May 25, 2008

Sunday, May 25

Devvarman Reaches Third Consecutive NCAA Singles Final

TULSA, Okla. - Top-seeded Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) advanced to the final of the 2008 NCAA Singles Championship with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Stanford's Alex Clayton at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. He will look to win the NCAA Singles Championship for the second consecutive year on Monday.

Devvarman, the 2007 champion and 2006 runner-up, becomes the first player since Northwestern's Marty Riessen (1962-64) to reach three consecutive NCAA singles finals. The win was Devvarman's 17th career NCAA Singles Championship victory, extending his tournament record (since the singles tournament split from the team tournament in 1977). He improves to 43-1 this season in singles and has won his last 35 consecutive matches.

"Every time I step on the court I don't think about my streak, I don't think about what record is on the line, I just think about who I am playing and how I can find a way to beat them," said Devvarman. "I think that is why I have done pretty well this season, and I have my last college match tomorrow. I am going to come out with the same attitude and leave it all on the court."

Saturday, May 24

Devvarman Advances to NCAA Singles Semifinals

TULSA, Okla. - Top-seeded Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) reached the semifinals of the 2008 NCAA Singles Championship with a 6-0, 6-7 (2), 6-3 win over Denes Lukacs of Baylor at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Since the NCAA Singles Championship adopted its current format, separating from the team tournament in 1977, Devvarman becomes the first player to reach the semifinals in three consecutive years. The win was Devvarman's 16th career NCAA Singles Championship victory, extending his tournament record. He improves to 42-1 this season in singles and has won his last 34 consecutive matches.

Devvarman opened the match strong, taking the first set 6-0. It marked the first time Lukacs' collegiate career that he had ever lost a set 6-0.

Fogleman and Kearney's NCAA Tourney Run Ends

TULSA, Okla. - Sixth-ranked Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney saw their NCAA Tournament run come to an end on Saturday, as Mississippi's fifth-ranked duo of Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit overcame a first-set loss to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 and advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Doubles Tournament. Fogleman and Kearney opened up the tournament with two wins over top-35 teams before succumbing to Berg and Tveit in the round of eight.

Fogleman and Kearney finish the season with a 22-10 mark, including a 10-3 mark in tournament play. As the sixth-ranked team in the nation, the pair will earn All-America honors for their play as the Tar Heels number one doubles team this year.

Ole Miss Tops WFU in NCAA Doubles Quarterfinals

TULSA, Okla. - Cory Parr and Steven Forman ended their NCAA Doubles Championship run at the quarterfinals on Saturday, falling 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Mississippi's Bram ten Berge and Matthias Wellermann. The match wraps up the season for the Demon Deacons, who ended team play earlier in the month at the first round of the NCAA Team Championship.

Parr and Forman became Wake's second consecutive tandem to advance to the quarterfinals, following in the footsteps of doubles All-Americans Todd Paul and Mariusz Adamski who finished out play in 2007 at the doubles semifinals.

Friday, May 23

UNC Doubles Pair Cruises Into Quarterfinals

TULSA, Okla. - UNC's sixth-ranked tandem of Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney scored a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov on Friday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship. The win improves their overall record this season to 22-9, including a 10-2 mark in tournament play.

Fogleman and Kearney's next opponent will be the winner of the match between Mississippi's Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit, and Illinois' Billy Heiser and Ryan Rowe. 5th-ranked Berg and Tveit, who are favored in the match, have faced Fogleman and Kearney once this year, an 8-4 win in Mississippi's NCAA Tournament win over North Carolina. Fogleman and Kearney have not played 11th-ranked Heiser and Rowe this year.

Devvarman Rolls into NCAA Singles Quarterfinals

TULSA, Okla. - Top-seeded Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2008 NCAA Singles Championship with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Erling Tveit of Mississippi at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Devvarman becomes the first player to reach the NCAA Singles quarterfinals in three consecutive years since Jose Luis Noriega of San Diego (1990-92). Stanford's Dan Goldie (1984-86) is the only other player to reach three consecutive quarterfinals since 1977 when the singles tournament was split from the team championship.

Devvarman needed just one hour and 20 minutes to defeat Tveit and advance to the quarterfinals. In the opening set, Devvarman went up an early break, 2-1. He maintained that one-break advantage to 5-3 when he broke Tveit again to close out the set.

Devvarman and Treat Huey, the top seed in the doubles draw, were upset in Friday's second round by Conor Pollock and Austin Krajicek of Texas A&M 6-3, 6-4.

