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Friday Recap: UCLA Wins Classic Over USC; Baylor Blows Out Oklahoma; Texas A&M Escapes Vandy; Washington Wins Top 20 Showdown at Cal; UNC Rocks FSU; & More

by | Apr 6, 2019 | Blog

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Friday afternoon’s Battle for LA between UCLA and USC went down to the wire, as many of these encounters do, and in the end it was the No. 13 Bruins prevailing with a close as it gets 4-3 win over the No. 9 Trojans. UCLA jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles and a 6-3 win at No. 2. Each team claimed three opening sets in singles and four of the six matches would finish in straight sets. USC took a 3-2 lead after getting straight set wins from Brandon Holt, Laurens Verboven, and Mor Bullis at No. 1, No. 3, and No. 6 while Keegan Smith won in straights at No. 2 for UCLA. 

UCLA tied it up at 3-3 after Ben Goldberg knocked off Logan Smith 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 5 which meant the decider would come at No. 4 between UCLA freshman Patrick Zahraj and USC junior Riley Smith. Zahraj won the opening set in a tiebreak 7-4 while Smith claimed the second set 7-5. Smith led 4-2 in the third set before Zahraj held, broke, and held to take a 5-4 lead. After an exchange of holds, Smith fought off a match point by holding on the no-ad point to send it to a match-deciding tiebreak. Zahraj jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak but Smith took the next four to go up 5-4. Zahraj got the mini-break back to even it at 5-5 before Smith retook the lead at 6-5. Zahraj won both points on his serve to go up 7-6 and then after Smith tied it at 7-7 Zahraj went up 8-7. Zahraj closed it out on the next point to give UCLA the win.   

#13 UCLA 4, #9 USC 3
4/5/2019 at Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #11 Brandon Holt (USC) def. #21 Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
2. #49 Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. #13 Daniel Cukierman (USC) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
3. #23 Laurens Verboven (USC) def. #46 Govind Nanda (UCLA) 6-3, 6-4
4. Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) def. Riley Smith (USC) 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 7-6 (9-7)
5. Ben Goldberg (UCLA) def. #74 Logan Smith (USC) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3
6. Mor Bulis (USC) def. Mathew Tsolakyan (UCLA) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #6 Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. #14 Brandon Holt/Riley Smith (USC) 6-4
2. Govind Nanda/Connor Rapp (UCLA) def. Jack Jaede/Laurens Verboven (USC) 6-3
3. Bryce Pereira/Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) vs. Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith (USC) 5-5, unfinished
Match Notes:
USC 13-7; National ranking #9
UCLA 11-4; National ranking #13
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,3,2,1,5,4)
T-3:30

 

After having its nine-match winning streak halted last week, Baylor returned to its winning ways with a dominating 6-1 win over No. 17 Oklahoma. The Bears rolled through doubles with easy wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then Johannes Schretter, Matias Soto, Adrian Boitan, and Constantin Frantzen cruised to straight set wins at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 6. The final two matches played 10-point supertiebreaks in lieu of a third set with Baylor’s Will Little winning at No. 4 while OU’s lone point came from Mason Beiler at No. 5. 

Baylor head coach Brian Boland on the win
“The team continues to play doubles better each and every match and just continues to get momentum. It’s hard when you play Big 12 matches, it’s hard to overcome especially when your home and win the doubles point. Oklahoma’s a great team, and I thought the guys did a really great job of staying focused with the match and really showed some improvement this week from after the Texas match. We had to battle with them and that was a bit of a setback for us, we lost a close one last Sunday. (We) had a great week of practice and the team responded well.”

