Teens Jovic, Urhobo Advance at W75 in Zephyrhills Florida; 15 of 16 Quarterfinalists at ITF J100 Plantation American; Tulsa Men and Women Claim NIT Tournament Titles; Verdict in McKenzie v USTA Lawsuit; D-III Individual Selections

Neither 16-year-old Iva Jovic nor 17-year-old Akasha Urhobo have unlimited opportunities to compete on the women's ITF World Tennis Tour Circuit, with both facing WTA age restrictions. Jovic is allowed to play 12 events before she turns 17 in December and Urhobo is allowed 16 events before she turns 18 next January (Merit increases in those numbers can be added based on junior results; see the WTA Age Eligibilty Rules, which begin on page 171 in the WTA rulebook).

But both are making the most of their tournaments this spring, with qualifier Urhobo, playing in the seventh pro tournament of the 16 she can play this year, getting her best win by WTA ranking in today's first round at the W75 in Zephyrhills Florida. The Fort Lauderdale resident, currently outside the Top 200 in the ITF Junior rankings, defeated No. 5 seed and WTA No. 214 Elvina Kalieva 6-1, 6-1 for her 14th main draw win on the USTA Pro Circuit in those seven tournaments.

Wild card Jovic, who is playing the fourth of the 12 tournaments she is eligible for this year, defeated 2015 NCAA singles champion Jamie Loeb(North Carolina) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, after trailing 4-1 in the final set.

Both Urhobo and Jovic, who made W35 finals this spring, are now inside the WTA Top 500 in the live rankings.

Urhobo will face Maria Okalova of Slovakia in the second round, while Jovic's second round opponent is Victoria Hu(Princeton). It will 

Many of today's first round matches were delayed until late afternoon, I believe due to heat, with 18-year-old Liv Hovde yet to play her first round match. Eighteen-year-old Maya Joint of Australia, who reached the final last week at the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida, lost in the first round today to Fanny Stollar of Hungary 7-5, 6-2.

The quarterfinals are set at the ITF J100 in Plantation Florida, with all eight of the boys remaining Americans, and seven of the eight girls.

Top seeds Anita Tu and Benjamin Willwerth have advanced, as have No. 2 seeds Nancy Lee and Calvin Baierl. Baierl will face No. 8 seed Lachlan Gaskell in Thursday's quarterfinal, which will be a contest between the champions of the past two weeks J100 in Delray Beach(Baierl) and Coral Gables(Gaskell). 

The second annual UTR NIT tournament concluded today at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida, with the Tulsa men and women claiming the titles.  The Tulsa men, who were the top seeds, defeated No. 2 seeds Pacific 4-1; the Tulsa women, the No. 3 seeds, beat top seed Colorado 4-2.

For more on today's finals, see this article from the UTR website.

A little over two years ago, a New York Times article detailed former junior Kylie McKenzie's sexual abuse by a former USTA National Coach. The jury's verdict yesterday in the lawsuit that McKenzie filed against the USTA awarded her nine million dollars, the USTA said in a statement quoted in this AP article, that it would appeal. 

The Division III individual selections were announced tonight, with 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams selected for the men's and women's championships. The women's event will take place May 25-27, and the men's May 26-28. The two individual tournaments are staggered this year, as are the team championships, with the women finishing the team event and the individual event one day before the men in both cases.

McInerney Retires After 40 Years at Arizona State; Urhobo Qualifies at Zephyrhills W75; ITF J100 in Plantation Underway; Pac-12 Women's Awards; D-I Super Regional Dates and Times

After losing legendary University of Georgia men's coach Manny Diaz to retirement this year I'm not sure college tennis was ready for another of the sport's great coaches stepping away, but today Arizona State announced the retirement of women's head coach Sheila McInerney, who has been leading that program since 1984. 

Those of us who were fortunate to know Sheila understood that this day was coming, and probably sooner rather than later, but it's difficult to imagine women's college tennis without her. That she chose to announce after the team's season ended with a loss to Pepperdine last weekend is disappointing for those who would have preferred a larger window to celebrate her contributions to the sport, but a Sun Devils doubles team has qualified for the NCAA individual championships, so I'm sure many of her colleagues will take that opportunity to congratulate her on a great career. And the hundreds of young women who have benefitted from not only her coaching but her guidance in life, will continue her legacy. 

In one of our conversations at a junior tournament, Sheila mentioned an Arizona State program that was focused on assisting Chinese tennis coaches, and I wrote one of my favorite Tennis Recruiting articles about this unique initiative back in 2018.

Rhiannon Potkey has more on McInerney's retirement today in  this Tennis Recruiting Network article. 

Only one USTA Pro Circuit tournament is being played this week: a women's W75 in Zephyrhills Florida. Qualifying concluded today, with just one junior, 17-year-old Akasha Urhobo, advancing to the main draw. No. 11 seed Urhobo, who is 13-7 in main draw matches on the USTA Pro Circuit this year, defeated No. 5 qualifying seed Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty of India 6-3, 6-0 in just over an hour today to move into the main draw. She'll play No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva in the first round Wednesday. 