Wake Forest's Parr/Forman Sting Buckeyes with Third-Set Comeback

Wake Forest's Cory Parr

TULSA, Okla. - If there was any doubt about the All-American status of Cory Parr and Steven Forman, the Wake Forest duo proved they were worthy of the title on Friday. The team rallied to win four consecutive games in a tiebreaker set to take a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Ohio State's 10th-ranked Bryan Koniecko/Steven Moneke pair in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Doubles Championship.

Parr and Forman improved to 22-8 for the year and will face the 21st-ranked Ole Miss team of Bram ten Berge and Matthias Wellermann on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

After splitting sets, the Deacs fell behind early in the deciding contest and found themselves serving with a 5-3 deficit. After Wake Forest inched forward by taking the game, the Buckeye pair looked to seal a quick win, serving for the match victory. But it wasn't in the cards for Ohio State, as Wake Forest stunned its opponents by fighting back to win three more games for a 7-5 win and a berth in the quarterfinals.

Terps Duo Falls at NCAA Men's Tennis Championships

TULSA, Okla. - Maryland's Boris Fetbroyt and Andrew Orban had their trip to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships cut short, losing in the second round of doubles play Friday afternoon to Tulsa's Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham.

Connelly and Cunningham, playing before a home crowd at the Case Tennis Center, upset Maryland's ranked duo 7-6 (12-4), 7-5.

Fetbroyt and Orban were No. 8 nationally in the final regular-season Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings and had received a No. 5-8 seed in the NCAAs.

Connelly and Cunningham were unseeded in the draw, but had finished the year No. 27 in the ITA rankings. They upended NC State's Nick Cavaday and Jay Weinacker in Thursday's first round.

The Terrapin pair ends the season with a 16-4 overall record. Fetbroyt, a native of Cherry Hill, N.J., and Orban, who hails from Fayetteville, N.C., already earned All-America status by virtue of their seeding among the top eight doubles teams at the NCAAs. They made the first appearance in the NCAA singles or doubles draw by Maryland men's players since 1986.

Miami's Men's Doubles Team Falls in NCAA's Round of 16

TULSA, Okla. - The University of Miami's third-seeded doubles pair of All-Americans Daniel Vallverdu and Carl Sundberg saw their NCAA doubles run come to a close with a Round of 16 loss to Ole Miss' 21st-ranked Bram ten Berge and Matthias Wellermann, 6-3, 7-6 (7) on Friday evening at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The Hurricanes had advanced after a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over TCU's 50th-ranked Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet in Thursday's opening round.

"Even though I'm very disappointed with the loss, I had a lot of fun playing with Dani [Vallverdu] this year," said Sundberg. "I feel like I've learned a lot, and I'm already looking forward to next season."

Thursday, May 22

Devvarman Sets NCAA Singles Tournament Wins Record

TULSA, Okla. - Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) set a new record for NCAA Singles Championship wins with his 14th career tournament victory on Thursday as he topped Clancy Shields of Boise State 6-4, 7-5 in a second match at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Devvarman also advanced in doubles with Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.), defeating Dan Buikema and Mathieu Thibaudeau of Alabama 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Since the NCAA Singles Championship adopted the current 64-player format after separating from the team tournament in 1977, Devvarman has won more matches in the event than any other player. With his win over Shields, he broke a tie with the previous record holder, 2001 and 2002 NCAA Champion Matias Boeker of Georgia.

North Carolina's Fogleman and Kearney Advance In Doubles Tournament

TULSA, Okla. - In the opening round of the NCAA Doubles Championships, Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney survived a 22-point first set tiebreaker and a second set comeback bid by Denver's Adam Holmstrom and Niklas Persson to win 7-6(10), 2-6, 6-3. The victory over Holmstrom and Persson, ranked 12th in the nation, means that the sixth-ranked team of Fogleman and Kearney will advance to the round of 16 in the tournament, to be played on Friday.

Fogleman and Kearney's next opponent will be Harvard's 34th-ranked doubles pair, Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov. Kumar and Ermakov upset Michigan State's 23rd-ranked team of Adam Monich and Nick Rinks by the score of 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the second round of play. Friday's match time is to be announced at this point, and will be updated on TarHeelBlue.com as the schedule is finalized.

