ATHENS, Ga. – With the men’s and women’s team champions decided, the NCAA Tennis Championships move into singles and doubles play at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.
Tuesday, No. 5 Southern California lost the doubles point but rebounded in singles to beat No. 2 Tennessee, 4-2, for the men’s championship. Earlier in the day, No. 8 Stanford held off No. 3 Florida, 4-3, for the women’s title.
Singles competition begins Wednesday for the 64-player draw and the Florida men’s team is represented in singles play by Alexandre Lacroix. Lacroix, who received the No. 8 seed, faces Charles Bottoni of East Tennessee State at 11:30 a.m. Lacroix, an ITA All-American, is 33-10 in singles play, including 22-9 against ranked opponents. Bottoni earned an automatic bid of the Atlantic Sun Conference and is ranked 104th in the latest ITA singles poll.
The doubles draw of 32 teams begin play Thursday, and Florida’s team of Lacroix and Antoine Benneteau will compete. The Gators’ duo is seeded No. 5-8 and faces Oklahoma’s Andrei Daescu and Costin Paval, the No. 18 The Oklahoma pair concluded the regular season ranked 18th in the nation. Benneteau and Lacroix earned ITA All-America honors this season by going 31-7, including 8-3 in matches against ranked teams.
The championship matches for both singles and doubles are scheduled for Monday, May 31.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / Tuesday, May 25, 2010
No. 5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 4, No. 2 TENNESSEE 2
DOUBLES
1. (3) John-Patrick Smith-Davey Sandgren (T) def. (2) Robert Farah-Steve Johnson, 8-6; 2. (12) Rhyne Williams-Boris Conkic (T) vs. Daniel Nguyen-JT Sundling (USC), 7-4, DNF; 3. Edward Jones-Matteo Fago (T) def. Jason McNaughton-Jaak Poldma (USC), 8-6. Order of finish: 1, 3. Tennessee wins doubles point, 2-0.
SINGLES
1. (9) Robert Farah (USC) def. (1) John-Patrick Smith, 7-6, 6-4; 2. (3) Steve Johnson (USC) def. (36) Boris Conkic, 6-3, 6-2; 3. (45) Rhyne Williams (T) def. (89) Jaak Poldma, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1; 4. (83) Daniel Nguyen (USC) def. (111) Tennys Sandgren, 6-7, 6-1, 6-0; 5. (115) Matt Brewer (T) vs. Matt Kecki (USC), 3-6, 7-6, 5-4, DNF; 6. (121) Peter Lucassen (USC) def. Matteo Fago, 6-3, 6-4. Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 6, 4.
Records: Tennessee 31-2, Southern California 25-3.
SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / First round / Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Seedings: (1) Henrique Cunha (Duke); (2) Steve Johnson (Southern California); (3) John-Patrick Smith (Tennesse); (4) Guillermo Gomez (Georgia Tech); (5) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M); (6) Oleksandr Nedovyesov (Oklahoma State); (7) Chase Buchanan (Ohio State); (8) Alexandre Lacroix (Florida).
(9-16): Robert Farah (Southern California); Dimitar Kutrovsky (Texas); Michael Shabaz (Virginia); Eric Quigley (Kentucky); Bradley Klahn (Stanford); Sanam Singh (Virginia); Denes Lukacs (Baylor); Tim Puetz (Auburn).
MATCHES
10 a.m.: Jose Hernandez (North Carolina) vs. Dennis Nevolo (Illinois); Neal Skupski (Louisiana State) vs. Clay Donato (North Carolina); (9-16) Dimitar Kutrovsky (Texas) vs. Pedro Campos (South Carolina); Marek Michalicka (Wisconsin) vs. Raony Carvalho (Texas Tech); (9-16) Denes Lukacs (Baylor) vs. John Peers (Middle Tennessee State); Steven Forman (Wake Forest) vs. Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M); (9-16) Tim Puetz (Auburn) vs. Sven Vloedgraven (Binghamton).
11 a.m.: (9-16) Eric Quigley (Kentucky) vs. Ed Corrie (Texas).
11:30 a.m.: Bassam Beidas (Pepperdine) vs. James Meredith (Boise State); (8) Alexandre Lacroix (Florida) vs. Charles Bottoni (East Tennessee State).
12 p.m.: (7) Chase Buchanan (Ohio State) vs. Jean Aubone (Florida State).
12:30 p.m.: (5) Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) vs. Marcel Thiemann (Mississippi); (9-16) Michael Shabaz (Virginia) vs. Jason Jung (Michigan).
