight sets. The same was true on courts one, two and three and Charlotte swept the match 7-0.

It's always good to get a win, but I'm sure the Niners players knew that NC Central is a young and inexperienced program and you can't take too much away from this kind of match. It was good to see Charlotte play a close one with GW and it shows that no matter what their record is or how frustrating the season is turning out to be, they will still go out and play their best. That's all we ever want from any team we watch.

Time.

Charlotte Falls to Elon

On Saturday, February 21 the UNC Charlotte men's tennis team hosted Elon University and I thought it would probably be a competitive match between the Atlantic 10 and Southern Conference teams. Elon was the Southern Conference champs in 2006 and 2007 and finished 17-9 last year. Since 2000, Charlotte has had just three winning seasons including the A-10 championship and a trip to the NCAAs in 2007. The Niners are coming off a 9-15 year in 2008.

As soon as the doubles got going it looked like Charlotte would struggle in the match. On courts one and two they fell behind quickly and the lead continued to grow for the Elon teams. On court one the Niners simply made too many unforced errors during very quick rallies and Elon capitalized. Both matches ended in 8-2 victories for the Phoenix. The number three team for Elon finished the sweep when they won 8-5.

As I walked around the courts during singles play, the court six match looked like it was going to be a tight one. C. Stauffer MacDowell from Elon and freshman C. Martin-Le Camp of Charlotte were playing a lot of long points and games early in their match. Both guys did a great job of getting balls back and not trying to go for too much, leading to those long points. In the fourth game with MacDowell serving I think they played six or seven deuce points before Martin-LeCamp broke. He went on to a 6-4 win in the set.

I went to visit the other courts but things were not looking good for Charlotte. They had dropped the first sets on one and two, 6-0 each. On court three, Carlin Murray of Elon was battling with Moritz Bernhoerster and they went to a first set tiebreak where Murray took it 7-5. They went back and forth in the second and Bernhoerster won it 7-5. Murray would take the third set in a super tiebreak, 10-6. At that point, Elon had already won their matches on courts 1, 2, 4 and 5 and won the match.



All that was left for the sweep was court six and MacDowell evened the match up at 1-1 with a 6-3 win in the second. They also played a super tiebreak for the third and MacDowell won it 10-7.

With the victory, Elon moved its record to 5-4 while Charlotte dropped to 1-4. It's hard to tell where Elon will fall in the Southern, but I would guess they will be in the top third and may even challenge for the conference title, but I think Furman will be a bigger test for them. Charlotte has two seniors and two juniors on their 10 man squad, so they are still rather young, but I did not see anything that would lead me to believe they can finish at .500 or better.

Time.

Davidson Hosts South Carolina Upstate

I had my first chance to see the Davidson men's tennis team play on Saturday in a non-conference match versus South Carolina Upstate. I saw the USC Upstate Spartans about a month ago in Atlanta. They played a tough match against Georgia Tech before going down 5-2. I had a feeling they would be a tough opponent for Davidson and based on what I saw it might end up being a tough year for the Wildcats.

The doubles turned out to be a landslide win for the Spartans. Davidson seemed to play very carelessly on court three and were shut out 8-0. The court two duo for Davidson did not fare much better and lost 8-2. The Davidson ones got a few more games but went down 8-4 for the USC sweep. I was hoping it might be a little closer in singles, as it sometimes can be after a doubles rout.

When Davidson lost the first set of each match on one through four I thought this one would be over pretty quickly. Thanks to Eric Noble of Davidson, who regrouped on court three and came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win, I did not see a shutout. But it was the match on court four that was the most entertaining of the day.

Calum Gee of Davidson went down a few breaks in the first set and battled back before dropping it 6-4. His opponent, Javier Tori, was in a zone and playing very good tennis. Tori has a great two-handed backhand and he used it very effectively in that first set. Gee got an early break on Tori in the second set and Tori seemed to be forcing his shots a little more. Gee went up 5-0 before Tori got two games back. Gee then closed out the set 6-2. Tori opened the third facing three break points and got them all back. The momentum swung his way when he won the first game. Tori broke Gee and regained his confidence in a big way. He went on to win the third set 6-3 and was very vocal as he closed it out. It was a nice comeback, as I wasn't sure he could rebound if he had dropped the first game.

