General college chat 2024/25

Lambda · ATP qualifying

RE: General college chat 2024/25

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Ohio State (3) def Princeton 4-0
Will Jansen (64) got a doubles win with Aidan Kim 6-4 but playing at 2 his singles was unfinished 6-7(5) 1-0 against Fnu Nidunjianzan (52)

Stanford (18) upset Oklahoma (8) with a 4-1 win
Stanford dropped the doubles point with Max Basing losing his doubles 3-6.
But Stanford dominated singles, winning the 1st set on all 6 courts. Max Basing playing at 2 got a ranked win over Luis Alvarez (62) 3 & 2

TCU (2) defeated Michigan State (17) 4-1
PJ and freshman Cooper Woestendick got TCU's first doubles set with a 6-2 win over Matt Forbes and Max Sheldon, but TCU lost on court 3. It came down to the top court where Lui and Pedro were playing Ozan Baris and Aristotelis Thanos. Lui and Pedro looked on course to win the match taking a 5-2 lead. But Michigan State came back and it went to a tie-breaker which TCU won.

In singles
1: Jack Pinnington defeated Ozan Baris (8): 6-4 7-5
3: Lui Maxted (12) def. Max Sheldon (83): 6-2 7-6(3)

For the women Florida lost to LSU 4-1
1. Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee (UF) vs. Kayla Cross/Cadence Brace (LSU) 6-6, unfinished
2. Tilwith Di Girolami/Anita Sahdiieva (LSU) def. Talia Neilson-Gatenby/Noemie Oliveras (UF) 6-2
LSU took the doubles point with a win on 3

1. Alicia Dudeney (UF) vs. Cadence Brace (LSU) 1-6, 6-1, 4-2, unfinished
3. Tilwith Di Girolami (LSU) def. Talia Neilson-Gatenby (UF) 7-5, 6-2
Talia had comeback from 1-5 to level 5-5 in the first set but it wasn't enough.

Lambda · ATP qualifying

In summary our men's teams to have qualified for the National Indoors, 14-18 February are

Duke, Atlantic Coast Conference (Oscar Brown)
Kentucky, Southeastern Conference (Matt Rankin)
Ohio State, Big Ten Conference (Will Jansen)
San Diego, West Coast Conference (Oliver Tarvet)
Stanford, Atlantic Coast Conference (Max Basing)
TCU, Big 12 Conference (Jack Pinnington, Lui Maxted)
Virginia, Atlantic Coast Conference (James Hopper)
Wake Forest, Atlantic Coast Conference (Luca Pow, Charlie Robertson, Harry Thursfield)

The other teams to have qualified are
Columbia, Ivy League
Michigan, Big Ten Conference
NC State, Atlantic Coast Conference
Texas, Southeastern Conference
Texas A&M, Southeastern Conference
UCF, Big 12 Conference

If the top 4 rankings stay the same in this week's rankings update then a potential final could be Wake Forest against Ohio State and co-incidentally they play each other next week in Winston-Salem.

The women's National Indoors, 7-11 February, will go mostly unnoticed as only Isabelle's Virginia of teams with our players qualified.

Lambda · ATP qualifying

In this week's coach's poll rankings, there is no movement among the top 5 men's teams. 3 of our men's teams move up into the top 10.

1 (-) Texas
2 (-) TCU (Pinnington, Maxted)
3 (-) Ohio State (Jansen)
4 (-) Wake Forest (Pow, Robertson, Thursfield)
5 (-) Virginia (Hopper)

7 (4) Duke (Brown)
8 (4) Kentucky (Rankin)
10 (5) San Diego (Tarvet)
13 (5) Stanford (Basing)
18 (-2) South Carolina (Thomson)
19 (-5) Tennessee (Nisbet)
20 (-1) Alabama (Jones)
25 (-4) UCLA (Revelli)
Florida (Jefferson) also received vote(s).

Our women's teams though don't fair too well with most falling after failing to qualify for the National Indoors. The voting coaches were not impressed with NC State's weekend, as they plummet from 10 to 19. Florida State (Bissett, Shaw) drop out of the top 25 but did receive 1 or more votes for a top 25 place. San Diego (Read) also received at least 1 vote for a top 25 place.

