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D1 Women’s and Men’s Semifinal Preview

by | May 21, 2021 | Uncategorized

Just four teams remain in the women’s and men’s draw with Texas the only one that can pull off the double. The Friday weather forecast calls for temps in the low 80s with winds close to 20 miles per hour but it’s been windy for the last few days so all the teams should be pretty used to that by this point.

North Carolina and Texas have each made it to the women’s final before while both Pepperdine and NC State are making history with each passing round.

The Texas men are shooting for a second consecutive finals appearance while Tennessee and Baylor are trying to get back to the final day for the first time since 2010 and 2005 respectively. Florida is playing in the semifinals for the fourth time with the Gators 0-3 in their previous three appearances.

Since the start of the Round of 16 last weekend, the team winning the doubles point is 12-0 on the women’s side and 9-3 on the men’s side.

I’ve got all the numbers and stats down below so look them over and decide who you think will move on to the NCAA Championship Final.


WOMEN’S SEMIFINALS

[2] Texas vs [6] NC State (11:00 am ET)

Road to the Semifiansl
#2 Texas def. Denver 4-0 in R1; def. #31 Arizona State 4-0 in R2; #16 Ohio State 4-1 in R16; def. #7 Florida State 4-0 in QF
#6 NC State def. VCU 4-0 in R1; def. #36 Iowa State 4-2 in R2; def. #35 USC 4-1 in R16; def. #3 Georgia 4-2 in QF

All-Time Series: Texas 1-0
Most Recent Meeting: 2020 – Texas 4-3
NCAA H2H: First Meeting

Match Notes:

  • NC State is appearing in the semifinals for the first-time in school history
  • Texas last made the semifinals in 2005 (lost in final)
  • Doubles is a toss-up – Pack has won the point in 21 of 25 matches; Horns in 27 of 30 (22 straight)
  • Texas’s only loss this season was 4-3 to UNC in the National Indoors Final
  • Singles Breakdown (UT/NCST)
    • Peyton Stearns snapped a 2-match losing streak with a 6-0, 6-1 win against FSU/Anna Rogers has lost her last 5
    • Anna Turati has won 4 straight (with 6 unfinished matches in the middle)/Alana Smith has won 2 straight and 5 of her last 6
    • Lulu Sun has won 14 straight/Adriana Reami has won 4 of her last 5
    • Charlotte Chavatipon has won 16 straight/Jaeda Daniel has won 4 straight and 6 of her last 7 matches
    • Kylie Collins has won 12 straight/Abigail Rencheli has won 3 straight and 5 of her last 6
    • Fernanda Labrana has won 14 straight/Lexi Keberle has lost her last 2 and 5 of her last 7
    • Malaika Rapolu has won 16 straight
  • Doubles Notes
    • UT’s Sun/Collins have won 5 straight at No. 1 doubles, Chavatipon/Stearns have won 13 of their last 14 matches at No. 3 doubles
    • Reami/Daniel have won 7 straight at No. 2 doubles
    • Rencheli/Rajecki have won 12 straight at No. 3 doubles

Prediction: NC State took out Georgia with the doubles point paving the way to a victory and if the Pack can get that early lead against Texas they’ve got more than a punchers chance to knock out a 1-loss team for the second time in three days. NC State’s players have a few more losses than those on Texas but you also have to remember the ACC was the premier conference this season with very few easy out. The Pack got me believing after the win over Georgia so let’s go with the upset – NC State 4-3

[1] North Carolina vs. [5] Pepperdine (5:30 pm ET)

Road to the Semifinals
#1 UNC def. South Carolina St 4-0 in R1; def. #29 Old Dominion 4-0 in R2; def. #17 Cal 4-0 in R16; def. #18 Duke 4-1 in QF
#5 Pepperdine def. N Arizona 4-0 in R1; def. #27 Stanford 4-2 in R2; def. #20 Michigan 4-0 in R16; def. #4 UCLA 4-3 in QF

All-Time Series: North Carolina 3-0
Most Recent Meeting: 2021 National Indoor Semifinal – North Carolina 4-1
NCAA H2H: First Meeting