The other Americans qualifying are Sophie Chang, Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech/Pepperdine) and Jaeda Daniel(Auburn/NC State). Maribella Zamarippa(Texas) received entry into the main draw as a lucky loser; Bonita Spring W100 champion Lulu Sun(Texas), who was the No. 2 seed, was a late withdrawal.

Although Urhobo is the only teen qualifier, there are several others in the main draw. Iva Jovic, 16, was awarded a wild card, and 18-year-olds Liv Hovde and Maya Joint of Australia received direct entry. The three other wild cards were given to Allie Kiick, Whitney Osuigwe and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.

Kayla Day is the top seed.

The third and final week of ITF J100s in Florida is underway at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, with Anita Tu and Benjamin Willwerth the top seeds. After today's second round, both are safely through, as is No. 2 seed Calvin Baierl, who won the Delray Beach 100 two weeks ago. Last week's champion in Coral Gables, Lachlan Gaskell, is the No. 8 seed this week and he has advanced to the third round; Welles Newman, who won the girls title in Coral Gables, retired to Daniela Chica in the first round. 

I didn't notice this until today, but 13-year-old Raya Kotseva, who began her ITF junior career representing Bulgaria, is now competing for the United States.The Easter Bowl 14s champion has lived in Las Vegas for many years, so this is not unexpected.

The Pac-12 Conference Awards for women were announced last week and I didn't publish them at the time, thinking that the ACC women, the only remaining Power Five yet to release their awards, might be following shortly. Then I looked up the ACC women's release from last year and saw that it was dated June 9, so I'm not waiting for that.

The other conference awards announcements can be found in my previous posts here, here and here.

Pac-12 Women's Conference Awards

Player of the Year: Angelica Blake, Stanford

Freshman/Newcomer of the Year: Katherine Hui, Stanford

Doubles Team of the Year: Fangran Tian and Elise Wagle, UCLA

Coach of the Year; Lele Forood, Stanford

The all Pac-12 women's teams can be found in this release.

The dates and times have been posted for this weekend's Division I Super Regionals, with eight scheduled for Friday and eight for Saturday. Cracked Racquets will again be providing coverage on their YouTube channel. The times below have been posted on ncaa.com's women's and men's interactive draws.

All times Eastern; teams on left are hosting.

Men's D-I Super Regionals

Ohio State[1] v Mississippi State[16] noon Saturday May 11

Columbia[8] v Arizona[9] 1 pm Saturday May 11

Kentucky[5] v Harvard[12] 2 pm Saturday May 11

TCU[4] v Duke[13] 2 pm Saturday May 11

Virginia[3] v South Carolina 4 pm Friday May 10

Wake Forest[6] v Stanford 5 pm Friday May 10

Tennessee[7] v Florida State[10] 1 pm Saturday May 11

Texas[2] v Texas A&M[15] 5 pm Friday May 10

Women's D-I Super Regionals

Oklahoma State[1] v Tennessee[16] 4 pm Saturday May 11

UCLA[8] v Texas[9] 3 pm Friday May 10

Virginia[5] v Vanderbilt 1 pm Saturday May 11

North Carolina[4] v Texas A&M[13] 6 pm Friday May 10

Michigan[3] v Miami 1 pm Saturday May 11

Pepperdine[6] v Southern California 4 pm Friday May 10

Georgia[7] v Cal[10] 4 pm Friday May 10

Stanford[2] v NC State[15] 5 pm Friday May 10

Leach, Penickova, Gaskell and Newman Claim ITF 200 and 100 Titles, Six Other ITF Singles Titles for US Juniors; Two New Power Five Coaches Announced; Vickery Wins USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card; NCAA Division III Selections

Last week was deja vu for Jagger Leach and Kristina Penickova, who two weeks ago, won the singles titles at the ITF J300 tournament in Malaysia, with Penickova also taking the doubles championship with twin sister Annika. At last week's J200 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, all three of those results were duplicated. Fourteen-year-old Penickova, the top seed, won all five of her matches last week in straight sets, defeating qualifier Yuyao Li of China 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Penickova, who went undefeated in Junior Billie Jean King Cup North/Central American qualifying last month, hasn't lost a match, in singles or doubles, since the final of the ITF J300 in San Diego in March. She and Annika now have seven ITF junior doubles titles after the top seeds beat No. 7 seeds Dora Miskovic of Croatia and Alana Subasic of Australia 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Annika advanced to the quarterfinals in singles.

Leach, the No. 2 seed, also won all five of his matches last week in straight sets, defeating top seed Jangjun Kim of Korea 6-2, 6-4 in the final.

The ITF has stopped posting the junior rankings on Monday, as was always the case previously, so I don't know how much higher their new rankings are, but it's certainly been a valuable trip for them.

