North Carolina Regional
Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center – Chapel Hill, NC
[13] North Carolina (21-10) vs. [49-64] William & Mary (16-12) – Friday 1pm – William & Mary got the automatic bid by beating the College of Charleston 4-1 in the Colonial Championship while North Carolina got an at-large bid after falling to #3 Virginia 4-0 in the ACC semifinals. William & Mary went 0-7 against ranked opponents with the closest loss being 4-3 to Old Dominion.
The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #). An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.
Doubles Records: UNC 22-9, W&M 20-8
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: UNC 84, W&M 75
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #12 Brayden Schnur (NC 14.66) vs.
2. #28 Ronnie Schneider (NC 14.35) vs.
3. #73 Brett Clark (NC 13.85) vs.
4. Jack Murray (NC 14.17) vs.
5. Robert Kelly (NC 13.77) vs.
6. Stuart DePaolo (NC 12.50) vs. Alec Miller (W&M 12.46)
Others who could play: Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC 13.53), Oystein Steiro (UNC 13.43)
North Carolina will take the doubles point and then get wins from Schnur, Schneider, and Murray to wrap it up in under two hours. William & Mary’s only chance at picking up a point would come at #6 where Stuart DePaolo will be the likely fill-in for the less than 100% Hess-Olesen and Steiro. Prediction: North Carolina 4-0
[17-32] Mississippi State (19-7) vs. [33-48] Denver (18-8) – Friday 10am – #50 Denver got in with the Summit League’s automatic bid after beating IPFW 4-0 in the finals while #20 Mississippi State gets an at-large selection after losing to Texas A&M 4-0 in the SEC semifinals. Denver went 5-7 on the year against ranked opponents with its best win being 4-3 over #33 Drake. Denver pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent NCAA tournament history when it stunned Florida in Gainesville 2 years ago in the first round. Denver was a 49-64 seed while Florida was #15 and its very rare to see that large an upset. Henry Craig is the only current starter that was on that senior-laden team from two years ago.
Doubles Records: Mississippi State 19-6, Denver 20-6
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Mississippi State 82, Denver 78
Projected Singles Lineups
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #62 Florian Lakat (MSU 13.96) vs. #112 Henry Craig (DEN 13.64)
2. Juan Cruz Estevarena (MSU 13.78) vs. #114 Diogo Rocha (DEN 13.23)
3. Mate Cutura (MSU 13.67) vs. Alex Gasson (DEN 13.06)
4. Rishab Agarwal (MSU 13.89) vs. David Fox (DEN 12.77)
5. Tassilo Schmid (MSU 12.94) vs. Yannik James (DEN 12.97)
6. Julian Cash (MSU 13.40) vs. Wyatt Lovera (DEN 11.88)
Dual-Match Singles Records – # in ( ) us W-L vs. ranked:
1. Lakat 14-6 (7-6) vs. Craig 15-6 (1-4) – won 9 straight
2. Estevarena 10-5 (1-2) vs. Rocha 20-3 (3-1) – won 9 straight
3. Cutura 12-7 (lost 4 straight) vs. Gasson 13-10
4. Agarwal 18-3 (won 11 straight) vs. Fox 12-9
5. Schmid 5-14 (lost 10 of 12) vs. James 16-6
6. Cash 9-6 vs. Lovera 6-4
You’d have to think if Denver were to pull of the upset here they’d have to take the doubles point and get wins from Henry Craig, Diogo Rocha, and Yannik James who went a combined 51-15 in dual match play because the other guys were a combined 31-23. I like the Pioneers chances in doubles but I only see Rocha with a decent chance of winning in singles. I’ll go with Lakat, Cutura, Schmid, and Cash in singles for State with Agarwal also leading. Prediction: Mississippi State 4-2
Illinois Regional
Atkins Tennis Center – Champaign-Urbana, IL
[4] Illinois (25-4) vs. [49-64] UWGB (18-7) – Friday 5pm – Illinois got the Big 10’s automatic bid after blanking Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship while Green Bay got the Horizon’s automatic bid after blanking Valparaiso in the Horizon League Championship. Illinois won the regular season meeting handily (box score below) with Green Bay going 0-6 on the year against ranked opposition. Green Bay was tied for the worst doubles winning percentage out of the 64 teams that made the tournament.
Regular Season Meeting:
#11 Illinois 4, Green Bay 0
#46 Drake 5, #39 Louisville 2
I’ve got the singles matches split with Louisville winning at 1, 3, and 5 and Drake winning at 2, 4, and 6. Louisville dropped the doubles point in its final 4 conference matches while Drake went 6-9 in doubles against ranked teams though they won the point in 4 of their final 6 matches. Tough one to call – really could go either way. Prediction: Drake 4-3
Regular Season Meeting:
#11 Illinois 4, Green Bay 0
Jan 23, 2015 at Urbana, Ill. (Atkins Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Farris Gosea (ILL) def. #77 Michael Tenzer (UWGB) 6-1, 6-2
2. #31 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. Leopold G Islinger (UWGB) 6-0, 6-3
3. #62 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) vs. Howard Scott (UWGB) 6-2, 4-3, unf
4. #44 Aleks Vukic (ILL) vs. Joshua Schramm (UWGB) 6-3, 3-4, unf
5. Toshiki Matsuya (ILL) vs. Joey Leto (UWGB) 6-2, 3-1, unf
6. Brian Page (ILL) def. Jorge G Soler (UWGB) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Jared Hiltzik/Aron Hiltzik (ILL) vs. Tenzer/Scott (UWGB) 2-5, unf
2. Farris Gosea/Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. Leto/Florian Kraenzler (UWGB) 6-1
3. Toshiki Matsuya/Ross Guignon (ILL) def. Islinger/Michael Tebon (UWGB) 6-1
Match Notes
Green Bay 1-1
Illinois 2-0; National ranking #11
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,6,1)
Doubles Records: Illinois 19-10, UWGB 11-14
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Illinois 86, UWGB 75
Projected Singles Lineups
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #33 Farris Gosea (ILL 14.68) vs.
