OXFORD, Miss. ? The 28th-ranked South Alabama men’s tennis team opened the 2007 NCAA Tournament with a 4-1 win over No. 37 Minnesota on Friday afternoon on the campus of the University of Mississippi. With the win, USA improves to 22-4 and will await the winner of the Ole Miss vs. Jacksonville State tomorrow at 1 p.m.
“It means a lot,” Jaguar head coach Jaco Keyser said. “It has been a couple of years since we have been to the NCAA’s and is the first time for all of these guys to play in this tournament. Playing a team out of the Big 10, I think we were a little jittery in the beginning, but we played well towards the end.”
The Jaguars jumped out to the early 1-0 lead with a hard-fought, come-from-behind win at doubles. Down much of the doubles portion in all three matches, the Jaguars put on a show in the late stages, rallying to win the point.
Minnesota’s duo of Chee Pham and DJ Geatz posted an 8-4 win at No. 3 over sophomore Craig Dunne and senior Dias Doskarayev as they were the first to come off. The Jags then won at No. 2 as juniors Jack Baker and R.J. Nagel came-from-behind to win 9-8 with a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker over Raoul Schwark and Mikey Kantar.
“I said that this was the turning point to decide how we would bounce back and make up the adversity from being on the verge of winning and not getting it done,” Minnesota head coach Geoff Young said. “Doubles was sort of a weird dynamic because we were at one point winning it, and then they came all the way back and took it from us.”
Down 7-4 at No. 1, Jaguar duo of sophomore Marek Sramek and junior Robert Hodel never gave up, winning five-straight games over Sion Wilkins and Nich Edlefsen. More impressive, the South Alabama duo was down 15-40 and 7-4 when the rally began.
“It meant a lot for our team,” Keyser said. “Our strength is our singles play, so whenever we win the doubles point we feel like we have a shot against most teams.”
The Jaguars went up 2-0 with a straight-set win by Nagel at No. 5 as he defeated Wilkins 6-1, 6-1 in quick fashion. Minnesota (15-10) cut the deficit in half as it won at No. 6 as Dino Bilankov posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Dunne.
The Jaguars did not lose control as Sramek had a 6-4, 5-2 lead at No. 3 before Geatz had to default due to receiving two conduct violations, putting the Jags up 3-1.
The Gophers had a chance to close the deficit as Schwark won the first set at No. 1 over Doskarayev and Kantar and Hodel spilt the first two matches at No. 4. However, Baker closed out a 7-6, 6-2 win over Edlefsen at No. 2 to take the match, 4-1.
USA now will face the winner of No. 7 Ole Miss and Jacksonville State tomorrow at 1 p.m. The winner will advance to the Round of 16 next week in Athens, Ga. Live stats can be found at www.olemisssports.com.
2007 NCAA Championships
First and Second Rounds
#28 South Alabama 4, #37 Minnesota 1
Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center
Doubles
(1) Sramek/Hodel (USA) def. Wilkins/Edlefsen (MINN), 9-7
(2) Baker/Nagel (USA) def. Schwark/Kantar (MINN), 9-8 (2)
(3) Pham/Geatz (MINN) def. Dunne/Doskarayev (USA), 8-4
Singles
(1) No. 84 Dias Doskarayev (USA) vs. No. 72 Raoul Schwark (MINN) 4-6, 5-4
(2) No. 99 Jack Baker (USA) def. Nich Edlefsen (MINN), 7-6, 6-2
(3) No. 51 Marek Sramek (USA) def. DJ Geatz (MINN) 6-4, 5-2, def.
(4) Robert Hodel (USA) vs. Mikey Kantar (MINN), 7-5, 3-6, 2-1
(5) R.J. Nagel (USA) def. Sion Wilkins (MINN), 6-1, 6-1
(6) Dino Bilankov (MINN) def. Craig Dunne (USA), 6-4, 6-4