Very few players have defeated Christina Lyutova of Russia in ITF Junior Circuit competition, but Welles Newman can now add her name to that short list. The unseeded 14-year-old from Florida won her first ITF Junior Circuit title last week at the J100 in Coral Gables Florida, beating No. 4 seed Lyutova, also 14, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the final. Lyutova, who won the J100 in Delray Beach two weeks ago, dropped the first set in three of her wins in Coral Gables, but couldn't continue those heroics in the final. No. 2 seeds Riley Crowder and Vessa Turley won their second straight doubles title, with the Delray Beach champions beating top seeds Nancy Lee and Ava Rodriguez 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 in the final. 

Sixteen-year-old Lachlan Gaskell, last year's Kalamazoo 16s finalist, won his second ITF junior circuit singles title in Coral Gables, with the No. 5 seed defeating unseeded Alexander Baez of Paraguay 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Baez did get the better of Gaskell in the doubles final, partnering with compatriot Thiago Drozdowski. The No. 2 seeds beat the unseeded team of Gaskell and Donald Stoot  6-1, 2-6, 10-5.

Fourteen-year-old Shaya Jovanovic won her first two ITF Junior Circuit titles last week at the J100 in Mexico. The unseeded five-star from Los Angeles defeated No. 2 seed Sandra Isabela Arguelles of Mexico 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Jovanovic and Kenzie Nguyen, the fifth seeds, won the doubles title, beating No. 8 seeds Emery Martin and Londyn McCord 6-7(6), 6-1, 10-3. 

The boys doubles championship in Mexico went to 16-year-old twins Chase and Grey Kelley. The No. 8 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Sebastian Arevalo and Gerardo Delgado of Mexico 6-4, 6-3 in the final. It's their first title as a team, although both have won ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles with other partners.

At the J60 in Costa Rica, 16-year-old Mason Taube won his first two ITF Junior Circuit titles. Taube, who was unseeded, defeated the previous week's J60 Costa Rica champion, No. 5 seed Simon Caldwell, 7-5, 6-4 in the singles final. Taube and Zavier Augustin, the No. 3 seeds, defeated top seeds Juan Bolivar Idarraga of Colombia and Erik Schinnerer 7-6(8), 6-2 in the final. Calla McGill and Ariana Morris won the girls doubles title in Costa Rica, beating Reiley Rhodes and Sarah Stoyanov 6-4, 6-1 in the battle between unseeded American teams.

Americans swept the singles titles at two J30s last week as well. At the J30 in Jamaica, No. 3 seed James Weber and unseeded Olivia Traynor. The 17-year-old Weber, who won the previous week's J30 in Jamaica, extended his winning streak to ten matches, beating No. 7 seed Joseph Hernandez 7-6(7), 6-2 in the final. Hernandez won the doubles title, with partner Arin Menon, with the No. 2 seeds taking it when Weber and partner Mikaeel Ali Baig of Pakistan retired leading 2-1 in the first set. 

Olivia Traynor, 16, won her first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the five-star from New York defeating No. 3 seed Avery Alexander of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

Fourteen-year-olds Michael Antonius and Solomia Maria Hryniv won J30 titles in Spain, with bad weather causing match tiebreakers in lieu of third sets to be used. Antonious, the No. 4 seed, defeated unseeded Enzo Flores of Brazil 7-6(7), 3-0 ret. to earn his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. Hryniv, who was a lucky loser, beat No. 4 seed Ha Yoon Son of Korea 5-7, 6-3, 10-1 in the final for her first ITF Junior Circuit title.

Two Power Five conferences announced new coaches recently, although in the case of Peter Kobelt at Nebraska, new probably isn't the right word, as he has been guiding the Cornhuskers as the interim head coach all season. Today Nebraska announced Kobelt would become the program's 12th head coach after leading the team to a 17-10 record this year.

On Friday, Auburn announced that Jordan Szabo, the Texas A&M women's associate head coach, had been hired as the women's head coach, filling the vacancy that opened when Carolina Lilley was fired in February. 

The USTA officially confirmed today that Sachia Vickery has won its Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran(UC-Santa Barbara) was announced as the men's winner last week. The final results, with current rankings in parentheses:

Women's Standings -- Final 
1. Sachia Vickery (127) -- 130
2. Louisa Chirico (222) -- 97
3. Katie Volynets (109) -- 86

Men's Standings -- Final
1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (138) -- 75
2. Mitchell Krueger (239) -- 63
3. Michael Mmoh (114) -- 50

The NCAA Division III men's and women's team selections and draws were released today, with regional play beginning Friday. The finals are being hosted by Washington-St. Louis May 21-24. Like D-I's Oklahoma State, Washington-St. Louis was scheduled to host the NCAAs back in 2020, but with the pandemic causing a cancellation, it was rescheduled for that site for 2024. The brackets do not show seeds, but these are the top eight ranked teams in last week's D-III rankings:

MEN:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

2. Chicago

3. Case Western(defending champion)

4. Emory

5. Middlebury

6. Bowdoin

7. Denison

8. Williams

WOMEN:

1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps(defending champion)

2. Chicago

3. Pomona-Pitzer

4. Wesleyan

5. Emory

6. Washington-St. Louis

7. Johns Hopkins

8. Middlebury

The D-III individual selections will be announced Wednesday.

