General college chat 2024/25

Lambda · ATP level

RE: General college chat 2024/25

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

in the womens, Boise State upset Baylor - no Brits involved but thats the finals host team out, no?

Lambda · ATP level

Of the remaining matches
In the women's
NC State won, but they made hard work of it.
Stetson (Darley), Stephen F Austin (Cave) lost

In the men's
Stanford (Basing), Kentucky (Rankin), California (Chen), wake Forest (Pow, Robertson) and TCU ( PJ, Maxted) are through
Denver (Papajcik) are out

Lui didn't play for TCU. Derrick Chen didn't play singles for Cal.

Overall, other than Boise State upsetting Baylor mentioned by Jon, it was across the board as expected.
At an individual level, it was a pretty disappointing day for the Brits, especially on the women's side, with most losing or going unfinished.
There were singles wins for Hannah Rylatt, Millie -Mae Matthews and Annabelle Davis and
max Basing, Matt Rankin, Connor Thomson, Giacomo Revelli, Luca Pow and Jack Pinnington-Jones

Lambda · ATP level

South Carolina defeated Florida State 4-3 and progress to the last 16 next weekend.
No celebrations for South Carolina as this was decided by injury on the Florida State side in the deciding match.
Connor Thomson (South Carolina) lost doubles, won singles at No 1
Jamie Connel (Florida State) won doubles and singles at No 2

Lambda · ATP level

There's no surprise that women's favourites Georgia knocked out Georgia Tech 4-0
Kylie Bilchev (Georgia Tech) enjoyed her last collegiate match, playing it with a smile and no wonder when she and partner were up *5-3 on the No 1 ranked doubles team when it Georgia won the doubles point on the other 2 courts. As expected she didn't play singles and cracked racquets commentary did say she has had injuries (plural) this year.
Given Roach (Georgia Tech) lost doubles and singles.

Lambda · ATP level

Women's 2nd round

USC lost to Louisiana State 1-4
USC lost the doubles point.
Grace Piper (USC) couldn't find a way past Cadence Brace 2-6 2-6
USC did win 4 1st sets to give them a path to victory but LSU sent 3 of them to a 3rd set.
Immi Haddad didn't play which must mean she's ill or injured because USC wouldn't play this match without her, particularly when they played their No 9 at No 6.

Virginia defeated Illinois 4-1.
Isabelle Lacy (Virginia) didn't play. As I thought from the submitted line up, if Kozakova was fit to play she would play ahead of Isabelle. They wouldn't play them both, although interestingly they played their No 8 at 6 instead of Collard. It's not looking good for Isabelle to play again this season. Virginia host Tennessee in the last 16.

Florida Atlantic lost to Duke 0-4
Millie-Mae Matthews (FAU) at No 6 lost to Ellie Coleman 3 & 3 which is a respectable scoreline.

NC State defeated Central Florida 4-1
Doubles went with NC State
Hannah Rylatt (UCF) got UCFs only point with a 4 & 6(5) win over Gabia Paskauskas (NCSU) on No 6. I saw the beginning of this match and Gabia was struggling to handle Hannah's power and that it seems that was where this match was won and lost.
Kristina Paskauskas (NCSU) was unfinished in a 2nd set tie-break, down 1 set.
NC State make the short drive to neighbouring Chapel Hill to play their adversaries UNC on Friday evening. Having never won in Chapel Hill and already having lost to UNC twice this year, it will be an uphill task to cause the upset to continue their season past Friday.

A few top 16 seeds did fall.
Stanford knocked out Texas Tech. While an upset by seeding, it was not much of a surprise. How dominant they did it, was.
Cal knocked out Washington. Again, not much of a surprise with how closely these 2 teams are ranked, although Cal have not looked good of late.
A genuine upset was Oklahoma State knocking out state rivals Oklahoma. All the more impressive as Oklahoma had won the doubles point and 4 1st sets in singles, including bagelling Melissa Ercan. But Oklahoma State through Ercan and 2 of those other dropped 1st sets turned it around.

Lambda · ATP level

In the men's draw there was a mix of R1 and R2 matches

R1: USC through 4-0. Oscar Weightman (USC) unfinished in doubles and didn't play singles.
R1: San Diego through 4-2. Ollie Tarvet (USD) unfinished in doubles and won in singles. A little concerning San Diego dropped 2 points.