1 (-) Georgia
2 (-) Texas A&M
3 (1) Oklahoma State
4 (-1) Stanford
5 (-) Virginia (Lacy)

14 (-3) USC (Piper, Haddad)
19 (-9) N.C. State (Paskauskas, Paskauskas, Conway)
20 (3) UCF (Rylatt)
21 (-2) Florida (Dudeney, Neilsen-Gatenby)

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Things get serious this weekend with 3 top 5 men's match-ups.

Ohio State (3) at Virginia (5) tonight
Ohio State (3) at Wake Forest (4) Sunday
Texas (1) at Virginia (5) Sunday
TCU (2) have the week off
I have my popcorn ready.

Other select top men's matches
Georgia play at Wake on Saturday
Stanford travel to LA to play former PAC-12 teams USC and UCLA
San Diego travel to Texas to play Baylor tonight and SMU on Sunday
Florida travel to Tallahassee to play Florida State.

Match of the weekend for our women's teams is a top 10 match up for Virginia
Michigan (7) at Virginia (5) tomorrow

For our other ranked women's teams
NC State (19) travel to Texas to play Texas (11) tonight and SMU on Sunday
UCF (20) host Florida International
Florida (21) travel to Michigan (7) on Tuesday
USC (14) don't play for a couple of weeks

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Ohio State take the spoils in the first top 5 match up of the weekend in front of a packed Virginia crowd. Ohio State had already won the match when Jansen lost. San Diego, an outdoor team, got some useful indoor practice ahead of a rare National Indoors appearance, as they defeated Baylor in Waco 4-3. Wins for Tarvet (USD) and Koenig (Baylor). Connel got back to winning ways for Florida State as they swept Florida. Henry Jefferson leaving with unfinished doubles and singles.

Ohio State (3) def Virginia (5): 5-2 (indoors)
A crowd of over 450 crammed into Virginia's indoor tennis facility to watch this top 5 clash. Ohio State clinched at 4-1.

1. Aidan Kim/Will Jansen (OSU) vs. #92 Dylan Dietrich/Mans Dahlberg (UVA) 5-3, unfinished (Will+ was on match point)
Ohio State take the doubles point
--
2. Rafael Jodar (UVA) def. #64 Will Jansen (OSU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 (5th to finish)
James Hopper didn't play either doubles or singles. In team play James is 3-0 in doubles and 3-0 in singles (at 4 and 5 positions) this year.
Will is 2-0 in doubles and 1-1 in singles.

San Diego (10) def Baylor: 4-3 (indoors)
Ollie came out the winner in the top 3 doubles match up

1. Klaassen, Stian / Tarvet, Oliver (1) [USDM] Def Brostrom Poulsen / Marko Miladinovic (3) [BU] 7-5
2. Danilov, Savriyan / Vasa, Iiro (88/-) [USDM] Vs Devin Badenhorst / Luc Koenig [BU] 6-6(5-4) unfinished
3. Berrut, Adrien / Niranjan, Nikhil [USDM] Def Louis Bowden / Alexandru Chirita [BU] 6-3
San Diego take the doubles point

1. Tarvet, Oliver (15/-) [USDM] Def Devin Badenhorst (25/-) [BU] 3-6 6-2 6-3 (4th to finish)
4. Klaassen, Stian (71/-) [USDM] lost to Luc Koenig [BU] 4-6 3-6 (2nd to finish)
Louis Bowden [BU] didn't play singles

Florida State (15) Def Florida: 4-0 (outdoors)
1. #6 Alex Bulte/Youcef Rihane (FSU) vs. #16 Henry Jefferson/Tanapatt Nirundorn (FLA) 5-3, unfinished
3. Jan Sebesta/Jamie Connel (FSU) def. Bradley Paliska/Niels Villard (FLA) 6-2

2.#22 Jamie Connel (FSU) def. Adhithya Ganesan (FLA) 6-2, 6-2 (3rd to finish, clinch point)
3. Alex Bulte (FSU) vs. #106 Henry Jefferson (FLA) 5-7, 3-2, unfinished

Lambda · ATP qualifying

The top women's match for our teams was NC State travelling to Austin to play Texas. NC State suffered their 3rd straight loss in a tight battle that came down to a 3rd set tie-break on the bottom court. Jasmine came back in to partner Kristina at doubles 3 and they were won their set to help NC State take the doubles, although only after a scare on the top doubles court. Texas came back in singles and were leading 3-2 with just Kristina at 3 and Jasmine at 6 to finish. Both had come back from a 1st set loss and were in a deciding set. Kristina was never in the deciding set and Texas tied the match. Jasmine came back from a break down twice in the 3rd set to take the rubber and team match to be settled in a 3rd set tie-break. Jasmine valiantly saved 2 of 4 match points, but Texas were victorious. NC State were without Gabia and their No1 Michaela Laki.