#7 Baylor 6, #17 Oklahoma 1
4/5/2019 at Waco, Texas (Hurd Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #28 Johannes Schretter (BU) def. #33 Spencer Papa (OU) 6-3, 6-1
2. #45 Matias Soto (BU) def. #59 Alex Bakshi (OU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Adrian Boitan (BU) def. #57 Jake Van Emburgh (OU) 6-2, 6-4
4. #82 Will Little (BU) def. Ferran Calvo (OU) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-5)
5. Mason Beiler (OU) def. #105 Sven Lah (BU) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Constantin Frantzen (BU) def. Stefano Tsorotiotis (OU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles Competition
1. #1 Sven Lah/Jimmy Bendeck (BU) def. #60 Alex Bakshi/Spencer Papa (OU) 6-2
2. Matias Soto/Will Little (BU) vs. Jake Van Emburgh/Ferran Calvo (OU) unfinished
3. Johannes Schretter/Constantin Frantzen (BU) def. Mason Beiler/Stefano Tsorotiotis (OU) 6-1
Match Notes:
Oklahoma 14-6, 1-1 Big 12; National ranking #17
Baylor 19-3, 2-1 Big 12; National ranking #7
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,1,6,3,5,4)
A-371

 

Eighth-ranked Texas A&M came back from 3-1 down to defeat Vanderbilt 4-3 in a match that was moved up from Saturday due to expected rain. The Commodores took the doubles point and added straight set wins from Macsen Sisam and Panu Virtanen at No. 4 and No. 5 while Hady Habib and Guido Marson won in straights for the Aggies at No. 2 and No. 6.

Juan Carlos Aguilar tied it up at 3-3 after breaking Cameron Klinger from 30/40, via a double fault, to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles and Valentin Vacherot won a third set tiebreak at No. 3 singles by a 7-3 score to give the Aggies the win. 

“That was a hard fought SEC match if I have ever seen one,” Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. “Give credit to Vanderbilt, they came and really took care of business in doubles and took it to us in singles. Every SEC match, if you allow a team to jump out to an advantage you will be in for a big fight. Our guys were able to hang around long enough and got a couple really big tie breakers at the end of the night that helped us get that win.”

#8 Texas A&M 4, #35 Vanderbilt 3
4/5/2019 at College Station, TX (George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #56 Juan Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) def. #77 Cameron Klinger (VANDY) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. #75 Hady Habib (TAMU) def. George Harwell (VANDY) 6-1, 6-1
3. #40 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) def. Billy Rowe (VANDY) 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3)
4. Macsen Sisam (VANDY) def. #92 Barnaby Smith (TAMU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
5. Panu Virtanen (VANDY) def. Noah Schachter (TAMU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
6. Guido Marson (TAMU) def. Marcus Ferreira (VANDY) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition
1. #75 Cameron Klinger/Billy Rowe (VANDY) def. #16 Juan Carlos Aguilar/Barnaby Smith (TAMU) 6-1
2. Hady Habib/Kevin Lam (TAMU) vs. Macsen Sisam/Panu Virtanen (VANDY) 6-5, unfinished
3. George Harwell/Christiaan Worst (VANDY) def. Valentin Vacherot/Noah Schachter (TAMU) 6-4
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 14-7, 4-5; National ranking #35
Texas A&M 18-4, 8-1; National ranking #8
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (2,5,4,6,1,3)

 

Washington won its 11th straight match and improved to 16-1 on the season with a 4-3 win on the road in Berkeley over #19 Cal. The Huskies took what turned out to be a pivotal doubles point with a late break to win 7-5 at No. 3 doubles and then in singles each team won three matches with all coming in straight sets. UW’s Sedona Gallagher won the decider at No. 5 singles 7-6(3), 7-6(5) to give the Huskies just their fifth win in program history over Cal. 

“To describe today with one word I would choose ‘united’,” said Zupancic. “Whoever watched today’s match against Cal, would understand why I chose it. When we came out today, each one of us had a vision of what we had to do. We executed everything as planned and competed very well in hard conditions. As the matches got tougher moving to the end, we were more energized and loud. Sedona played an amazing match today, and left it all out on that court. Everyone on the team was hitting the balls with her. It’s just so amazing to see how we all are so united in good and bad.”

“We had another tough match today and were able dig deep and persevere with so much belief in ourselves and each other,” said Fung. “There’s nothing that compares to seeing one of your teammates grind out a long, tiring point and then look over to the girls on the sideline and everyone freak out with excitement. This team is so special, the energy, the heart, the fight and that’s what we brought today and what got things done.”

