Feb. 17, 2007
No. 11 Duke won the final three singles matches to hand Stanford a 4-2 defeat in today's second round action at the ITA Men's National Indoor Championships in Chicago, IL. The Cardinal won the doubles point and led 2-1 after Matt Bruch won at No. 1 singles, but the Blue Devils rallied to win at No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 singles for the victory.
The loss dropped the Cardinal to 0-6 this season. Stanford has played its last four matches vs. teams ranked among the top 11 in the nation. A year ago, the Cardinal ended Duke's season with a 4-0 win in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.
Today, however, Duke proved to be too strong in singles. Stanford led 1-0 after winning at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take the doubles point. Bruch and Blake Muller were impressive at No. 1 doubles as they beat the nation's No. 4 team, Joey Atas and David Goulet, 8-5. The Cardinal secured the point when Richard Wire and Paul Morrissey won at No. 2 doubles, defeating Kiril Dimitrov and Ned Samuelson, 8-5.
Bruch, an All-American last year as a freshman, beat Atas, ranked No. 100 in the country, 6-2, 6-1 to put the Cardinal on top 2-1.
But, the Blue Devils won the next three matches to close out the win. Kiril Dimitrov, ranked No. 54, beat Stanford's Blake Muller at No. 3, 6-3, 6-2, to tie the score at 2-2. Duke went ahead 3-2 when Peter Rodrigues handed Richard Wire a 6-3, 7-5 defeat.
The Blue Devils clinched the match at No. 6 when Aaron Carpenter beat Paul Morrissey, 7-6, 6-4.
Stanford Men's Tennis Results
February 17, 2007
Midtown Tennis Center
Chicago, IL
ITA National Team Indoor Championships
Second Round: Duke 4, Stanford 2
Doubles (Stanford wins doubles point)
1. Matt Bruch / Blake Muller (S) d. #4 Joey Atas/David Goulet (D), 8-5
2. Richard Wire / Paul Morrissey (S) d. Kiril Dimitrov/Ned Samuelson (D), 8-5
3. Peter Rodrigues/Dylan Arnould (D) d. Eric McKean / Jeff Zeller (S), 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Matt Bruch (S) d. #100 Joey Atas (D), 6-2, 6-1
2. #80 Peter Rodrigues (D) d. Richard Wire (S), 6-3, 7-5
3. #54 Kiril Dimitrov (D) d. Blake Muller (S), 6-3, 6-2
4. David Goulet (D) d. Eric McKean (S), 6-1, 6-4
5. Kevin Kaiser (S) vs. #84 Dylan Arnould (D), 6-4, 5-7, dnf
6. Aaron Carpenter (D) d. Paul Morrissey (S), 7-6, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 1, 3, 2, 6
Records/Rankings: No. 11 Duke (4-3), No. 28 Stanford (0-6)
Day Two Tournament Recap
CHICAGO - Top-seeded Georgia, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Virginia posted quarterfinal wins Saturday at the U.S. Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men's Team Indoor Championships at the Midtown Tennis Club. The University of Illinois is hosting this year's championships, presented by DLA Piper.
Defending champion Georgia beat No. 9 Pepperdine 4-0 and will face Virginia, 4-3 winners over Mississippi, in tomorrow's noon semifinals. Ohio State beat Baylor 4-2 and will face UCLA, 4-2 winners tonight over No. 6 Illinois, in the other semifinal at 3:30 pm.
This event, which features 16 of the nation's top programs, has annually crowned an national indoor champion every year since 1973. This is the second time in three years Midtown Tennis Club and Illinois has served as hosts.
Illinois (7-2) was looking to make its sixth straight semifinal appearance at this event. UI won the doubles point, but UCLA (7-1) bounced back in singles with wins from 2006 NCAA champ Ben Kohlloeffel, Philipp Gruendler, Chris Surapol and Michael Look. The Bruins will be making their 15th trip to the semifinals at this event. The Fighting Illini captured back-to-back titles at this event in 2003-04 and had lost in the semis each of the past two years. Ruben Gonzales provided the lone win in singles for Illinois.
Georgia (6-0) beat Pepperdine (7-2) in last year's Team Indoor final, 4-0. This was also a rematch of last year's NCAA final in May, which was won by Pepperdine, 4-2. Tomorrow marks Georgia's 15th trip to the Team Indoor semifinals. The Bulldogs won their first Team Indoor title last year in Seattle and have now won 36 of its last 37 matches dating back to the beginning of last season. Georgia won the doubles point and got wins in singles from Nate Schnugg, Jamie Hunt and Travis Helgeson.
"It's great to be in the semifinals again," Georgia coach Manuel Diaz said. "The challenges continue to get bigger and bigger as you advance. Tomorrow we're going to have to come back and sustain this level of play and also improve in a couple of spots."
This was Ohio State's first ever showing in the Team Indoor quarterfinals. "We've never been to the semifinals at a national tournament, so we're excited," said Ohio State coach Ty Tucker. "We were able to beat what is probably the best college program of all-time in Stanford yesterday and the best over the past several years in Baylor tonight. So we're feeling good about what we've done so far and look forward to matching tonight's effort tomorrow."
Ohio State (9-0) won the doubles point and got wins in singles from Devin Mullings, Justin Kronauge and Drew Eberly. Eberly, a junior who is from nearby Lake Forest, Ill., clinched the win at No. 6 singles, beating Denes Lukacs, 7-6 (14), 7-6 (3).
Virginia-Mississippi came down to No. 6 singles where UVA freshman Lee Singer beat Jakob Klaeson 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. Singer won the last three points of the third set tiebreaker to close out the match, 7-5. UVA (8-0) won a tight doubles point and also got wins in singles from Treat Huey and Somdev dev Varman. Robbye Poole, Matthias Wellerman and Karl Norberg provided wins for the Rebels. Norberg's win at No. 5 tied the score at 3-3, setting the stage for Singer.
"Great college tennis match," UVA coach Brian Boland said. "There were so many momentum changes and our guys did a good job dealing with adversity throughout their matches. I have to give a lot of credit to Ole Miss, they played a great match.
"That was a really impressive performance by (Lee) Singer. It was a high pressure situation for him and really impressive considering he's just a freshman."
This is the second time in three years that UVA has advanced to the Team Indoor semifinals.
In today's consolation matches Texas beat Boise State 4-1, Notre Dame beat Penn 4-0, Oklahoma State beat Miami 4-3, and Duke beat Stanford 4-2.