Elsewhere, a shout out to #105 Hannah Read (San Diego) who came back from 0-3* in the 2nd set to win 4&4 at 5 against her #102 ranked opponent and take San Diego's only point in a 1-6 loss to the 2nd ranked team, Texas A&M.

Texas (11) Def NC State (19): 4-3 (indoors)
3. #60 Jasmine Conway/Kristina Paskauskas (NCST) def. A Anazagasty-Pursoo/Eszter Meri (TEX) 6-3

3. #28 Carmen Herea (TEX) def. Kristina Paskauskas (NCST) 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-2
6. #95 Vivian Ovrootsky (TEX) def. Jasmine Conway (NCST) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4)

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Upset in Virginia as Michigan women win 4-2. Isabelle was listed to play at 5, but was moved up to 4 when Virginia withdrew their No 1 after doubles. She played Emily Sartz-Lunde, former junior No 20. Isabelle started slowly quickly going behind 0-4, and going on to lose the first set. She found her range in the 2nd set and played some unplayable tennis that would not be out of place on the top court winning the set with a bagel. But it was a level that was a big ask to keep and Sartz-Lunde went on to win, and give Michigan the point to clinch the match. Isabelle showed signs of what she is capable of in the 2nd set and I don't think the scoreline was a fair reflection of the 3rd set. With more matches and the coaching over the coming weeks she should be a formidable player in the 4 or 5 spot for Virginia come conference season.

Michigan (7) def. Virginia (5): 4-2
4. Emily Sartz-Lunde (MICH) def. Isabelle Lacy (UAVW) 6-2 0-6 6-2

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Charlie Robertson makes his singles debut and becomes an immediate hero, saving the day for Wake Forest. Unfortunately the live stream advertised was not on so I only had live scores to follow.
It was a bad day for Luca who lost both his doubles and singles, ending his 24 singles win streak in team matches stretching back to 5 Feb last year. That made it 3-1 to Wake Forest who just needed 1 more win from the 3 remaining singles to win, but Wake had lost the 1st set on all those courts, including Charlie playing at 4. They all won the 2nd to send them all to a deciding set, but they lost the 3rd set on courts 2 & 3 to put the score at 3-3 and leave Charlie's match as the deciding match. At 5-5* Charlie broke and then served out the match to love to clinch a 4-3 win for Wake Forest and a debut that Charlie will probably not forget.

Wake Forest (4) def. Georgia: 4-3

2. #14 Ryan Colby/Thomas Paulsell [UGA] def #4 Luca Pow / Luciano Tacchi [Wake] 6-3
3. Ioannis Xilas / Franco Capalbo [Wake] def Freddy Blaydes / Oscar Pinto [UGA] 6-4

4. Charlie Robertson [Wake] def Niels Ratiu [UGA] 6-7 7-6 7-5
5. #125 Oscar Pinto [UGA] def. Luca Pow Wake 6-1 6-1
6. Luciano Tacchi [Wake] def. Freddy Blaydes [UGA] 6-1 6-4

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Reading Wake Forest's match report I underplayed Charlie's result. He came back from 2-5 down, winning the last 5 games to win the match. To win from a break down in a pressure situation in your first collegiate singles match I can only echo the coach's words - "Today was great to get pushed that hard and obviously to have a freshman in that situation, in his first singles match ever, and come back from 5-2 down in the third is pretty incredible".

Over in LA, Stanford beat USC 4-2. I forgot Oscar Weightman is at USC. Oscar+ won the doubles point for USC beating Max+ in a tie-break after the sets on the other two courts were split. They then played singles at 2 and it was the only match that was left unfinished. Max Basing was leading over Oscar 6-7(4) 6-3 5-2. USC had pushed Stanford hard with all courts except the bottom court going 3 sets.