April Aces; Two Seeds Upset as Women's Super Regional Teams Decided; UTR's NIT Underway; Teens Fall in USTA Pro Circuit Finals; Korda Wins Madrid Doubles Title

Even with most of my attention on Division I college tennis this week, I did put together my monthly review of the top junior and collegiate performers for Tennis Recruiting Network, which can be found here. April featured two 30-year-old University of Virginia graduates and a 14-year-old American capturing her first ITF J300 title, with nearly every age in between represented.

With the men's Super Regional participants decided yesterday, Sunday's attention was all on the nine women's matches that would fill out their Super Regionals.

As with the men, two nationally seeded women's teams did not advance, with Vanderbilt defeating No. 12 Ohio State 4-3 in Columbus, and Miami taking out No. 14 seed Florida 4-3 in Gainesville. 

Once Vanderbilt took the doubles point, the match figured to be close, but Ohio State took four first sets in singles, giving themselves a pathway. The Buckeyes did manage to post wins in three of those singles matches to take a 3-2 lead, but when Vanderbilt's Bridget Stammel got a 7-5, 6-4 win over Big Ten Freshman of the Year Luciana Perry to tie it up, the match would be decided at No. 1 singles. Ohio State fifth-year Irina Cantos Siemers had taken the first set from Vanderbilt junior Celia-Belle Mohr 6-4, but Mohr took the second 6-3, and finished out the upset by taking the third set 6-2. Vanderbilt, who also upset Ohio State in Columbus in 2022, will play No. 5 seed Virginia in the Super Regionals next Saturday.

Miami has a reputation for long matches, and that perception was fortified by their win over Florida, which took four hours to complete. After dropping the doubles point, Miami won three first sets in singles, so needed to forced a third set to get into position to win. After Florida took a 3-2 lead, Miami freshman Maria Paula Vargas, playing in just her third dual match, defeated Bente Spee 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 at line 6 to tie it, leaving it to Miami's Audrey Boch-Collins and Alicia Dudeney at line 4. The Hurricanes were no doubt comfortable in that situation, with Boch-Collins 15-1 in the dual match season, and the senior from Las Vegas again came through, earning a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. Miami will travel to Michigan for the Super Regionals Saturday.

The Wolverines had a tough match with Notre Dame, dropping the doubles point and three first sets in singles, but they closed out those three singles matches and Piper Charney earned the required three-set victory at line 6 over Akari Matsuno, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 to close out their 4-2 victory.

The fourth match Sunday that didn't end 4-0 was No. 9 Texas's 4-3 win over Georgia Tech, which was delayed several hours by rain with the score 1-1. The Longhorns won the doubles point, but Georgia Tech took four first sets in singles, requiring Texas to win a three-set match if they could hold onto the two matches where they had won the first. They did, shortly after play resumed outdoors, to make it 3-1, but Georgia Tech tied it with a straight-set win at line 1 by Carol Lee over Sabina Zeynalova, returning to the Texas singles lineup after a two-month absence, and a three-set win by Kylie Bilchev over Malika Rapolu at line 2. 

Had Georgia Tech's Given Roach served out her match with Vivian Ovrootsky at line 6, leading 6-4, 5-4, Bilchev's win might have delivered the upset, but Ovrootsky won nine of the next ten 
games to take a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 decision and return Texas to the Super Regional. The Longhorns will travel to No. 8 UCLA for next weekend's match.

Below are today's results, the men's and women's regional results from Friday and Saturday are all in Saturday's post.

Women's Regional results, Saturday and Sunday May 5, 2024

(1)Oklahoma State[1] d. Fairfield[4] 4-0
SMU[3] d. Alabama[2] 4-3

FINAL:(1)Oklahoma State[1] d. SMU[3] 4-0

Duke[2] d. East Tennessee State[3] 4-0
(16)Tennessee[1] d. Murray State[4] 4-0

FINAL: (16)Tennessee[1] d. Duke[2] 4-0

(9)Texas[1] d. Harvard[4] 4-0
Georgia Tech[2] d. Illinois[3] 4-1

FINAL: (9)Texas[1] d. Georgia Tech[2] 4-3

(5)Virginia[1] d. Long Island[4] 4-0
Princeton[3] d. Washington[2] 4-3

FINAL: (5)Virgina[1] d. Princeton[3] 4-0

Vanderbilt[2] d. Wake Forest[3] 4-1
(12)Ohio State[1] d. Toledo[4] 4-0

FINAL: Vanderbilt[2] d. (12)Ohio State 4-3

(13)Texas A&M[1] d Texas A&M-Corpus Christi[4] 4-0
Oklahoma[2] d. Arizona[3] 4-0

FINAL: (13) Texas A&M[1] d. Oklahoma[2] 4-0

(3)Michigan[1] d. Chicago State[4] 4-0
Notre Dame[2] d. Xavier[3] 4-3

FINAL: (3)Michigan[1] d. Notre Dame[2] 4-2

(14)Florida[1] d. Stetson[4] 4-0
Miami[2] d. Florida International[3] 4-1

FINAL: Miami[2] d. (14)Florida[1] 4-3

(15)NC State[1] d. South Carolina State[4] 4-0
Old Dominion[3] d. South Carolina[2] 4-3

