May 25, 2000
ATHENS, Georgia - Stanford's K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy) and Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) both posted second round singles victories in the NCAA Singles Championships on Thursday afternoon at the University of Georgia. The third Stanford singles entry - senior Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) was one of three top eight seeds to be eliminated on Thursday.
Doubles competition also opened on Thursday, with Stanford's top-ranked and second-seeded duo of Abrams and Kim advancing in three sets.
The fifth-seeded and seventh-ranked Kim posted his fourth straight set win in as many days by knocking off 73rd-ranked Oliver Maiberger (Frankfurt, Germany) of San Diego State. 6-3, 7-6 (4). Prior to Thursday's win, Kim had already defeated top-ranked Jeff Morrison (Huntington, West Virginia) of Florida, second-ranked Daniel Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden) of Virginia Commonwealth and 18th-ranked Toby Hansson (Bjarred, Sweden) of SMU on consecutive days. Kim meets 68th-ranked Jeff Laski (Lisle, Illinois) of Illinois in the third round on Friday morning, and with a win, would come back later Friday to play either Oregon's Guillermo Carter (Guadalajara, Mexico) or second-seeded Brian Vahaly (Atlanta, Georgia) of Virginia in the quarterfinals.
"I'd be lying if I said I'm not feeling any fatigue," Kim said after the match. "We were lucky with the weather during the end of the team tournament because we played late in the afternoon and it was overcast. Today was the first time in a couple of days I played in this kind of heat, and I was really concerned. But luckily I pulled out the second set, because I knew if it went three it would be a long haul."
Hippensteel won his third three-setter in the last six days by outlasting 26th-rankedAlexander Hartman (Klippen, Sweden) of Mississippi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round. Hippensteel, who is ranked 11th in the nation, is just one of two No. 9-16 seeds to advance to the third round. He will meet seventh-seeded and eighth-ranked Esteban Carrill (Gijon, Spain) of TCU in third round action on Friday, and with a victory, would play either Stephen Huss (Melbourne, Australia) of Auburn or No. 9-16 seed Justin O'Neal (Lima, Ohio) of Florida in the quarterfinals later in the day.
Abrams, who is ranked fifth in the country and seeded sixth in the tournament, had his collegiate singles career ended in straight sets by 22nd-ranked Tripp Phillips (Charlotte, North Carolina) of North Carolina 7-5, 6-4. Abrams, who had won 25 in a row coming into the match, ended his Stanford career with an amazing 152-28 (.844) singles record.
"Tripp made me play every single point, and just wore me down," Abrams said. "It's just amatter of being able to battle out there, and he did that better than I did today."
But later in the day, Abrams teamed with Kim to come back and defeat 26th-ranked Huntley Montgomery (Charlottesville, Virginia) and Vahaly of Virginia when the Cavaliers retired down 6-7, 6-3, 5-1. The second-seeded Cardinal duo is now the top-seed left in the 32-team tournament after top-seeded Morrison and Nathan Overholser (Okemos, Michigan) of Florida were shocked in the first round by 21st-ranked Rob Cheyne (Wellington, New Zealand) and Andy Scorteanu (Palm Springs, California) of Fresno State 7-5, 6-4. In the second round, Abrams and Kim will look for their third win as many tries this season against 22nd-ranked Erik Dmytruk (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and Scott Kintz (San Diego, California) from archrival California.
Singles
Second Round (Seeds in parenthesis)
(1) Jeff Morrison (Florida) d. Mark Parsons (Tennessee), 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-3
Robert Kendrick (Pepperdine) d. (9-16) Alex Waske (San Diego State), 7-6, 6-2
Tripp Phillips (North Carolina) d. (6) Geoff Abrams (Stanford), 7-5, 6-4
Johann Jooste (Baylor) d. Alex Osterrieth (Arizona State), 6-4, 6-2
(2) Shuon Madden (Texas A&M) d. Brandon Hawk (Texas), 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) d. (9-16) Matt Amgwerd (New Mexico), 6-4, 6-0
Andres Pedroso (Duke) d. (8) Marco Baron (Mississippi State), 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4
Carlos Drada (Kentucky) d. (9-16) Cary Franklin (Illinois), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
(9-16) K.J. Hippensteel (Stanford) d. Alexander Hartman (Mississippi), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
(7) Esteban Carrill (TCU) d. Oskar Johansson (Arkansas), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3
(9-16) Justin O'Neal (Florida) d. Johan Hesoun (Kentucky), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Stephen Huss (Auburn) d. (4) Daniel Andersson (Virginia Commonwealth), 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
Jeff Laski (Illinois) d. Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA), 6-3, 6-4
(5) Alex Kim (Stanford) d. Oliver Maiberger (San Diego State), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
Guillermo Carter (Oregon) d. (9-16) Matias Boeker (Georgia), 7-6 (5), 6-3
(3) Brian Vahaly (Virginia) d. Ramsey Smith (Duke), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles
First Round (Seeds in parenthesis)
Rob Cheyne/Andy Scorteanu (Fresno State) d. (1) Jeff Morrison/Nathan Overholser (Florida), 7-5, 6-4
Matt Amgwerd/Nic Dubey (New Mexico) vs. Doug Root/Ramsey Smith (Duke), late
Daniel Andersson/Frank Moser (Va. Commonwealth) d. (5-8) Michal Chmela/Dan Kiernan (LSU), 6-2, 6-4
Marco Baron/Charles Sevigny (Mississippi State) d. Jeff Laski/Jamal Parker (Illinois), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
(3) Dumitru Caradima/Shuon Madden (Texas A&M) d. Stephen Huss/Mark Kovacs (Auburn), 4-6, 7-6, 7-6
Leif Meineke/Wesley Moodie (Boise State) d. Matias Boeker/Travis Parrott (Georgia), 7-6, 7-5
(5-8) Toby Hansson/Jon Wallmark (SMU) d. Javier Taborga/Aaron Talerico (Notre Dame), 6-4, 6-2
Ryan Moore/Nick Rainey (USC) d. Scott Bornstein/Ahn-Ahn Liu (Princeton), 6-3, 6-2
Maxim Belski/Francisco Rodriguez (Alabama) d. Guillermo Carter/Leslie Eisinga (Oregon), 7-6, 6-2
(5-8) Sebastian Graeff/Anthony Ross (Pepperdine) d. Thomas Haug/Martin Michalowski (Minnesota),7-6,6-7,6-3
Cary Franklin/Graydon Oliver (Illinois) d. Josh Goffi/Darrin Knight (Clemson), 3-6, 7-6, 6-1
(4) Michael Blue/Nick Crowell (Texas) d. Charlie Roberson/Rick Warren (Oklahoma), 6-3, 6-1
Vikrant Chadha/James Shortall (Mississippi) d. Sali Seshardi/Akran Zaman (Columbia), 7-6(8), 6-7(5), 7-6
(5-8) David Hodge/Mark Williams (Baylor) d. Gert Vilms/Damien Ward (BYU), 6-3, 6-2
Erik Dmytruk/Scott Kintz (California) d. Ed Dus/Rodrigo Echagaray (Kansas), 6-3, 6-2
(2) Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim (Stanford) d. Huntley Montgomery/Brian Vahaly (Virginia), 6-7, 6-3, 5-1 retired