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Another thriller at Wake Forest as they edged out Ohio State in another 4-3 result. Charlie was moved up to play at 3 today against Alexander Bernard and won 4 & 3. He made it a little difficult for himself as he had match point at *5-1 and again at 5-2*. That put Wake Forest ahead 3-0. They had looked on course for an easy victory taking the 1st set on 4 courts, the 2 courts where Ohio State won the 1st set being Will Jansen against DK Suresh in a tie-break and Luca Pow losing his 1st set in a tie-break. Ohio State came back and Luca losing the 2nd set in another tie-break levelled the match at 3-3. At this point Will was 2-5 down in the 3rd but there was no heroics as Suresh put the match to bed straight away.

Wake Forest (4) d. Ohio State (3): 4-3
1. Dostanic/Suresh (Wake) d. Aidan Kim/Will Jansen (OSU) 6-1
2. Luca Pow/Luciano Tachhi (Wake) d. Nakashima/Stearns (OSU) 6-3

2. DK Suresh (Wake) d. Will Jansen (OSU) 6-7 6-4 6-2
3. Charlie Robertson (Wake) d. Alexander Bernard (OSU) 6-4 6-3
5. Chris Li (OSU) d. Luca Pow (Wake) 7-6 7-6

In the other top 5 men's match today, Virginia (5) caused an upset by defeating Texas (1) 4-3. Few would have seen that coming. Both Legout and Gorzny losing on the top 2 courts for Texas, Legout's first loss in collegiate tennis (excluding his retirement due to illness at the NCAAs). James Hopper lost his doubles and singles for Virginia.

It will be interesting to see how this weekend's results affects the coaches poll this week. Wake (4) beat Ohio State (3) who beat Virginia (5) who beat Texas (1) but Wake almost lost against unranked Georgia. I'd expect Wake to move above Ohio State, but will the coaches vote to keep Texas at the No 1 ranking?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And the January Pom vote is ready and waiting

britishtennis.activeboard.com/t71585931/january-2025-player-of-the-month-vote/

Lambda · ATP qualifying

As part of Black History month, the ITA are running features on some Black student-athletes. They have started with Sofia Johnson.

In this spotlight, Sofia will share a little bit about herself and some of her experiences growing up as a black athlete in the tennis community and how she hopes to make an impact on future generations.

Student-Athlete Spotlight: Sofia Johnson, Old Dominion

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Hannah McColgan graduated from Northwestern in 2022 and followed that up with a Masters in 2023 at Maryland. Not ready to leave college tennis she then took an Assistant coaching job at UMass in July 2023, where she received the ITA Assistant Coach of the Year award for the New England region in her first year.

Now in her 2nd year as assistant coach she talks to Abi Wild in the latest student-athlete podcast about her journey through college tennis and being an assistant coach. Abi is now also an assistant coach at Tarleton State after graduating last year.

https://wearecollegetennis.com/2025/02/04/ita-student-athlete-podcast-hannah-mccolgan-umass/

Lambda · ATP qualifying

The draw for the women's National Indoors has been released. Our only interest here from a British player prospective is Virginia, who play Tennessee in the opening round on Friday. Should they get through that round then they likely play UNC, who they defeated 4-3 in Virginia a couple of weeks ago. Georgia, Stanford or Auburn will await the winner in the SF.

The championships take place on 2 sites, Northwestern and Illinois. Teams were placed in 1 of the sites last week. The first 2 rounds on Friday and Saturday and all back draw matches take place at the teams allocated site. The SFs and final will then take place at Northwestern on Monday and Tuesday (Sunday is a travel day for the semi-finalists from Illinois to travel to Northwestern). All teams are guaranteed 3 matches through either the main draw or back draw.

The seedings are very interesting and could suggest a big shake-up in the rankings when they are released tomorrow after a weekend of upsets. For the Northwestern half of the draw, UNC are seeded 2, Virginia 3 and Stanford 4. Their respective rankings are currently 8, 5 and 4. In the Illinois site, Michigan are seeded 2, UCLA 3 and Oklahoma State 4. Their current rankings are 7, 6 and 3.

The draw for the men's championships will be this time next week.