NIIC Day 3: Goransson Gets Past Eubanks; Koepfer Overpowers Monteiro

Tagged with: National Indoor Intercollegiates

The singles finals are set at the National Indoor Intercollegiates and it’ll be Cal’s Andre Goransson taking on Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer on the men’s side and Clemson’s Joana Eidukonyte meeting Ohio State’s Francesca Di Lorenzo on the women’s side.

Cal’s Andre Goransson got the only break of the opening set when he broke Chris Eubanks’s 5-5 service game and then he served it out to take the set 7-5.  Below is a clip of Goransson’s break (FYI, I recorded all the clips off ESPN3 so some are better than others but at least it’s something)

The Georgia Tech sophomore would bounce back in the second set by breaking Goransson twice and he quickly took a 6-1 set to force a third.

Eubanks broke Goransson to start the third set by unloading on a forehand on the deciding point however Goransson would return the favor and break back from 15-40 to even it at 1-1. After a couple of quick holds it looked like Eubanks was going to get the break when he went up 0-40 on Goransson’s 3-3 service game. Goransson quickly got it back to the 40-40 deciding point and then he used his forehand to pull Eubanks off the court and followed that up with a volley that Eubanks couldn’t steer into play. Goransson had fought off each of the 4 break points and now led 4-3 and in fact he wouldn’t lose another point on his serve the rest of the way.

Both guys would hold fairly easily up until Eubanks’s 5-6 service game.  Eubanks went up 30-0 but on the next point Goransson came in and hit a backhand volley that landed right on the line and with Eubanks standing almost on top of the ball he got handcuffed and sent his return deep to make it 30-15. Eubanks then pushed a forehand wide to make it 30-30 and then Goransson smacked a nice deep service return that Eubanks put into the net and with that Goransson had 2 match points. Eubanks hit a forehand winner to fight off the first match point but on the second MP Goransson got a nice return on Eubanks’s second serve and a few points later he’d steer a backhand up the line that Eubanks would then put into the net and that was all she wrote – Goransson 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

The second semifinal between Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer and Virginia Tech’s Joao Monteiro wouldn’t be as suspenseful. The left-handed Koepfer came out with the hot hand and jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. Koepfer looked like he was going to add a third break but Monteiro fought back from 15-40 to hold and get on the board at 1-4. Monteiro would then break Koepfer and hold for 3-4 before Koepfer would hold from 40-30 to go up 5-3. Monteiro would come back from 0-30 down to hold for 4-5 but Koepfer would hold from 40-15 to take the opening set 6-4.

Monteiro held from 40-30 to start the second set and then he broke Koepfer from 30-40 to take the early 2-0 lead. Monteiro would come back 15-40 down on his next service game to even it at 40-40 but Koepfer landed a running backhand lob to get the break and put the match back on serve. Koepfer would hold from 40-30 to even it at 2-2 and then the lefty would break from 15-40 to go up a break at 3-2. Koepfer held at love to go up 4-2 and then Monteiro held from 40-15 to pull within 4-3.

Koepfer would fight off 2 break points to hold for 5-3 though it sure looked like Monteiro had the break when he landed a lob that landed almost on the baseline with Koepfer standing closer to the net. Koepfer managed to track the ball down and pop up a return that Monteiro appeared to be poised to hammer at the net however he didn’t do enough with the overhead and then he’d put Koepfer’s low return into the net. See video clip of this one:

Koepfer quickly went up 15-40 on Monteiro’s service game but Monteiro fought off all 3 match points to hold for 4-5. Koepfer dropped a fourth straight point to go down 0-15 on his 5-4 service game but then he hit an ace down the T to even it at 15 all. Koepfer hit another big serve and followed it up with a hard forehand that Monteiro couldn’t handle to make it 30-15. A forehand error by Monteiro made it 40-15 which gave Koepfer another 3 match points. Unlike in the previous game Koepfer wouldn’t squander these as he hit another big serve and then raised his arms as Monteiro’s return sailed long – Koepfer 6-4, 6-4

Koepfer and Goransson met last month in the semifinals of the All Americans in Tulsa with Koepfer getting the 6-4, 6-4 win. Will we see a repeat or does Goransson get the title?

Here is Sunday’s Order of Play and below are all of today’s results

Semifinals 
[3] Dominik Koepfer (TUL) def. Joao Monteiro (VT) 6-4, 6-4
Andre Goransson (CAL) def. Chris Eubanks (GT) 7-5, 1-6, 7-5

Championship (Sunday on ESPN3) 
[3] Dominik Koepfer (TUL) vs. Andre Goransson (CAL)

Consolation Quarterfinals:
Ben Lock (FSU) def. Diego Hidalgo (UF) 6-4, 6-4
Guillermo Nunez (TCU) def. Uros Petronijevic (SD) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Dovydas Sakinis (DART) def. Diogo Rocha (DEN) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4
Quentin Monaghan (ND) def. Sam Monette (IU) 6-3, 7-6(0)

Consolation Semfinals:
Ben Lock (FSU) def. Guillermo Nunez (TCU) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
Dovydas Sakinis (DART) def. Quentin Monaghan (ND) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Consolation Championship:
Ben Lock (FSU) vs. Dovydas Sakinis (DART)

Doubles

Main Draw Semifinals:
Dojas/Soares (TT) def. Sabatka/Van Leijsen (NM) 4-6, 6-2, 1-0(9)
[2] Clark/Kelly (UNC) vs. Lawson/Monaghan (ND) 7-6(3), 4-6, 1-0(6)

Championship (Sunday):
[2] Brett Clark/Robert Kelly (UNC) vs. Hugo Dojas/Felipe Soares (TT)

Consolation Semifinals:
Austin Smith/Ben Wagland (UGA) def. [1] Kwiatkowski/Styslinger (UVA) 6-4, 6-4
Michal Rolski/Mike Vermeer (COL) def. Cash/Kadhe (OKST) 6-4, 7-6(7)

Championship:
Austin Smith/Ben Wagland (UGA) def. Michal Rolski/Mike Vermeer (COL) 6-3, 1-6, 1-0(6)