FINAL: (15)NC State[1] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-0

While the NCAA action is quiet for a few days, the second annual NIT is underway at the IMG Academy in Bradenton Florida. After the UTR-sponsored inaugural event last year, the organizers wisely decided to move their tournament, for eight men's and women's teams that did not make the NCAA field, earlier in the month. The men's quarterfinals were today, the women's quarterfinals are Monday, the semifinals are Tuesday and the finals will be Wednesday, with all matches available on Amazon Prime. 

The men's teams participating are Tulsa[1], Saint Louis, Santa Clara[4], Northwestern, Liberty[3], North Alabama, Pacific[2] and Eastern Kentucky.

The women's teams participating are Colorado[1], St. Mary's (CA), Appalachian State, Liberty[4], Tulsa[3], Wyoming, Pacific, West Virginia[2].

The USTA Pro Circuit finals produced titles for two No.  2 seeds and a No. 1 seeds, with the runs of the unseeded junior girls ending today in Florida. At the W100 in Bonita Springs, former Texas star Lulu Sun, seeded No. 2, won both the singles and doubles titles. The 23-year-old, now representing New Zealand afters years competing under the Swiss flag, defeated 18-year-old Maya Joint of Australia 6-1, 6-3 to win the biggest title of her pro career. She is now 132 in the WTA live rankings.

Sun and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, who were unseeded, won the doubles title, beating top seeds Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece and Valeriya Strakhova of Ukraine 6-4, 7-5 in the final. 

At the W35 in Boca Raton, the six-match winning streak of 17-year-old qualifier Mayu Crossley of Japan ended, with No. 2 seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden beating Crossley 7-5, 7-6(8). 

And at the men's $15K in Orange Park Florida, top seed Corentin Denolly of France defeated No. 4 seed Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal, his partner in yesterday's double championship, 6-3, 7-5.

Sebastian Korda is not known for his doubles prowess, but the 23-year-old American won his first ATP title in that category at the Masters 1000 in Madrid this weekend. Korda and partner Australian Jordan Thompson, entering as part of the new ATP trial that encourages singles players to compete in doubles, defeated unseeded Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6(7) in the final. Korda and Thompson, playing together for the first time, defeated top seeds Rohan Bopanna of India and Matt Ebden of Australia in the first round and beat three more seeds in succession to reach the final. For more on their title, see this article from the ATP.

NCAA D-I Men's Super Regionals Set After Weather Extends Play Late into Night, Two Unseeded Teams Advance; Seven Women's Seeds Move on to Super Regionals; Joint and Crossley Reach USTA Pro Circuit Finals

Saturday was a long and often exciting day for the men in the second round of the NCAA Division I Team Championships, with two Top 8 seeds taken to the brink, but ultimately just two seeded teams failing to make next weekend's Super Regionals.

One of the reasons for the long day was all the rain and lightning delays throughout the country, from West Coast to East Coast. Moving from outdoors to indoors is time consuming, and the last men's match did not finish until nearly 10:00 p.m. local time.

No. 5 seed Kentucky dropped the doubles point to Illinois and lost three first sets in singles, but freshman Jack Loutit flipped his match to force a third set against Oliver Okonkwo and with the five other matches decided in straight sets, all the attention was on court 5. Loutit trailed 4-2 in the final set, but won the last four games for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory and a 4-3 Kentucky win.

In Winston-Salem, No. 6 seed Wake Forest won the doubles point, but dropped four first sets in singles, so they had their work cut out for them against Arizona State, and with three matches going to third sets, neither team had an advantage.  Arizona State briefly took a 3-2 lead with Bor Artnak beating DK Suresh at line 2, but Filippo Moroni quickly answered by taking out Murphy Cassone 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to make it 3-all. That left it down to line 6, with Wake's Holden Koons up 3-1 in the third against Martin Vergara. Vergara got the break back and it was 4-4 and 5-5 before Koons held and broke to claim a 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 victory.

The two unseeded teams to advance were Stanford and South Carolina, with Stanford taking out No. 11 seed Oklahoma 4-2 in a nail-biter, ultimately clinched in a third set tiebreaker by Samir Banerjee at line 2. South Carolina, who was bumped from a hosting spot by the NCAA tennis committee formula, went to No. 14 seed North Carolina State and came away with a 4-3 victory, which ended at 9:59 p.m. in the NC State indoor facility, with Lucas da Silva beating Jakub Katuch 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 at line 6 to give the Gamecocks the win. All the men's weekend results are below, with today's regional final results in bold.

