May 27, 2006
KC Corkery continued his run to an NCAA Singles title by beating Clement Reix of Clemson today in a quarterfinal match at the Taube Tennis Center. Corkery beat the unseeded Reix 7-5, 6-2 to advance to tomorrow's semifinal. He is attempting to become Stanford's 14th NCAA men's singles champion and first since Alex Kim in 2000.
Corkery, unseeded in the tournament and ranked No. 25 in the country, will play at 1:30 Sunday against Somdev Devvarman of Virginia. The other semifinal will pit Benjamin Kohlloeffel of UCLA, the No. 1 seed against Erling Tveit of Mississippi.
"I really didn't know much about the guy (Clement Reix) I played today," said Corkery. "I just wanted to play my game and see where it took me. It's been good so far, so I'm going to keep with it.
"I think I was aggressive right off the bat," he said. "I was coming in a lot on his second serve, trying to get to the net. I feel like I got in trouble when he was able to push me back further behind the baseline. I just wanted to stay close to the baseline and attack as much as possible. I thought I returned well today and put a lot of pressure on his second serve," he said.
Corkery said playing in front of his home crowd has made a difference.
"The crowd's been great," he said. "It feels like I've got new legs every time I go out on the court. There's a lot of matches to play in a row in this tournament. I've felt great. Hopefully, it's conditioning as well. But I think the crowd's helped me."
"They seem to really invigorate me every time there's a big point or I've hit a big shot," said Corkery. "They're right behind me. It's a great feeling. It's a dream come true to be able to play the NCAA's here my senior year."
Corkery said his first goal was to reach the Round of 16 and earn All-America honors for the fourth consecutive year. Playing to his full potential was also on Corkery's mind.
"I haven't looked at my draw once this tournament," he said. "Someone told who I was playing in the first round, second round, and third round. I didn't know whom I was playing after my match yesterday. I have an idea now that it's getting closer to the end."
"I just wanted to take it one match at a time," said Corkery. "One of the things I wanted to accomplish was to be a four-time All-American. I had to reach the Round of 16 to ensure that, so my first step was to get through two matches. That was my first goal. Since then, I've taken it one match at a time. "
"I've felt like I've had potential since I've gotten here at Stanford," he said. "I've had a great career, but I always thought I could do this every year. It's nice to finally go out and show it. I don't know how many people think I'm that good, but I've always felt that I could play with these guys."