May 24, 2000
ATHENS, Georgia - Stanford junior Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) continued his recent hot streak with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 win over junior Toby Hansson (Bjarred, Sweden) of Southern Methodist in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships on Wednesday at the University of Georgia. The 2000 NCAA Team Champion Cardinal also received first round wins from senior Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) and sophomore K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy).
Kim, who is the fifth seed in the tournament and is ranked seventh in the nation, improved to 43-7 on the season with the easy win over the 18th-ranked Hansson. The victory helped Kim avenge a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Hansson on January 26th of last year at Stanford. Kim is enjoying a tremendous week in Athens, including straight set wins over top-ranked Jeff Morrison (Huntington, West Virginia) of Florida on Monday and second-ranked Daniel Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden) of Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday that helped the Cardinal capture its fifth NCAA team title in the last six years. Kim will meet 73rd-ranked Oliver Maiberger (Frankfurt, Germany) of San Diego State in the second round on Thursday.
"I was a little surprised at how quickly the match went, and how easily I won," Kim said. "Maybe Toby was not at his best today, because he is a great player. I'm just happy I won. The goal our coaches (head coach Dick Gould, associate head coach John Whitlinger) set at the beginning of the season is for us to play our best tennis in Athens, and I feel I'm doing that. I just hope I can keep it going tomorrow."
The fifth-ranked and sixth-seeded Abrams extended his personal winning streak to 25 matches with a thrilling 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 25th-ranked Andrew Nisker (London, Ontario, Canada) of Vanderbilt. Abrams jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set before Nisker won the next three games to tie the set at 4. Abrams then won the final two games to advance to Thursday's second-round match against 22nd-ranked Tripp Phillips (Charlotte, North Carolina) of North Carolina.
The 11th-ranked Hippensteel, who is a No. 9-16 seed in the tournament, outlasted senior Doug Root (Medham, New Jersey) of Duke 7-6, 7-6. Hippensteel (17-6) has won six of his last seven as he continues to come back from a severe case of mononucleosis that kept him out of singles action from mid-January through early-April. The Cardinal sophomore faces 26th-ranked Alexander Hartman (Klippen, Sweden) of Mississippi in Thursday's second round.
In addition to the second round of the singles tournament, the NCAA Doubles Championships open on Thursday. Stanford's top-ranked and second-seeded duo of Abrams and Kim (36-6) open the 32-team tournament against 26th-ranked Huntley Montgomery and Brian Vahaly of Virginia.
Singles
First Round (Seeds in parenthesis)
(1) Jeff Morrison (Florida) d. Erik Scharf (St. John's), 6-2, 6-4
Mark Parsons (Tennessee) d. Nenad Toroman (Tulsa), 7-6, 6-2
(9-16) Alex Waske (San Diego State) d. Michal Chmela (LSU), 6-2, 6-4
Robert Kendrick (Pepperdine) d. Frank Moser (Virginia Commonwealth), 6-2, 6-2
(6) Geoff Abrams (Stanford) d. Andrew Nisker (Vanderbilt), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Tripp Phillips (North Carolina) d. Simon Shen (UC Santa Barbara), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Alex Osterrieth (Arizona State) d. (9-16) Ryan Sachire (Notre Dame), 7-6, 6-3
Johann Jooste (Baylor) d. Frantisek Stejskal (Penn), 6-2, 6-4
(3) Shuon Madden (Texas A&M) d. Jason Marshall (Purdue), 6-4, 6-1
Brandon Hawk (Texas) d. Francisco Rodriguez (Alabama), 6-0, 6-0
(9-16) Matt Amgwerd (New Mexico) d. Dennis Lundberg (Tulane), 7-6, 6-1
Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) d. Mike Halperin (Cornell), 6-2, 6-1
(8) Marco Baron (Mississippi State) d. Leif Meineke (Boise State), 6-1, 7-5
Andres Pedroso (Duke) d. Rodrigo Echagaray (Kansas), 0-6, 7-5, 6-3
(9-16) Cary Franklin (Illinois) d. Adam Seri (Georgia), 6-4, 6-2
Carlos Drada (Kentucky) d. Peter Luczak (Fresno State), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Alexander Hartman (Mississippi) d. Patrick Gottesleben (USC), 6-2, 6-2
(9-16) K.J. Hippensteel (Stanford) d. Doug Root (Duke), 7-6, 7-6
Oskar Johansson (Arkansas) d. Jeremy Bayon (Mississippi State), 6-2, 6-3
(7) Esteban Carrill (TCU) d. Tyler Cleveland (Iowa), 7-6, 6-3
Johan Hesoun (Kentucky) d. Sebastian Graeff (Pepperdine), 6-3, 6-4
(9-16) Justin O'Neal (Florida) d. Kyle Kliegerman (Princeton), 6-1, 6-4
Stephen Huss (Auburn) d. Jonas Piibor (Indiana State), 7-5, 6-1
(4) Daniel Andersson (Virginia Commonwealth) d. Olivier Lejeune (Fresno State), 6-1, 6-1
Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) d. Martin Wosetschlager (Alabama-Birmingham), 6-3, 6-3
Jeff Laski d. (9-16) Eduardo Gordilho (Louisiana-Lafayette), 6-2, 7-6
Oliver Maiberger (San Diego State) d. Josh Goffi (Clemson), 7-5, 6-3
(5) Alex Kim (Stanford) d. Toby Hansson (SMU), 6-2, 6-0
Guillermo Carter (Oregon) d. Michael Blue (Texas), 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
(9-16) Matias Boeker (Georgia) d. Dusty Beard (Oklahoma), 6-3, 6-3
Ramsey Smith (Duke) d. Matt Wright (Michigan), 6-3, 6-1
(2) Brian Vahaly (Virginia) d. Tom Hand (LSU), 3-6, 7-6, 6-2