2006 NCAA TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Stanford University - Palo Alto, California
May 18-29, 2006
May 24, 2006-Singles, Day One It wouldn't be an NCAA Championship without surprises, and there were plenty of those today as the men's and women's singles events began. Seeding a tournament of 128 of the best college players in the country is no easy task so I use the term "upset" lightly. Unfortunately, there was too much tennis going on today to really watch many matches. Since they are being played on a weekday afternoon the spectators were mostly parents, coaches and fellow teammates. No one there was let down, though, as the tennis on every court was spectacular.
The only other match I had the chance to enjoy some of was between Illinois' Kevin Anderson and Kentucky's Alex Hume. It took awhile for Kevin to warm up and he lost the first set 6-3, but he came back to reverse the score in the second and battled the third to a 7-5 win. That was not the case for 9-16 seed Raian Luchici, who dropped a three-setter to Harel Srugo. Another lower seed, Scott Doerner of Pepperdine, fell to Sheeva Parbhu, 7-5,6-0. I caught the end of Texas' Jerry Makowski (also 9-16) losing to Pierrick Ysern of San Diego, 6-3,6-3. Rookie of the Year Matt Bruch of Stanford managed to pull out a close one, 7-5,5-7,6-1 over TCU's Andrei Mlendea. In addition to great tennis, yesterday was also the induction of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame. I was invited to attend the dinner, which consisted of too many Stanford alumni stars to name. The top honoree was certainly the man of the hour (or should I say of this two weeks), former Stanford men's coach Dick Gould. I was amazed that Coach Gould had not previously been inducted and certainly thrilled that he has received this honor. Thursday is my last day at the NCAA Championships so I will be doing my best to squeeze in as many pictures and matches as possible -- as well as a few predictions. Until Tomorrow,Marcia Frost Story & Photos from May 23rdStory & Photos from May 22ndStory & Photos from May 21stStory & Photos from May 20thStory & Photos from May 19thClick Here For Full Men's Singles Results Click Here For Full Women's Singles 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 Ken Skupski Catrina Thompson Alex Hume Margarita Karnaukhova Pierrick Ysern Zuzana Zemenova Kevin Anderson Anne Yelsey |
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