2. #23 Jared Hiltzik (ILL 14.57) vs.
3. #65 Tim Kopinski (ILL 14.30) vs.
4. #81 Aron Hiltzik (ILL 14.20) vs.
5. #74 Aleks Vukic (ILL 14.46) vs.
6. Ross Guignon (ILL 13.30) vs. Joey Leto (GB 12.02)
Others who could play: Toshiki Matsuya (ILL 13.19), Blake Bazarnik (ILL 12.86)
The Illini won’t have any issues here and won’t come close to losing a set anywhere – dubs, J & A Hiltzik, and Vukic each win. Prediction: Illinois 4-0
[17-32] Louisville (23-8) vs. [33-48] Drake (24-6) – Friday 2pm – #32 Louisville got in as an at-large after losing to Clemson in the 1st round of the ACC Tournament while #33 Drake got the automatic bid after edging #68 Wichita State 4-3 in the Missouri Valley Championship. These two met in the regular season in Louisville with Drake winning fairly comfortably (box score below) although the Cardinals were without their #2 Albert Gornet for that match. The only singles rematches will come at #1 and #4 with every other spot different this time.
Regular Season Meeting:
#46 Drake 5, #39 Louisville 2
Jan 18, 2015 at Louisville, Ky. (Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #1 Seb Stiefelmeyer (LOU) def. #46 Salibasic, Alen (DU) 6-0, 3-6, 6-2
2. #30 Lott, Ben (DU) def. #59 Albert Wagner (LOU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Frost, Matt (DU) def. Michael Lippens (LOU) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6
4. Patel, Ravi (DU) def. Chris Simich (LOU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Stride, Ben (DU) def. Jeffrey Brown (LOU) 6-1, 6-3
6. Van Damrongsri (LOU) def. Philips, Bayo (DU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Salibasic, Alen/Lott, Ben (DU) def. Albert Wagner/Chris Simich (LOU) 6-4
2. Patel, Ravi/Frost, Matt (DU) def. Seb Stiefelmeyer/Michael Lippens (LOU) 6-3
3. Philips, Bayo/Stride, Ben (DU) def. Jeffrey Brown/Van Damrongsri (LOU) 6-5
Match Notes
Drake 2-0; National ranking #46
Louisville 0-1; National ranking #39
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (5,2,1,4,3,6)
Doubles Records: Louisville 22-9, Drake 21-9
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Louisville 81, Drake 80
Projected Singles Lineups
Projected Singles Lineups
1. #5 Seb Stiefelmeyer (UL 14.70) vs. #40 Alen Salibasic (DU 13.79)
2. Alex Gornet (UL 13.58) vs. #66 Ben Lott (DU 13.71)
3. #91 Albert Wagner (UL 13.78) vs. Matt Frost (DU 13.14)
4. Chris Simich (UL 13.25) vs. Ravi Patel (DU 13.51)
5. Van Damrongsri (UL 12.50) vs. Calum MacGeoch (DU 12.44)
6. Michael Lippens (UL 12.90) vs. Ben Mullis (DU 13.09)
Others who could play: Luis Elizondo (UL 12.39), Jeffrey Brown (UL 12.70), Ben Stride (DU 12.92)
#1 singles – Seb Stiefelmeyer has won 9 in a row and has only lost 2 dual matches this year while Salibasic has won 5 of 6 and he also avenged the 1 loss to Tin Ostojic in the Missouri Valley Championship match. Prediction: Steifelmeyer (UL) in 2
#2 singles – Alex Gornet lost his last 3 and 6 of his last 10 while Ben Lott split his final 6. Prediction: Lott (DU) in 3
#3 singles – Albert Wagner won 4 of his last 5 including a win over Duke’s #57 Raphael Hemmeler while Matt Frost finished the year on a 6-match winning streak. Prediction: Wagner (UL) in 3
#4 singles – Chris Simich lost his last 3 while Ravi Patel won his last 4 and 6 of his final 7. Patel beat Simich 6-4, 6-2 in the regular season meeting. Prediction:Patel (DU) in 2
#5 singles – Van Damrongsri won 7 of his final 8 while Calum MacGeoch lost his last 2 and lost the last one 6-1, 6-0. Prediction: Damrongsri (UL) in 3
#6 singles – Michael Lippens only played in a handful of matches down the stretch dropping 3 of his last 4 so it’s possible Ecarma puts Luis Elozondo in at 6 though Elozondo dropped his final 3. Ben Mullis won 5 of his last 6. Prediction: Mullis (DU) in 2
I’ve got the singles matches split with Louisville winning at 1, 3, and 5 and Drake winning at 2, 4, and 6. Louisville dropped the doubles point in its final 4 conference matches while Drake went 6-9 in doubles against ranked teams though they won the point in 4 of their final 6 matches. Tough one to call – really could go either way. Prediction: Drake 4-3
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