2006 NCAA TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Stanford University - Palo Alto, California
May 18-29, 2006
May 20, 2006 The men's teams came out today ready for the challenge and only the very best tennis survived the intense matches. The underdogs are gone and only seeds remain with two teams missing from the top eight. It was quick and easy for Ohio State as they grabbed up the doubles point and won all their matches against North Carolina in short, straight sets. The leader of the pack was Devin Mullings, but Bryan Koniecko -- who has been too hot to beat these last few weeks -- wasn't far behind. Even Tar Heels Coach Sam Paul admitted that the Buckeyes were just too good. No. 6 Ohio State now faces No. 3 Texas. Despite a few obstacles, they got right past their opponents -- No. 14 Mississippi, 4-1
The Baylor/Washington match had a very unusual start. First, Baylor was no where to be found and it took three calls over the loudspeakers urging the Baylor team to take the court. When they did, everyone was shocked to see they were starting (and loudly announcing) the match on the same set of courts as the finishing Illinois/UCLA match! This was annoying to everyone and should definitely not have happened, but in consideration of everything that needs to be coordinated at this massive event, I would like to believe it was a mistake that would not be repeated. After the Illini and the Bruins cleared the courts, unseeded Washington gave No. 5 Baylor a battle for the quarters, but the seed prevailed, 4-1. Over in the main stadium Pepperdine showed the crowd how they earned their No. 2 seeding as they took the doubles point without too much effort and finished the singles in two-setters. It was also on the stadium that the No. 13 Stanford men took the homecourt advantage to shutout No. 4 Duke. Into the evening, unseeded Notre Dame put up a challenge in the doubles competition against top-seeded Georgia, but they couldn't get it going in singles as the Bulldogs ran through the matches. It was much closer than the 4-0 score of No. 8 Virginia over No. 9 Miami. Daniel Vallverdu needed a tiebreaker to beat Rylan Rizza. and all the other matches were decided by a few games -- with the remaining ones in the third set. Sunday is scheduled to be an exciting day of men's quarters and women's semis if the predicted rain doesn't come. Wherever or whenever the matches do get played, I'm sure there will be surprises. Until Tomorrow,Marcia Frost Story & Photos from May 19thClick Here For Full Men's Team Results Click Here For Full Women's Team Results And... For some more insight into the 2006 NCAA Division I Championships, check out Colette Lewis' Blog at http://www.zootennis.com |
click on a photo to enlarge Bryan Koniecko Brad Pomeroy Roger Gubser John Isner Ryan Rowe |
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