While there were several matches played on Tuesday the big story was the names released in a federal investigation into a college admissions scheme where coaches were taking payments to label prospective applicants as athletes to increase their chances of getting accepting. University of Texas head coach Michael Center was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud after reportedly accepting approximately $100,000 to designate a 2015 applicant as a tennis recruit. The unnamed applicant was accepted at Texas and subsequently enrolled in school but never played tennis. Center was placed on administrative leave by the school with associate head coach Bruce Berque named interim head coach. The charges against Center are linked here and and an article from Hook’Em is linked here. Center appeared in court on Tuesday and plead not guilty and was released on a $50,000 bond.
Current Rhode Island women’s head coach Gordon Ernst, who was hired in August after serving as head coach at Georgetown for 12 years before departing unexpectedly, was charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Ernst is reported to have accepted approximately $2.7M in bribes to help facilitate the acceptance of multiple applicants over a six year period at Georgetown. Ernst has been placed on administrative leave according to this statement from Rhode Island. The full details of Ernst’s case are at this link. The school website doesn’t list any other coaches so I’m not sure who has taken over in the interim. Ernst appeared in court on Tuesday and was released on a $200,000 bond.
Full details on the entire case and all the charges brought against multiple individuals are linked here and there’s plenty of other info out there all over the internet.
In action that took place on the court, as opposed to in court, #4 Texas improved to 15-1 after defeating Rice 5-2. The Horns took the doubles point and added straight set wins at 2, 3, 4, and 5 while Rice won in straights at 1 and 6. Texas will have to put all the distractions surrounding its head coach in the background and get focused for its match against #1 Ohio State on Thursday.
Ohio State will be without JJ Wolf for the match against Texas after Wolf defeated Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA ’17) 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday night at the Drummondville Challenger. The Buckeye junior only needed 52 minutes to get the win – his next match will be on Thursday against the No. 2 seed Yannick Maden (Clemson ’13)
#3 Virginia and #33 UCF played a very competitive match at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. Virginia jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after claiming the doubles point with a 6-2 win at No. 2 and a 6-1 win at No. 1. Each team won three opening sets in singles but only one match would finish in straight sets with UCF’s Manoel Alencar winning 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6.
Virginia junior Carl Soderlund put the Cavs back in front with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 2. Soderlund fought off three break points in his final service game to close it out.
Virginia sophomore Gianni Ross made it 3-1 with a 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 win at No. 4 and senior Henrik Wiersholm would clinch with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win at No. 3. The other two matches were halted with Virginia up breaks on both courts.
We competed well, said UCF Director of Tennis John Roddick, We started a little slow in doubles. Singles we did well, we came out and played hard, won a lot of first sets and got into some third sets. We competed great, we just came up a little short. Theyre one of the best teams in the country. Were proud of the way were playing, weve just got to get over the hump. Weve had a tough schedule, but good things are happening and were playing at a much higher level.
#4 Virginia 4, #49 UCF 1
Mar 12, 2019 at Orlando, Fla (USTA National Campus)
Singles Competition
1. #18 Gabriel Decamps (UCF) vs. #50 Brandon Nakashima (VA) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 4-5, unfinished
2. #15 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #122 Alan Rubio (UCF) 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
3. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) def. Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
4. #96 Gianni Ross (VA) def. Trey Hilderbrand (UCF) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-5
5. Juan Pablo Mazzuchi (UCF) vs. Aswin Lizen (VA) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 2-3, unfinished
6. Manoel Alencar (UCF) def. William Woodall (VA) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles Competition
1. Bogdan Pavel/Trey Hilderbrand (UCF) vs. Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) 4-4, unfinished
2. #71 Brandon Nakashima/Henrik Wiersholm (VA) def. Gabriel Decamps/Juan Pablo Mazzuchi (UCF) 6-2
3. Gianni Ross/Aswin Lizen (VA) def. Alan Rubio/Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF) 6-1
Match Notes:
Virginia 10-2; National ranking #4
UCF 8-6; National ranking #49
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,2,4,3)
Official: D. Childs
T-2:53 A-121
Other Tuesday Results
- (M) Wichita State def. Memphis 4-3 – Marius Frosa won the deciding match at No. 3 singles 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4)
- (M) Miami FL def. UNC Wilmington 5-1 – Canes took dubs and won a pair of matches in straight sets with the rest going three sets
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