With this win, USC Upstate moved to 5-2 on the season and I think they will be a leader in the Atlantic Sun conference. Davidson dropped to 2-5 and I think they are going to have a tough time in the Southern Conference.

Time.

UW Great Northwest Shootout

While visiting my family in Seattle recently, I made a plan to bring two of my nephews to the Great Northwest Shootout at the University of Washington's Nordstrom Tennis Center. UW invited Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Boise State from the WAC for the three day event. The Huskies, who were ranked 39th, opened with a win over Oklahoma. On day two, the 30th ranked Broncos defeated the Sooners. On paper it looked like the day three matchup would be a good one. The Huskies and Broncos did not disappoint the the big crowd that turned out for the match.

There is great enthusiasm for the Washington tennis program. Matt Anger, one of the top coaches in the country, consistently has his team playing in the NCAA tournament. The Huskies have made the NCAA tournament the last 14 years. The Nordstrom Tennis Center is also a great place to watch a match, with six full courts and above court seating. And if you can't make the match, don't worry because you can catch it online as all home matches are streamed free on the internet. Nice.

As is the case with almost every college tennis match, the doubles point would be a big one. The Huskies were not able to get it done on courts one and two and lost both 8-5 to lose the doubles point. The number three team for the Huskies of Tobi Obenaus and Brad Bator defeated B. Shields and Freddy Walsh 8-5 to avoid the doubles sweep.

The singles looked to be pretty tight right from the start except on court six where David Chu of UW won in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. Courts three, four and five were tough to call and all three would go to three sets to decide a winner. UW won on court one when sophomore Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan upset # 22 Clancy Shields, 6-3, 6-4. The Huskies lost on court two and the match was tied at 2-2.

My nephews had a great time as they continued to go from court to court to follow the scores and report back to me what the Huskies chances were. It was good they moved around so much as they needed to burn off the all pizza and sodas they had, compliments of UW, between the doubles and singles matches. Pizza and sodas are a great tradition at UW matches.

When UW won on court three they took a 3-2 lead with courts four and five headed right to the wire. On five, Stanley Sarapanich of Boise State beat Tobi Obenaus, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to tie the match at 3-3. On four it looked like Derek Drabble from UW had control of the match, especially when his opponent Cristian Hodel complained to the official on more than one occasion about close line calls. Hodel played tough and was able to send the match to a tiebreak shortly after his teammate won it on court five. Drabble got the early mini-break but quickly gave it back and the match would end minutes later with Hodel winning it 7-4.

This was a very good early season matchup. I would expect that both teams will make the NCAA field of 64 later in the season. I was very impressed with how Boise State played and I expect Washington will bounce back quickly. The Huskies next match is later this week when they play Pac-10 rival Oregon in a non-conference match. The two teams will also play a conference match later in the season.

Time.

Getting Up for an SEC Match at South Carolina

It is always easy to get up for a match with an SEC opponent. Georgia Tech traveled to South Carolina, a team they had defeated last season, with the hope of taking them out again. In college tennis, the SEC is one of the top three conferences in the country and the outcome always provides a good indicator of how your program matches up. While the ACC is also one of the top conferences in the country, it hasn't won as many titles as the SEC or Pac 10. I love watching inter-conference play with the SEC because it gives you a chance to see what the talent is looking like in a leading conference.

Georgia Tech certainly came to play on Saturday in Columbia. In doubles, the ones fell behind early while the twos and threes took early leads. The ones were the first to finish with South Carolina winning 8-6. At number two, the team of Kevin King and Doug Kenny battled for a 9-7 win, evening the match at 1-1. For awhile it looked like the Yellow Jackets would stay in control on court three, but the Gamecocks battled back and took the match 8-6 and South Carolina was up 1-0.