R2: UCLA defeated California 4-2
No joy for Giacomo Revelli (UCLA) or Derrick Chen(Cal) in doubles. Cal took the doubles point.
On court 5 Chen lost 2 & 3
On court 6 Revelli won 4 & 6(5)
UCLA play either San Diego or USC in the last 16

R1: Florida through 4-1. Wins for Henry Jefferson in singles and doubles.
R1: Auburn through 4-0. Will Nolan won doubles, unfinished in singles. Billy Blaydes unfortunately in doubles and won singles.
R1: Ohio State through. Will Jansen clinching for Ohio State.

R2: Stanford with a dominant win over Pepperdine 4-0.
Max Basing (Stan) unfinished at No 3.
Stanford will host South Carolina in the sweet sixteen.

R2: Wake Forest defeated Kentucky 4-1
Wake dropped their 3rd doubles point of the year. Luca Pow on 1 losing his doubles set, Charlie on 2 winning his and remains undefeated playing with Dostanic.
At No 6, Luca Pow (WFU) was first to finish singles with a 3 & 1 win over Matt Rankin (Kentucky).
Charlie Robertson (WFU) put Wake Forest within 1 of victory with a 6(3) & 3 win.
They will host either Texas A&M or Baylor in he sweet sixteen.

R2: TCU defeated Oklahoma 4-2
The NCAA doubles champions played their first match together in a while as Vives made a return to doubles with Lui also returning from illness yesterday.
TCU swept all 3 doubles to claim the doubles point.
On court 1 Jack Pinnington-Jones (TCU) got a win over Oscar Ladies 6-2 6-7(3) 6-2 putting TCU 3-2 up.
Drama on court 2 as Lui Maxted (TCU) came back from losing a tight 1st set to go 5-1 up in the third. But 5 match points at 5-3 and 6-5 came and went, and into a tie break they went. Lui clinching for TCU with a 6-7(1) 6-4 7-6(3) win.
TCU host UCF or Florida on Saturday.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A blow by blow account of the stomach ulcer inducing drama of Lui's match from Zoo tennis

:

"Still without Pedro Vives, who did play doubles but not singles this evening, TCU took the doubles point and got wins from Cooper Woestendick and Jack Pinnington Jones in three sets, but lost at lines 4 and 5.

With No. 6 singles not able to play until a match finished, TCU could have had a relatively routine, if challenging win had Maxted served out the match at 5-2. But he did not, nor could he served it out at 5-4, and when Montsi took a 40-lead serving at 5-all, all the momentum was with the Sooner.

But Maxted won seven points in a row to go up 6-5, 40-0, only to see Montsi turn the tables and break him from 40-0 up to send the match to a tiebreaker. The match point at 6-5, deuce was especially painful, with Maxted at the net to put away a Montsi pass, only to have the ball clip the net cord and pop up, and Maxted was unable to adjust, with his overhead attempt finding the net.

Meanwhile, TCU's Roger Pascual had taken a lead in the second set after dropping the first to Asahi Harazaki, and he closed it out during the third set tiebreaker. Maxted took a 4-2 lead with Montsi finally making an unforeced error at 2-all and then again at 5-3. With three more match points, Maxted finally converted, with Montsi netting a forehand early in the point to end all the drama."

And nice photo of Lui:

tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/

Lambda · ATP level

Well, today's had it all
Ohio State had to it the hard way after Auburn took the doubles point. Will Nolan+ (Auburn) wiping Will Jansen + ( OSU) off the court 6-1. As soon as doubles finished the rain came pouring down and singles were played indoors which benefited Ohio State. They took 1st set on all 6 courts. They took 3 of them in straight sets, but Auburn, including Will Nolan against Aidan Kim on 1 and Billy Blaydes against Jack Anthrop on 3 fought back to take their matches to a 3rd set. Will Nolan eventually succumbing to Kim 3-6 6-3 3-6. Will Jansen didn't play singles.

Florida lost to FCU but Henry Jefferson (Florida) won his singles

San Diego is 2-1 up with Ollie Tarvet 6-4 5-5 and USC a game away from victory at 2 and 3 (Weightman ) when the rain came and suspended play. It's likely to come down to court 6 when play resumes.

But the drama of the day has to come at Tennessee. Duke were up 3-0 needing 1 match to win. Serving for the match on court 5 at 5-4 they were broken and on court 1 they were 5-0 up in the 3rd set. Meanwhile Tennessee got 2 wins to pull it back to 2-3. Duke again served for the match on 5 at 6-5 but again got broken. Tennessee won the tie-break to level the tie 3-3. On court 1 they came back from 0-5 in the third to 6-5 *40-15. Duke pulled it back to deciding point. A lengthy rally. Duke netted it to give Tennessee a remarkable comeback win. Tennessee alum, JoMo, Giles Hussey and Emile Hudd weighing in on the Cracked Racquets YouTube chat. JoMo calling it 4-3 early in the comeback.