Men's Regional Results NCAA Division I Team Championships

(1)Ohio State[1] d. Cleveland State[4] 4-0

Oklahoma State[2] d. Vanderbilt[3] 4-1

FINAL: (1)Ohio State[1] d. Oklahoma State[2] 4-1

Middle Tennessee[3] d. Georgia Tech[2] 4-1

(16)Mississippi State[1] d. Alabama State[4] 4-0

FINAL: (16)Mississippi State[1] d. Middle Tennessee[3] 4-0

(9)Arizona[1] d. Boise State[4] 4-0

Auburn[2] d. Pepperdine[3] 4-3

FINAL: (9)Arizona[1] d. Auburn[2] 4-0

Michigan[2] d. Binghamton[3] 4-0

(8)Columbia[1] d. Quinnipiac[4] 4-0

FINAL: (8)Columbia[1] d. Michigan[2] 4-2

Michigan State[2] d. Denver[3] 4-0

(12)Harvard[1] d. Boston University[4] 4-0

FINAL: (12)Harvard[1] d. Michigan State[2] 4-0

(5)Kentucky[1] d. DePaul[4] 4-0

Illinois[2] d. Toledo[3] 4-1

FINAL: (5)Kentucky[1] d. Illinois[2] 4-3

(13)Duke[1] d. UNC-Asheville[4] 4-0

Alabama[2] d. Charlotte[3] 4-1

FINAL: (13)Duke[1] d. Alabama[2] 4-1

Cornell[3] d. Arkansas[2] 4-0

(4)TCU[1] d. UC-Irvine[4] 4-0

FINAL: (4)TCU[2] d. Cornell[3] 4-0

(3)Virginia[1] d. NJIT[4] 4-0

VCU[3] d. Princeton[2] 4-2

FINAL: (3)Virginia[1] d. VCU[3] 4-0

South Carolina[2] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-1

(14)NC State[1] d. UNC-Wilmington[4] 4-0

FINAL: South Carolina[2] d. (14)NC State[1] 4-3

(11)Oklahoma[1] d. UT-Arlington[4] 4-0

Stanford[2] d. SMU[3] 4-0

FINAL: Stanford[2] d. (11)Oklahoma[1] 4-2

Arizona State[2] d. Georgia[3] 4-3

(6)Wake Forest[1] d. South Carolina State[4] 4-0

FINAL: (6)Wake Forest[1] d. Arizona State[2] 4-3

(7)Tennessee[1] d. East Tennessee State[4] 4-0

Memphis[3] d. North Carolina[2] 4-3

FINAL: (7)Tennessee[1] d. Memphis[3] 4-0

Central Florida[3] d. Florida[2] 4-3

(10)Florida State[1] d. North Florida[4] 4-1

FINAL: (10)Florida State[1] d. Central Florida[3] 4-1

(15)Texas A&M[1] d. Rice[4] 4-0

San Diego[2] d. Baylor[3] 4-1

FINAL: (15)Texas A&M[1] d. San Diego[2] 4-2

UCLA[2] d. LSU[3] 4-3

(2)Texas[1] d. Sacramento State[4] 4-0

FINAL: (2)Texas[1] d. UCLA[2] 4-0

The women had seven regional finals today, with five of them completed, but rain in the Bay Area delayed the Stanford-LSU and Cal-Auburn matches until 8 p.m. Eastern and they have had several rain delays since. Currently Cal[10] and Stanford[2] lead 1-0.

The other five national seeds all advanced, with the nine other seeds in action Sunday. Cracked Racquets will have their coverage available on their YouTube channel. Below are the results from the second round, then today's first round.

WOMEN:

Texas Tech[2] d. Denver[3] 4-1

(8)UCLA[1] d. San Diego State[4] 4-0

FINAL: (8)UCLA[1] d. Texas Tech[2] 4-0

(4)North Carolina[1] d. Navy[4] 4-0

Wisconsin[2] d. William & Mary[3] 4-0

FINAL: (4)North Carolina[1] d. Wisconsin[2] 4-0

(11)Southern Cal[1] d. Cal Poly[4] 4-0

San Diego[2] d. Grand Canyon[3] 4-0

FINAL: (11)Southern Cal[1] d. San Diego[2] 4-0

Arizona State[2] d. Northwestern[3] 4-3

(6)Pepperdine[1] d. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville[4] 4-0

FINAL: (6)Pepperdine[1] d. Arizona State[2] 4-1

(7)Georgia[1] d. Alabama State[4] 4-0

Florida State[2] d. UNC-Asheville[3] 4-0

FINAL: (7)Georgia[1] d. Florida State[2] 4-1

Auburn[2] d. Brigham Young[3] 4-0

(10)Cal[1] d. Sacramento State[4] 4-0

FINAL: (10)Cal[1] d. Auburn[2] 4-0

LSU[2] d. Baylor[3] 4-3

(2)Stanford[1] d. Massachusetts[4] 4-0

FINAL: (2)Stanford[1] d. LSU[2] 4-0

Women's First Round Results Saturday May 4, 2024:

(3)Michigan[1] d. Chicago State[4] 4-0

Notre Dame[2] d. Xavier[3] 4-3

Duke[2] d. East Tennessee State[3] 4-0

(16)Tennessee[1] d. Murray State[4] 4-0

Vanderbilt[2] d. Wake Forest[3] 4-1

(12)Ohio State[1] d. Toledo[4] 4-0

(13)Texas A&M[1] d Texas A&M-Corpus Christi[4] 4-0

Oklahoma[2] d. Arizona[3] 4-0

(5)Virginia[1] d. Long Island[4] 4-0

Princeton[3] d. Washington[2] 4-3

(15)NC State[1] d. South Carolina State[4] 4-0

Old Dominion[3] d. South Carolina[2] 4-3

(1)Oklahoma State[1] d. Fairfield[4] 4-0

SMU[3] d. Alabama[2] 4-3

(9)Texas[1] d. Harvard[4] 4-0

Georgia Tech[2] d. Illinois[3] 4-1

(14)Florida[1] d. Stetson[4] 4-0

Miami[2] d. Florida International[3] 4-1

In USTA Pro Circuit action today, 18-year-old Maya Joint has reached her biggest final of the ITF women's World Tennis Tour, beating Kathinka von Deichmann of Lichtenstein 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(2) in two hours and 52 minutes at the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida. The former Michigan resident, who switched to representing Australia last year, will face No. 2 seed Lulu Sun in Sunday's final. Sun played for Texas several years ago and Joint has committed to the Longhorns, although now that she is approaching the WTA Top 200, I would imagine that is not as certain as it once was. I hadn't noticed that Sun, who switched nationalities during her ITF Junior career, is back to representing New Zealand now, having played Billie Jean King Cup for them last month. Sun defeated No. 3 Ann Li 6-3, 6-1, ending Li's slim chance to win the USTA Roland Garros wild card, which I believe will be claimed by Sachia Vickery. Official word should come from the USTA on Monday.

At the W35 in Boca Raton Florida, 17-year-old qualifier Mayu Crossley of Japan defeated top seed Allie Kiick 5-7, 6-0, 7-6(1) to advance to the final against No. 2 seed Kajsa Rinaldo Persson of Sweden.

Top seeds Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech) and Maria Kononova(North Texas) of Russia won the doubles title, beating  No. 3 seeds Alicia Herrero Linana(Baylor) of Spain and Melany Solange Krywoj(Baylor) of Argentina 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in the final.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Rudy Quan saw his run at the $15,000 Orange Park Florida tournament come to an end today, with the UCLA signee losing to former Florida All-American Duarte Vale of Portugal, the No. 4 seed, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Vale will face top seed Corentin Denolly of France, who beat unseeded Patrick Maloney(Michigan) 6-1, 6-2 in the other semifinal. 

Either Denolly or Vale will sweep the Orange Park titles, as the the top-seeded doubles pair won that title today, beating No. 3 seeds Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and Boris Kozlov(LSU/Tennessee) 4-6, 7-5, 10-8.

NCAA Roundtable Part II; Seeds Cruise in NCAA D-I First Round; Quan Beats Andrade to Reach First Pro Circuit Semifinal; Joint Downs Jovic to Advance to W100 Bonita Springs Semis

Part II of Tennis Recruiting Network's Roundtable on the NCAA Division I Team Championships was published today, with the four of us participating asked to project a few possible upsets, dark horses and ultimately, their champions. None of the teams I mentioned have lost yet, but I can guarantee I won't be batting 1000 this weekend. Part I, from Thursday, is here.

The results of every first round match--32 men's matches and 14 women's matches--played today are below. Tomorrow will feature 16 men's regional finals, seven women's regional finals and 18 women's first rounds.

So far, every women's regional host/No. 1 regional seed has won its match 4-0 and there were no upsets in the 2/3 matches either, with the No. 2 winning all seven of those.

The men's seeds were nearly as dominant, with all but one,  Florida State's 4-1 being the sole exception, advancing by 4-0 scores. But there were several No. 3 seeds beating No. 2 seeds: Middle Tennessee beating Georgia Tech, Cornell beating Arkansas, VCU beating Princeton, Memphis beating North Carolina and Central Florida beating Florida.

I'd be remiss not to mention the final match of University of Georgia's legendary men's head coach Manny Diaz, with the Bulldogs dropping a 4-3 battle with Arizona State at the Wake Forest regional. This time of year won't be the same without him on the sidelines, but I hope to see him one more time in Stillwater, at the individual championships. 