1 p.m.: (4) Guillermo Gomez (Georgia Tech) vs. Moritz Baumann (Wisconsin).
1:30 p.m.: Haythem Abid (UCLA) vs. Casey Watt (Notre Dame); Thibaut Charron (Virginia Commonwealth) vs. Ryan Lipman (Vanderbilt).
2 p.m.: Saketh Myneni (Alabama) vs. Ivan Salec (Radford); Jarmere Jenkins (Virginia) vs. Matt Brooklyn (UCLA).
3 p.m.: (6) Oleksandr Nedovyesov (Oklahoma State) vs. Diego Cubas (South Carolina).
3:30 p.m.: (1) Henrique Cunha (Duke) vs. Pedro Zerbini (California); Jonathan Wong (Columbia) vs. Ashley Watling (Tulsa).
4 p.m.: Marcelo Arevalo (Tulsa) vs. Kiryl Harbatsiuk (Sacramento State).
4:30 p.m.: Javier Garrapiz (Georgia) vs. Andrei Daescu (Oklahoma); (9-16) Bradley Klahn (Stanford) vs. Artem Baradach (SMU); Drew Courtney (Virginia) vs. Alex Musialek (Kentucky).
5 p.m.: Tripper Carleton (Wake Forest) vs. Gonzalo Escobar (Texas Tech); (9-16) Sanam Singh (Virginia) vs. Bruno Rosa (Rice); Justin Kronauge (Ohio State) vs. Vahid Mirzadeh (Florida State).
6 p.m.: (2) Steve Johnson (Southern California) vs. Rhyne Williams (Tennessee).
6:30 p.m.: (9-16) Robert Farah (Southern California) vs. Jordan Rux (Baylor); Boris Conkic (Tennessee) vs. Yoann Re (Virginia Tech); (3) John-Patrick Smith (Tennessee) vs. Austen Childs (Louisville).
DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / First round / Thursday, May 27, 2010
Seedings: (1) Reid Carleton-Henrique Cunha (Duke); (2) John-Patrick Smith-Davey Sandgren (Tennessee); (3) Robert Farah-Steve Johnson (Southern California); (4) Bradley Klahn-Ryan Thacher (Stanford).
(5-8): Jeff Dadamo-Austin Krajick (Texas A&M); Dimitar Kutrovsky-Josh Zavala (Texas); Antoine Benneteau-Alexandre Lacroix (Florida); Chase Buchanan-Dino Marcan (Ohio State).
MATCHES
(1) Reid Carleton-Henrique Cunha (Duke) vs. Moritz Baumann-Marek Michalicka (Wisconsin); Alejandro Calligari-Simon Childs (Louisville) vs. Amit Inbar-Nick Meister (UCLA); (5-8) Jeff Dadamo-Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) vs. Drew Courtney-Michael Shabaz (Virginia); Marek Czerwinski-Dennis Nevolo (Illinois) vs. Christoph Thiemann-Marcel Thiemann (Mississippi).
(2) John-Patrick Smith-Davey Sandgren (Tennessee) vs. Keziel Juneau-Sebastien Vidal (William & Mary); Aleksey Bessonov-Oleksandr Nedovyesov (Oklahoma State) vs. George Coupland-Artem Ilyushin (Mississippi State); (5-8) Dino Marcan-Chase Buchanan (Ohio State) vs. Tim Puetz-Alexander Stamchev (Auburn); Remi Boutillier-Rikus de Villiers (Fresno State) vs. Iain Atkinson-Steven Forman (Wake Forest).
(3) Robert Farah-Steve Johnson (Southern California) vs. Emanu Brighiu-Christopher Price (Texas Christian); Clay Donato-Stefan Hardy (North Carolina) vs. Denes Lukacs-Roberto Maytin (Baylor); (5-8) Dimitar Kutrovsky-Josh Zavala (Texas) vs. Bassam Beidas-Alex Liompart (Pepperdine); Brad Cox-Eric Quigley (Kentucky) vs. Philip Stephens-Ashley Watling (Tulsa).
(4) Bradley Klahn-Ryan Thacher (Stanford) vs. Boris Conkic-Rhyne Williams (Tennessee); Jason Jung-Evan King (Michigan) vs. Raony Carvalho-Rafael Garcia (Texas Tech); (5-8) Antoine Benneteau-Alexandre Lacroix (Florida) vs. Andrei Daescu-Costin Paval (Oklahoma); Pedro Campos-Diego Cubas (South Carolina) vs. Jonathan Dahan-Pedro Zerbini (California).