“Today’s match was so exciting!” said Gallagher. “I am so lucky to get to battle next to nine of my closest friends and teammates. Our team culture is amazing and the freshman experience has been awesome. We have another great opportunity tomorrow against Stanford and I can’t wait to get back at it.”

“Today we had an opportunity to win the doubles point, and I thought we played better in doubles than in the last match,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “We have to take chances in the doubles point when we can, and if we had won it, this would’ve been a different match. That’s the most important thing that we need to adjust for tomorrow.

“We really had opportunities in singles. We did really well on the top three courts. But we need to analyze a couple of the singles matches little bit. We’ll rebound tomorrow, and we’re going to make sure we’re ready for the doubles tomorrow.”

#15 Washington def. #19 California 4-3
April 5, 2019, in Berkeley, Calif. Hellman Tennis Complex
Doubles Results
1. No. 38 Stacey Fung/Nika Zupancic (UW) def. No. 13 Hana Mraz/Julia Rosenqvist (Cal), 6-3
2. No. 28 Anna Bright/Jasie Dunk (Cal) def. Vanessa Wong/Zoey Weil (UW), 6-1
3. Kenadi Hance/Natsuho Arakawa (UW) def. Olivia Hauger/Katerina Stloukalova (Cal), 7-5*
Singles Results
1. No. 40 Julia Rosenqvist (Cal) def. No. 95 Stacey Fung (UW), 6-4, 6-4
2. No. 42 Olivia Hauger (Cal) def. Vanessa Wong (UW), 6-1, 6-2
3. No. 111 Anna Bright (Cal) def. Katarina Kopcalic (UW), 6-3, 6-1
4. Natsuho Arakawa (UW) def. Katerina Stloukalova (Cal), 6-4, 6-4
5. Sedona Gallagher (UW) def. Maria Smith (Cal), 7-6(3), 7-6(5)^
6. Nika Zupancic (UW) def. Hana Mraz (Cal), 6-4, 7-6(4)
Match Notes
No. 15/15 Washington (16-1, 6-0 Pac-12)
19/22 California (9-6, 3-3 Pac-12)
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,3,4,1,6,5^)

 

Second-ranked North Carolina improved to 23-1, 11-0 in the ACC, with a 4-0 win at home over No. 13 Florida State. The Tar Heels took the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then added straight set singles wins from Alexa Graham, Cameron Morra, and Alle Sanford at No. 2, No. 4, and No. 6.

#2 North Carolina 4, #13 Florida State 0
April 5, 2019 at Chapel Hill, NC
Singles competition
1. #7 Makenna Jones (NC) vs. #32 Carla Touly (FS) 4-6, 6-3, unfinished
2. #6 Alexa Graham (NC) def. Emmanuelle Salas (FS) 6-4, 6-2
3. #12 Sara Daavettila (NC) vs. Ana Oparenovic (FS) 5-7, 3-4, unfinished
4. #29 Cameron Morra (NC) def. Nandini Das (FS) 6-2, 6-3
5. Jessie Aney (NC) vs. Petra Hule (FS) 2-6, 6-1, 4-1, unfinished
6. Alle Sanford (NC) def. Julia Mikulski (FS) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #46 Emmanuelle Salas/Ana Oparenovic (FS) def. #8 Jessie Aney/Alexa Graham (NC) 6-2
2. Makenna Jones/Alle Sanford (NC) def. Carla Touly/Ariana Rahmanparast (FS) 6-2
3. Sara Daavettila/Cameron Morra (NC) def. Petra Hule/Andrea Garcia (FS) 6-4
Match Notes:
Florida State 16-5, 8-3 ACC; National ranking #13
North Carolina 23-1, 11-0 ACC; National ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,2,6)
T-2: 20 A-200

 

Other Notable Men’s Results

 

Other Notable Women’s Results
 
To see other results head to the ITA’s result portal. 
*All quotes are from the respective school’s recaps