First Round Results NCAA D-I, Friday May 3, 2024

MEN:

(1)Ohio State[1] d. Cleveland State[4] 4-0

Oklahoma State[2] d. Vanderbilt[3] 4-1

Middle Tennessee[3] d. Georgia Tech[2] 4-1

(16)Mississippi State[1] d. Alabama State[4] 4-0

(9)Arizona[1] d. Boise State[4] 4-0

Auburn[2] d. Pepperdine[3] 4-3

Michigan[2] d. Binghamton[3] 4-0

(8)Columbia[1] d. Quinnipiac[4] 4-0

Michigan State[2] d. Denver[3] 4-0

(12)Harvard[1] d. Boston University[4] 4-0

(5)Kentucky[1] d. DePaul[4] 4-0

Illinois[2] d. Toledo[3] 4-1

(13)Duke[1] d. UNC-Asheville[4] 4-0

Alabama[2] d. Charlotte[3] 4-1

Cornell[3] d. Arkansas[2] 4-0

(4)TCU[1] v. UC-Irvine[4]

(3)Virginia[1] d. NJIT[4] 4-0

VCU[3] d. Princeton[2] 4-2

South Carolina[2] d. Old Dominion[3] 4-1

(14)NC State[1] d. UNC-Wilmington[4] 4-0

(11)Oklahoma[1] d. UT-Arlington[4] 4-0

Stanford[2] d. SMU[3] 4-0

Arizona State[2] d. Georgia[3] 4-3

(6)Wake Forest[1] d. South Carolina State[4] 4-0

(7)Tennessee[1] d. East Tennessee State[4] 4-0

Memphis[3] d. North Carolina[2] 4-3

Central Florida[3] d. Florida[2] 4-3

(10)Florida State[1] d. North Florida[4] 4-1

(15)Texas A&M[1] d. Rice[4] 4-0

San Diego[2] d. Baylor[3] 4-1

UCLA[2] d. LSU[3] 4-3

(2)Texas[1] d. Sacramento State[4] 4-0

WOMEN:

Texas Tech[2] d. Denver[3] 4-1

(8)UCLA[1] d. San Diego State[4] 4-0

(4)North Carolina[1] d. Navy[4] 4-0

Wisconsin[2] d. William & Mary[3] 4-0

(11)Southern Cal[1] d. Cal Poly[4] 4-0

San Diego[2] d. Grand Canyon[3] 4-0

Arizona State[2] d. Northwestern[3] 4-3

Pepperdine[1] d. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville[4] 4-0

(7)Georgia[1] d. Alabama State[4] 4-0

Florida State[2] d. UNC-Asheville[3] 4-0

Auburn[2] d. Brigham Young[3] 4-0

(10)Cal[1] d. Sacramento State[4] 4-0

LSU[2] d. Baylor[3] 4-3

(2)Stanford[1] d. Massachusetts[4] 4-0

Saturday's schedule and links to scoring can be found at collegetennisranks.com. Cracked Racquet is providing coverage of some of the regionals on their YouTube channel, which will have three different streams going.

My posts are going to be college tennis focused the next two days as we get down to the Sweet 16, but I'm trying to keep up with the juniors playing the USTA Pro Circuit this week as well.

At the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida, Maya Joint of Australia defeated qualifier Iva Jovic 6-4, 6-2 in an all-teen quarterfinal, and will face unseeded Kathinka von Deichmann of Lichtenstein for a spot in the final. Joint, who began representing Australia last year, is up to 219 in the live rankings now and should be able to get into the women's Roland Garros qualifying draw. 

Akasha Urhobo, the third teenager in the quarterfinals, lost to No. 2 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland 6-2, 7-6(3). Sun will play No. 3 seed Ann Li, who ended Louisa Chirico's quest for the USTA's Roland Garros wild card with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win in today's quarterfinals. I haven't had time to look into it thoroughly, but I think Li may still have a chance to catch Sachia Vickery in the wild card race if she wins the Bonita Springs title. Katie Volynets, who was also still in contention, lost today in the quarterfinals of a 125 in Europe, so she has been eliminated.

Mayu Crossley of Japan continued her run at the W35 in Boca Raton Florida, beating fellow 17-year-old qualifier Christasha McNeil 6-2, 6-0 to reach her first Pro Circuit semifinal. Crossley will face top seed Allie Kiick Saturday; Kiick defeated No. 5 seed Angella Okutoyi of Kenya, the Auburn sophomore, 6-1, 6-0. Okutoyi can join her team in Berkeley now for their regional final Saturday against Cal.

At the men's $15,000 tournament in Orange Park Florida, 18-year-old wild card Rudy Quan got his best Pro Circuit win, defeating No. 2 seed and last week's Savannah Challenger finalist Andres Andrade of Ecuador 7-6(4), 7-5 to reach his first Pro Circuit semifinal. Andrade served for the first set at 5-2 and 5-4 and led 4-2 in the second set, but Quan came back each time. He will play Andrade's University of Florida teammate Duarte Vale of Portugal, the No. 4 seed, who beat Cooper Woestendick 6-3, 6-1.  Former University of Michigan star Patrick Maloney is through to the semifinals, and will play top seed Corentin Denolly of France in the top half semifinal.