May 20, 2011
2011 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships
Taube Family Tennis Center - Stanford, Calif.
Saturday, May 21 - 12 p.m. - Taube Stadium
Men's Quarterfinals
#2 USC (25-2) 4
#10 Kentucky (29-9) 1
Doubles (Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1)
1) No. 22 Poldma/Sundling (USC) d. No. 19 Cox/Quigley (KENT) 9-7
2) Gomez/Johnson (USC) d. Musialek/Rossi (KENT) 8-3
3) Gonzalez/Jomby (KENT) d. Nguyen/Sarmiento (USC) 8-6
Singles (Order of Finish: 1, 2, 4, 5)
1) No. 1 Steve Johnson (USC) d. No. 6 Eric Quigley (KENT) 6-4, 6-2
2) No. 53 Alex Musialek (KENT) d. No. 38 Jaak Poldma (USC) 6-2, 6-4
3) No. 44 Daniel Nguyen (USC) vs. Brad Cox (KENT) aban.
4) No. 47 Ray Sarmiento (USC) d. No. 90 Alberto Gonzalez (KENT) 7-6 (1), 6-1
5) Emilio Gomez (USC) d. Anthony Rossi (KENT) 6-1, 7-6 (3)
6) Peter Lucassen (USC) vs. Tom Jomby (KENT) aban.
USC Head Coach Peter Smith
"It was a really exciting match today. I thought Kentucky really brought it. This was as exciting as it gets. I thought experience played a big role. We really came through. That doubles point was pretty dramatic, to say the least...It is the quarterfinals of the NCAAs against a SEC team that has been through a lot of tough wins in Kentucky. They are a great team."
"
"JT Sundling really kept his head and that was really key for us. Without that, it would have been a lot tougher. For him to serve out the last game the way he did, a lot of guys would have gotten mad. He just kept fighting back and fighting back and got it."
USC Sophomore JT Sundling
"It was pretty crazy. The last game I had, I had six double faults. I actually kinda laughed after the last one, because it is not often that happens and you are still in a game."
"Raymond [Sarmiento] and Peter [Lucassen] pulled out tiebreakers in the first set. Stevie finished really quickly, which gives us a great feeling."
Kentucky Head coach Dennis Emery
"It was good to come in to the quarterfinals of the NCAA's feeling like you had a really good chance to win this and move into the Final Four. We knew USC was a very good and very experienced team but we felt like we had a lot of experience and we're very athletic as well. We served for the doubles point at No. 1 and didn't get it, which turned the momentum a little bit. They beat us at No. 4 and 5 and we're really good at No. 4 and 5. I feel like that spoke to the level of their play more than how we played. When you're beating us at four and five you're pretty good, you're pretty deep."
"This is one of the best places to play and Dick Gould runs a first-class tournament. It's special for our players to know that if they make it to the final 16, that they're going to Stanford with all the tradition that Stanford has in college tennis."