Match Notes

  • Pepperdine is into the NCAA Semifinals for the first time in school history
  • UNC is into the NCAA Semifinals for the second season in a row – fourth overall (1-3 record)
  • The undefeated Tar Heels have 8 singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125.
  • UNC posted shutouts in 17 of their 30 wins – only gave up more than 1 point in 3 matches (UGA 4-3, Texas 4-3, Virginia 5-2)
  • Singles Breakdown (UNC/Pepp)
    • Sara Daavettila has won 6 straight matches while only dropping 2 sets since March 14/Ashley Lahey has won 6 of her last 7 – lost to UCLA
    • Alexa Graham has won 8 straight/Jessica Failla has won 7 straight
    • Cameron Morra has won 4 of her last 6 (lost to Duke)/Taisiya Pachkaleva has won 23 straight
    • Elizabeth Scotty has won 5 straight and 11 of her last 12 (all but 1 of those wins was in straight sets)/Shiori Fukuda has won 14 of her last 15 matches
    • Makenna Jones has won 13 of her last 14/Lisa Zaar has won 19 of her last 20 however she lost 6-2, 6-3 vs. UCLA and trailed 6-4, 5-1 vs. Michigan
    • Fiona Crawley is undefeated at 27-0 and has won 24 of her matches in straight sets/Nikki Redelijk has won 8 of her last 10 (lost to UCLA)
    • Reilly Tran is 16-0 and has only dropped 2 sets all season
  • Who will play at the bottom three spots in the singles lineup for UNC?
    • Fiona Crawley and Reilly Tran, who are listed at 6 and 7, have both been unstoppable all-season and are a combined 41-0 so you’d think they both have to start
    • Elizabeth Scotty sat out against Duke while Makenna Jones sat out vs. Cal

Regular Season Meeting:

#1 North Carolina 4, #5 Pepperdine 1
Feb 06, 2021 at Stillwater, Okla.
Singles competition
1. #3 Alexa Graham (UNC) vs. #33 Failla, Jessica (PEPP) 5-7, 2-5, unfinished
2. #4 Sara Daavettila (UNC) vs. #12 Fukuda, Shiori (PEPP) 6-2, 1-6, 4-2, unfinished
3. #6 Cameron Morra (UNC) def. #45 Ryngler, Lexi (PEPP) 6-0, 6-1
4. #88 Pachkaleva, Taisiya (PEPP) def. #79 Elizabeth Scotty (UNC) 6-4, 6-0
5. #49 Makenna Jones (UNC) def. Zaar, Lisa (PEPP) 6-3, 6-0
6. #120 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. Redelijk, Nikki (PEPP) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Alexa Graham/Sara Daavettila (UNC) vs. Failla, Jessica/Fukuda, Shiori (PEPP) 5-5, unfinished
2. Cameron Morra/Elizabeth Scotty (UNC) def. Redelijk, Nikki/Olsen, Astrid (PEPP) 6-1
3. Reilly Tran/Alle Sanford (UNC) def. Pachkaleva, Taisiya/Zaar, Lisa (PEPP) 6-4
Match Notes
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,4,5,6)
ITA Indoors – Semifinals

Prediction: North Carolina won the regular season meeting 4-1 but it looks like only two or at most three of the singles matches will be rematches. UNC has only dropped the doubles point three times this season but UCLA had only dropped it three times and Pepperdine found a way to take that one. No team has won more than two singles matches against UNC all season so to drop the doubles point and then be asked to win four would be a near impossible task. If you’re Pepperdine and looking at a path to a victory I think it’s got to be doubles and a split at 1 and 2 and then wins from Pachkaleva and Fukuda at 3 and 4. I think Pepperdine is going to get close but North Carolina will move on to the finals for the second time in program history – North Carolina 4-2

You can follow the women’s matches with this live scoring link (which may or may not actually work) and streaming video is available on the TennisOne app for the Texas/NC State match and on The Tennis Channel for the UNC/Pepperdine match.



MEN’S SEMIFINALS

[2] #1 Baylor vs. [3] Tennessee (2:00 pm ET)

Road to the Semifinals
#1 Baylor def. Texas A&M Corpus Christi 4-0 in R1; def. #37 Oregon 4-0 in R2; def. #14 Ole Miss 4-1 in R16; def. #7 TCU 4-1 in QF
#3 Tennessee def. Alabama State 5-0 in R1; def. #38 Memphis 4-0 in R2; def. #18 Arizona 4-3 in R16; def. #11 Georgia 4-1 in QF

All-Time Series: Tennessee 6-2
Most Recent Meeting: March 2012 – Tennessee 4-3
NCAA H2H: 1-1 (2010 – Tennessee 4-0 in NCAA QF)