Aubone And Bowles Advance To Second Round Of 2008 NCAA Doubles Tournament With Thrilling Three-Set Win Against Rice

TULSA, Okla. - After facing match point on their own serve, sophomore Jean-Yves Aubone and freshman Clint Bowles came back to win their match in three sets against Rice's Ralph Knupfer and Christoph Muller Thursday at the 2008 NCAA Doubles Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The 15th-ranked pair survived the three hour forty five minute match and not breaking the Owls duo for the entire match.

Florida State's Jean-Yves Aubone

"It was an attitude match and we just came away with it," FSU head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. "Both of them conveyed being winners and they never give up until the final point is over."

The Seminole duo lost the first set 6-4, but came back to win the next two sets in a pair of tiebreakers. In set two, Aubone and Bowles fought back to stay alive and eventually won 7-6(3) to send the match into a third-set. With FSU down 6-5, Rice had a match point at 40-30, but Aubone and Bowles took the point and the game and cruised to a shutout win in the tiebreaker to advance to the second round.

Terp Doubles Team Advances at NCAAs

TULSA, Okla. - The University of Maryland doubles team of Boris Fetbroyt and Andrew Orban rallied to earn a three-set victory Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Doubles Championship being played at the University of Tulsa's Case Tennis Center.

Fetbroyt and Orban defeated Austen Childs and Simon Childs of Louisville, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, to move to the second round of the draw. The Terrapin duo defeated Childs and Childs for the second time this season, having won an 8-6 decision in March during a dual match with the Cardinals.

Fetbroyt and Orban move on to Friday's second round and will play Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham of host Tulsa. The Hurricanes pair, unseeded in the draw, defeated Nick Cavaday and Jay Weinacker of NC State, 3-6, 7-6 (5) and 6-3, earlier on Thursday.

Miami's Men's Doubles Team Advances at NCAA Championships

TULSA, Okla. - The University of Miami's third-seeded doubles pair of All-Americans Daniel Vallverdu and Carl Sundberg rallied for the 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over TCU's 50th-ranked Kriegler Brink and Cosmin Cotet on Thursday evening to advance to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

After a sluggish start, the Hurricanes dropped the opening set 6-2. But the Miami duo rebounded to take the early 2-0 lead in the second set en route to the 6-2 decision, knotting up the match. Both teams battled in the decisive third set, and the Hurricanes found themselves on the verge of elimination, trailing 5-4. But Vallverdu and Sundberg rallied, winning the next three games to claim the 7-5 victory to advance to Friday's second round.

"The windy conditions made today's match really tough," said Sundberg. "But we played solid doubles in the end and won the important points."

Aubone Loses In Three Sets In Second Round Of 2008 NCAA Tennis Tournament

TULSA, Okla. - Florida State sophomore Jean-Yves Aubone's season came to an end in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tennis Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The No. 13-ranked player in the country lost a three-set heartbreaker to Ohio State's 16th-ranked Bryan Koniecko 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

"It was a tough match today, he played well and it could have gone either way," FSU head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. "He played a good a match against a good player and fought all the way to the end."

The sophomore All-American dominated the first set in impressive fashion winning 6-1. The two competitors played a lot of long hard points, but in the end it was Aubone who came out on top on most of them.

Wolfpack Doubles Team Drops Three-Set Match at NCAAs

TULSA, Okla. - Nick Cavaday and Jay Weinacker fought to the last point, but when it was over the Wolfpack duo fell in the NCAA Doubles Championship to end the season. The senior Cavaday, who was competing in the doubles tournament for the second straight season, saw his career come to a close with the loss in Tulsa, Okla.

Cavaday and Weinacker won the opening set 6-3 to take the early lead, but couldn't hang on against Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham of Tulsa. The Tulsa tandem rallied to win the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (5), before closing out the match with a 6-3 third-set win.

Hokies' Larregola Falls in Second Round of NCAAs

TULSA, Okla. - Virginia Tech senior Albert Larregola's career came to an end as he fell to Denes Lukacs of Baylor in straight sets during the second round of the NCAA Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.

Ranked 45th in the latest ITA rankings, Larregola (Lleida, Spain) had defeated UC Irvine's Victor Lamm, ranked No. 123, on Wednesday to reach the round of 32. The No. 9 Lukacs though would not let Larregola advance any further as he won 6-2, 6-2, to reach the round of 16.

"It was windy here in Tulsa today, and Lukacs was just stronger," head coach Jim Thompson said. "Albert had his chances, but this guy was good. He made all the shots when they counted, and I just thought he had a little too much firepower for us. He was able to hit through the wind when it was in his face, and he served well. Albert didn't do anything really bad, but he just wasn't able to do anything to hurt this guy and put him on the defense."