There was a great crowd on hand for this one. Lots of students showed up, although I bet some of them were probably lured there to get a free Gamecocks tennis t-shirt. USC also hands out free pizza and soda after the doubles match and that food disappeared pretty quickly.

As the singles started, you knew this would turn out to be a close one. Carolina has four indoor courts, so it would be awhile before the five and six players would get out on the court. Guillermo Gomez came out strong on court one for the Jackets. On court two, Kevin King also grabbed the early lead. You knew right from the start that Eliot Potvin was going to have a tough day for GT on court three. He ended up going down in straight sets. King and Gomez each won the first set, then lost the second 1-6. Both players came back to win the third set 6-3. It was 2-2 at that point.

Court four was the key match. Ivan Machado of South Carolina took the first set on Dusan Miljevic. Machado had some really great returns and played very consistently throughout the match, but Miljevic started to get back in it in the second set. He took a big lead on Machado and won it 6-3 and seemed to have the edge. Machado got off to a fast start in the third set and did not look back, winning it 6-1.

At number six singles, Ryan Smith of GT played Ivan Cressoni, a tough lefty who was able to keep Smith moving all over the court. Smith was kept off balance the entire match and Cressoni won it in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Smith never really got a chance to break him and the loss gave Carolina the match.

For a time it looked like the number five singles match would even things up between the two teams. Miguel Muguruza of GT took the first set 6-3 on Johannes Pulsofrt and went up a break in set two. Pulsofrt worked his way back into the set and took control, winning set two 6-4. He maintained that control right through the third set, winning that one 6-2.

I thought it was a great match. It lasted about six hours and all but one singles match went three sets. The Gamecocks played well and fought back to earn the win. It will be interesting to see where they end up in the SEC. For a team with as much youth as the Yellow Jackets have, they have a lot to look forward to.

Time.

Starting the Season in Atlanta

The college tennis season is underway. On a weekend visit to Atlanta two weeks ago, I decided to head over to midtown to see the Georgia Tech men's opener vs the University of South Carolina Upstate followed by a match against Wofford.

Kenny Thorne is fielding a young, talented team this season. The Jackets have five sophomores, two freshmen and one junior and they got off to a good start against USC Upstate.

Kevin King and Doug Kenny gave the Jackets a 1-0 lead with an 8-4 win at #2. The other two matches were tight. Ryan Smith and Austin Roebuck went back and forth before taking the match 9-7 giving GT the doubles point. Shortly after that win, the number one team of Guillermo Gomez and Eliot Potvin finished off another tight match winning 9-7.

Tech was in control during singles play and the best match of the day turned out to be at #5, where the lone junior from Athens, Georgia, Austin Roebuck, played Arnaldo Lovera. This was a close match from the start. Lovera won the first set 7-6. Roebuck was down most of the second set and it looked like it would be a straight sets defeat. Roebuck got a late break and was able to send it to a tie break, where he won it 9-7 and send the match to a third set. Since GT had already wrapped up the match, the two played a 10 point tie break. This tie break was tight too and Roebuck had to fight to finally get up a mini-break. He pulled it out 12-10 and the Jackets won the match 5-2. Freshman Kevin King played at number one singles and won his first match 6-3, 6-2.

I expected the second match of the day to be even tighter, as Wofford is always a tough competitor and a consistent leader in the Southern Conference. I knew things would be different in this match when GT won at #2 doubles, 8-0. The GT ones and threes were also cruising along and they won respectively, 8-5 and 8-4. I was only able to stay for the doubles as I had to make my way back to Charlotte, but I was not surprised to learn later that the Ramblin Wreck swept the singles matches as well and took the match 7-0.

While the team is young, I think they have some really good talent, especially in freshman Kevin King. It is going to be interesting to see how this team develops over the 2009 season. There was a nice crowd on hand for an opening match. I talked briefly with Kenny Thorne and let him know I'd be out to cheer the team on at South Carolina the following weekend.

Time.