Match Notes

  • Baylor into the NCAA Semifinals for the first time since 2015 (lost to Virginia in semis) – last final was 2005 (lost to UCLA)
  • Tennessee is into the NCAA Semifinals for the first time since 2010 (lost to USC in final)
  • Singles Breakdown (BU/UT)
    • Adrian Boitan has won 5 straight and 11 of his last 12/Andrew Rogers has won 3 straight and 4 of his last 5
    • Matias Soto has won 5 of his last 7/Johannus Monday has won 14 of his last 16
    • Sven Lah has won his last 3 matches/Martin Prata has won 5 straight
    • Nick Stachowiak last 8 matches (1-3 with 4 UNF leading in 3)/Luca Wiedenmann has won 4 straight and 7 of his last 8
    • Charlie Broom has 10 of his last 12 (lost last match)/Gilles Hussey has won 8 of his last 9 (was trailing last match)
    • Spencer Furman has won 13 straight matches (12 in straight sets)/Andrew Rogers has won 3 straight and 4 of his last 5

Prediction: Tennessee may have come back from dropping the doubles point against Georgia but I don’t think they can afford to drop it against Baylor. The margins in singles are so, so thin with everyone in the lineup playing some of their best tennis of the season. There really isn’t a result that would surprise me but if I have to make a choice I’ll say Baylor gets the doubles point and wins at 1, 5 and 6 – Baylor 4-2

[1] #2 Florida vs. [4] Texas (NB 7:30 pm ET)

Road to the Semifinals
#2 Florida def. South Alabama 4-0 in R1; def. #31 South Florida 4-1 in R2; def. #17 Illinois 4-0 in R16; def. #8 Texas A&M 4-1 in QF
#4 Texas def. Northern Arizona 4-0 in R1; def. #67 Northwestern 4-0 in R2; def. #13 South Carolina 4-3 in R16; def. #12 USC 4-3 in QF

All-Time Series: Texas 12-6
Most Recent Meeting: 2021 Kickoff Weekend Regional Final – Texas 4-3
NCAA H2H: Texas 2-1 (2019 SF – Texas 4-2)

Match Notes

  • Texas is into the NCAA Semifinals for the second season in a row – 6th all time (2019 champion/2008 RU)
  • Florida is into the NCAA Semifinals for the second season in a row – 4th all time (never made it to the finals)
  • Singles Breakdown (FL/TX)
    • Duarte Vale has won 3 straight/Eliot Spizzirri has won 6 of his last 8
    • Sam Riffice has won 4 of his last 5/Micah Braswell has won 4 of his last 5
    • Andy Andrade has won 3 straight/Sieb Woldeab has won 7 of his last 10
    • Blaise Bicknell is 22-0 in dual-match play/Cleeve Harper has won 5 straight and 9 of his last 10 matches
    • Ben Shelton has won 4 of his last 5/Chih Chi Huang has won 3 of his last 5
    • Josh Goodger is 15-0 in dual-match play and has only dropped 4 sets/Evin McDonald has won 4 of his last 5

Regular Season Meeting

#6 Texas 4, #9 Florida 3
Jan 23, 2021 at Austin, Texas (Texas Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #57 Siem Woldeab (UT) def. #12 Duarte Vale (UF) 7-5, 7-5
2. #120 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) def. #8 Sam Riffice (UF) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
3. #85 Andy Andrade (UF) def. #78 Micah Braswell (UT) 6-3, 6-0
4. Cleeve Harper (UT) def. Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 6-2, 6-2
5. Chih Chi Huang (UT) def. Ben Shelton (UF) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
6. #68 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. Evin McDonald (UT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. #45 Duarte Vale/Sam Riffice (UF) def. Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab (UT) 6-2
2. Payton Holden/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Johannes Ingildsen/Ben Shelton (UF) 5-4, unfinished
3. Andy Andrade/Will Grant (UF) def. Micah Braswell/Cleeve Harper (UT) 6-2
Match Notes:
Florida Gators 3-1; National ranking #9
Texas 4-0; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,4,5,1,6,2)
ITA Kickoff Weekend – Regional Final

Prediction: This will be a rematch of the 2019 semifinal that Texas won 4-2 however Chih Chi Huang is the only current Texas player that appeared in that match – played dubs. Texas won the regular season meeting at home 4-3 (Kickoff Weekend) but the only individual rematch will come at No. 5 singles between Huang and Shelton. Texas has done a tremendous job winning close matches this season with the Horns 10-1 in matches that have finished with a 4-3 final score. Florida has only played in 5 matches that have finished 4-3 with the Gators 3-2 in those matches. Neither team has been exceptional in doubles but both have managed to overcome the loss of the doubles point to still win the match (only other team that has done so is Tennessee). Both of the singles matches at 2 and 4 should be sensational with Riffice, Bicknell, Braswell, and Harper all in great form. Florida is a slight favorite on the other courts but they all could go either way – Florida 4-3

You can follow the men’s matches with live scoring and streaming video is available on the TennisOne app for the Baylor/Tennessee match and on The Tennis Channel for the Florida/Texas match.