Lambda · ATP level

Lambda wrote:
San Diego is 2-1 up with Ollie Tarvet 6-4 5-5 and USC a game away from victory at 2 and 3 (Weightman ) when the rain came and suspended play. It's likely to come down to court 6 when play resumes.

After a lengthy rain delay, USC wrapped up the wins on 2 and, from Oscar Weightman, on 3. Ollie was taken to a 3rd set on 1. He had served for the match before the rain delay. He hadn't made much progress in the third when USC clinched the upset on 6.

USC travel across town to UCLA in the last 16.

Lambda · ATP level

So the last 16 is set.
Men
(1) Wake Forest [Robertson , Pow] v (16) Texas A&M (Fri)
(2) TCU [Pinnington-Jones, Maxted] v (15) UCF (Sat)
(3) Texas v (14) Tennessee [Nisbet] (Sat)
(4) Stanford [Basing] v (13) South Carolina [Thomson] (Fri)
(5) Ohio State [Jansen] v (12) Mississippi State (Sat)
UCLA [Revelli] v USC [Weightman] (Fri)
(7) Virginia v (10) Arizona (Sat)
(8) Columbia v (9) NC State (Sat)

Women (Fri unless stated)
(1) Georgia v California
(2) Texas A&M v UCLA
(3) Michigan v (14) Texas (Sat)
(4) Ohio State v (13) Louisiana State
(5) North Carolina v (12) North Carolina State [K Paskauskas, G Paskauskas, Conway]
Oklahoma State v Stanford (Sat)
(7) Virginia [Lacy] v (10) Tennessee
(8) Duke v (9) Auburn

-- Edited by Lambda on Monday 5th of May 2025 05:26:41 AM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Thanks Lambda - looks like the seeding committee did quite well. Shame to see only 2 British girls left in. Did anyone get surprisingly knocked out from the Brits?

Although looks like a good chance of a decent set of men when it comes to the final 8 teams part of this event?!

Lambda · ATP level

Ollie Tarvet was the only Brit on a team that was upset.

We should have good British representation on the men's side right through to the final. I'm expecting a Wake Forest v Texas final

Unfortunately, the top women's teams don't seem interested in our girls going to college, or the girls are choosing other schools. NC State with their entirely English coaching team have links to the LTA otherwise I'm not sure we'd have so many Brits there. Sofia Johnson did have lucrative offers from "Power 4" schools to transfer for this year, but she opted to stay at Old Dominion. And it isn't helped this year by the top Florida schools not qualifying for the NCAAs. Perhaps if Mimi, Hannah or Mika wanted to go the college route for a couple of years we could have some British girls at Georgia, the Texas schools or UNC.
I don't think we'll have any British women playing in the final 8. I don't expect NC State to get any farther and, although Virginia should get to the QF, I don't expect Isabelle to play again this season. I don't see where she fits into Virginia's outdoor team with Kosakova back playing singles.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Thanks Lambda - if someone falls out of favour and doesnt get into the team, like Issy, what are their options? I guess, like any student, youve probably got friends and a life there and probably like the university you are at. Can you just stay there and study and not play competitive tennis? Would you retain your scholarship or would it become financially difficult? Effectively, carry on without any matchplay and try and get back in?

Or do you need to organise a transfer to another college- who presumably then would negotiate a new scholarship / deal with you?

Lambda · ATP level

If they are not playing, then they'd still be part of the team, attend individual and team training and dress for matches. They've just got to work on their game to get back into the team. I don't think a scholarship would be cancelled unless they weren't meeting their grades or other commitments or conduct. My understanding is that scholarships are for 1 year and its only at the end of the year that they could be released by not renewing the scholarship if the tennis performance doesn't meet expectations or no longer fit into the coach's plan. But I defer to those that have been through the system. They can transfer, but only if the school agrees. Transfers for undergraduates can only take place during the transfer window, opening today, for 1 month or another short one in, I think, December. They can't place themselves in the transfer portal, the school's athletics administrator has to do it for them.

Its not uncommon for coaches to choose for players to sit out their first year to get used to the college environment and familiarise themselves with the US College game. Indeed, this was the plan for Millie Rajecki but injuries on the team changed that plan. It may well have been the plan for Isa but that Virginia have gone through the entire semester with injuries to key players has given her opportunities that weren't planned for, I don't know.