Washington, Kentucky, & Tulane Win Close Ones While Most Top Seeds Cruise

The opening day of the 2017 ITA Kick-Off Weekend is in the books with several close matches but nothing that really qualifies as an upset. The day got started in Athens where Washington and Alabama went toe-to-toe for just under four hours. When you look at the box score below you’ll probably wonder how it lasted that long and the reason is because Georgia’s indoor facility only has four courts so the final two singles matches couldn’t start until courts became available. Alabama jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after claiming the doubles point with a 6-2 win at No. 1 and a 7-6(4) win at No. 2 while No. 3 went unfinished with it tied at 6-6 in the tiebreak.

Each team would claim two opening sets in singles (remember four courts in play) with Washington getting the upper hand at No. 1 and No. 2 while Alabama took leads at No. 3 and No. 4. Washington’s Enzo Sommer was first off the court with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 2 and a short while later Mitch Stewart would make it 2-1 with a 6-3, 7-6(0) win at No. 1. Washington’s Gal Halak forced a third set at No. 3 and it looked like Jake Douglas would do the same at No. 4 when he led Alexey Nesterov 5-3. Nesterov held for 4-5 and then broke for 5-5 but Douglas broke back to give himself a second opportunity to serve the set out. Nesterov broke again to send it to a tiebreak and he would ultimately close it out 7-5, 7-6(5). Nesterov’s win didn’t actually tie it up because during his tiebreak Washington’s Gal Halak closed out Spencer Richey 7-0 in the third set tiebreak so now the score was 3-2.

There was a lull in the action with the matches at No. 5 and No. 6 just a few games in but Washington managed to seize the early momentum when Amit Batta and Piers Foley went up early breaks. Foley ended up taking the set at No. 6 by a 6-2 score and Batta led Ortiz 5-3 but Ortiz rallied to win the next four to take it 7-5. Alabama’s Langford Hills rode the momentum from Ortiz’s comeback and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set against Batta but he’d been unable to sustain it and Batta would take the final five games to clinch the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win. 

This match began at 6 a.m. pacific time but Washington’s regional championship match against Georgia will start at a much more reasonable time on Sunday (1pm ET/10am PT). Alabama will play Purdue in the regional consolation on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. 

Post-Match Quotes from Kentucky’s recap

“It was a gutsy win today,” head coach Cedric Kauffmann said. “Our identity in singles is set. We are tough at every spot and we play hard at every point. The doubles we haven’t found ourselves yet but we will.”

“This was the best win of the season so far,” Ellefsen said. “Tulsa is a very good team and even though we didn’t play our best today, we fought through and out competed them. I’m very proud of the boys today and we’re looking forward to another match tomorrow.”

“Today was a good stepping stone in the right direction for us,” Pennington said. “We didn’t play our best but we fought through it and now we’re getting ready for tomorrow. “I’m proud of the guys and hopefully we’ll pull out another win tomorrow.”

________________________________________________________ 

Other Men’s Kick-Off Weekend Results: 

• Georgia (video) won a close doubles point against Purdue and then picked up straight set wins from Wayne Montgomery, Nathan Ponwith, and Jan Zielinski to win 4-1. Purdue’s Stephan Koenigsfest picked up the Boilermakers lone point as he won his collegiate debut in straight sets over Georgia’s Paul Oosterbaan who was making his season debut after sitting out the fall with a wrist injury. 
• Vanderbilt had one of the most impressive wins of the day as they ran over Penn State 4-1. Vandy took the doubles point and eight of ten sets in singles with Danny Valent clinching at No. 2. Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe also won convincingly for VU while Penn State picked up its lone point from Ben Lieb at No. 6. 
• North Carolina defeated ACC rival Notre Dame 4-0 in a match that was much closer than the score indicates. UNC won the doubles decider 7-5 and then picked up straight set wins from Ronnie Schneider, Robert Kelly, and Jack Murray with Schneider getting the clinch at No. 1. At the time of the clinch the other three matches were in the third set with Notre Dame up a break on two of them with the other on serve. Here is a post-match interview with Ronnie Schneider. 
• Old Dominion had its way with Denver by taking the doubles point and eight of ten sets in singles in a 4-0 win.
• Ohio State blanked Utah 4-0 but the Utes did manage to force three third sets.
• Cal shutout Cal Poly 4-0 in a match that had several close sets – freshman Bjorn Hoffmann clinched the win in his dual-match debut. 
• Georgia State picked up an impressive 4-2 win over Auburn with Andrei Andrukhou clinching the win at No. 3. 
• Wake Forest beat Nebraska 4-1 in a match that was much closer than I anticipated. Nebraska’s David Samardzija won convincingly at No. 6 as did Wake’s Borna Gojo at No. 3.
• Oklahoma State pulled out a hard fought 4-1 win over Columbia with Lucas Gerch clinching at No. 4.  

Friday’s Women’s Kick-Off Weekend Results:

• Vanderbilt rolled over Virginia Tech 4-0 – Dores won seven of eight sets in singles
• Kansas took the doubles point over Clemson and then picked up three straight set wins to take it 4-1. 

Here is the full Kick-Off Weekend Schedule – remember if you want an easy way to follow ALL these matches subscribe for just $.33 a day to see all the live scoring links that I’ve accumulated!