by Bobby Knight | Mar 7, 2016 | Blog
In what had to be the match of the day it was No. 8 Texas A&M outlasting No. 30 Florida 4-3 in 3 hours and 51 minutes. Florida jumped out to the early lead by taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but Texas A&M came out ready to go in singles and took five opening sets.Jordi Arconada was off the court first with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Chase Perez-Blanco at No. 3 but Florida’s Gordon Watson answered with a 6-4, 6-4 win over AJ Catanzariti at No. 5.Texas A&M senior Jackson Withrow evened the match at 2-2 with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Florida freshman McClain Kessler at No. 6 but Florida retook the lead when freshman Alfredo Perez...
by Bobby Knight | Mar 5, 2016 | Blog
While conference play got underway in the SEC and ACC there was a non-conference battle brewing in Des Moines between #36 Drake and #33 Iowa. The two schools, separated by just 115 miles, are the only two schools in the state of Iowa that play Division 1 men’s tennis so bragging rights were at stake Friday night. A boisterous crowd of close to 200, with a decent amount of black and gold, was on hand to see if Drake could make it five in a row over the Hawkeyes.Drake got off to a good start at #3 doubles when Ben Stride and Calum MacGeoch jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Iowa’s Robin Haden and Nils Hallestrand. Drake would hold on the deciding point to...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 29, 2016 | Blog
One day you’re on the top of the mountain and the next day your toppling down the hill. Illinois took the court today against #8 TCU just 16 hours removed from its big win over #2 Virginia so you had to figure they’d have a tough time replicating the same energy in such a short span.It was sunny and 65 degrees outside at match time but the 25-30 mile per hour wind gusts kept play indoors. I knew the crowd wouldn’t be as big as Saturday night but I was impressed with the Sunday afternoon turnout of just over 400.Illinois got off to a quick start at #1 and #2 doubles while TCU jumped out to the early lead at #3. Illinois’s #1 team of...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 28, 2016 | Blog
Man oh man what a day of tennis it was – we had some blowouts, some upsets, and some really big shockers. College tennis action was played outside in sunny skies, outside in windy conditions, and indoors in calm conditions. I’ll start off with the match that I attended in Champaign-Urbana between #11 Illinois and #2 Virginia.The temperature in C-U was in the mid-40s so there wasn’t any doubt about whether the match would be played inside or outside. After having my complementary piece of pizza I walked into the Atkins Tennis Center and within the first 60 seconds I found out that Virginia would be playing without its #1 Ryan Shane. I talked...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 15, 2016 | Blog
In the first semifinal of the day North Carolina advanced to its first-ever final at the National Team Indoors after coming from behind to beat UCLA 4-2.North Carolina didn’t take the easy way though after dropping the doubles point for the second time in three matches this weekend. UCLA’s new #3 team of Maxime Cressy and Karue Sell knocked off Blaine Boyden and Ronnie Schneider 6-3. Cressy/Sell broke UNC on the deciding point to go up 3-1 then held for 4-1. The teams exchanged holds until UCLA held from 40-15 to win 6-3.North Carolina answered by winning at #2 doubles as Jack Murray and Brayden Schnur defeated Gage Brymer and Austin Rapp 6-4....
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