After four American Athletic Conference teams won their NCAA Championship opening matches Saturday, the run came to an abrupt end for conference teams Sunday as UCF, Memphis, USF and Tulane fell in the round of 32.
Misssissippi State 4, UCF 2
The No. 9 nationally seeded, 10th ranked UCF men's tennis team saw its season come to an end as they fell to 16th ranked Mississippi State 4-2 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon.
"We got a little unlucky to not win at least one of those close first sets; we lost two breakers and two 7-5's," said Director of Tennis John Roddick. "I felt like we played at a pretty good level so you'd like to think you deserve one or two of those. Those just didn't go our way today unfortunately. We did a great job fighting back to put two matches into the third set to keep ourselves alive and give us a chance to win the match. We competed really hard and that's all you really want. We missed on some execution, but we followed our gameplans and competed really hard. Sometimes that's all you can do; I'm really proud of them."
The Black and Gold's season was one to remember and was arguably one of, if not the best campaigns in program history. The Knights finish with a record of 22-4, achieving their highest win total since before they were a Division I program, earning a record of 22-6 in 1978. This was one of three seasons that UCF had totaled 22 or more victories and one of six instances where the team collected 20 or more. A dozen of UCF's 22 wins were over ranked opponents and 14 of their victories were consecutive, leading them into the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. The team also achieved their highest ranking in program history, bursting into the top 10 as high as No. 9. The Knights were champions of The American for the first time as well as they hoisted the trophy over rival South Florida after a 4-0 sweep.
"I told the team in the locker room that we have a lot to be proud of this year," said Roddick. "It's been a tough year and they put in a lot of work even when there was nothing to play for. Teams like that had a fall, we didn't even have a fall. Those are tough things to overcome as the season goes on where guys play all these tough matches and some don't. Our guys persevered when there wasn't a lot to play for and they worked really hard. From that standpoint, you couldn't be prouder. We left a lot of blood and sweat on those practice courts in the fall with nothing to play for, which is one of the hardest things in sports to do."
Tennessee 4, Memphis 0
The Memphis Tigers' season came to a close with a 4-0 defeat to No. 3 Tennessee in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship Sunday in Knoxville, Tenn.
No. 38 Memphis (10-9) was playing in its seventh NCAA Tournament in the last nine seasons, and the Tigers spent the final three months of the season ranked nationally. Tennessee (26-3) advances to the Round of 16 with Sunday's win.
"Today was a great NCAA second round match," Memphis head coach Paul Goebel said. "The doubles point was very exciting but unfortunately did not go our way. Tennessee did a great job with its energy today and made it tough on us.
"There were a lot of bright spots for our team this season. We have a young squad and can't wait to get back at it in the fall. We appreciate our senior, Jan Pallares, and all that he did for our program."
Doubles play was highly contested, with the Volunteers taking the day's first point. Tennessee won on Court 2, 7-6 (7-0) and court three, 7-5, leaving a matchup between Memphis' 18th-ranked team of Oscar Cutting/David Stevenson and Tennessee's No. 4 team of Pat Harper/Adam Walton unfinished.
The Volunteers then won the first three singles points to take the match. No. 10 Adam Walton topped No. 58 James Story, 6-4, 6-1, on court one, and Pallares fell to Luca Wiedenmann on court four, 6-2, 6-0.
The match was clinched with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court six by Andrew Rogers over Pau Fanlo.
The Tigers' 102nd-ranked David Stevenson took the first set from No. 8 Johannus Monday, but court two remained unfinished at the time the match was sealed.
Jeremy Taylor was also leading his court five contest with No. 92 Giles Hussey when the match ended.
Florida 4, USF 1
The University of South Florida men's tennis team fell in the second round of the NCAA tournament to one-seed Florida on Sunday. The Bulls secured the doubles point after strong performances on Courts 2 and 3 in the 4-1 loss.
New pair Alvin Tudorica (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Manuel Goncalves (Porto, Portugal) continued their positive stride after defeating Brian Berdusco and Will Grant, 6-4. Hot hands and close saves from Rithvik Bollipalli (Hyderabad, India) and Antonio Muniz-Hidalgo (Barcelona, Spain) seized the doubles point in a 7-6 tiebreak decision against Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton.
Heading into singles with the advantage, the Bulls continued to battle and push each point to the end. Pierre Luquet (Draguignan, France), Sergio Gomez Montesa (Valencia, Spain) and Muniz-Hidalgo fell in straight sets, putting the top seeded Gators within one. Ivan Yatsuk's (Minsk, Belarus) loss to No. 18 Andy Andrade, 2-6, 4-6, sealed a Florida win on their home courts. No. 63 Chase Ferguson (Melbourne, Australia) kept a close competition to No. 6 Riffice 5-7, 3-1 before his match went unfinished, as did No. 47 Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, Fla.) versus No. 4 Duarte Vale, 5-7, 1-3
"Our boys showed a lot of growth and as we always do got better as the year went on," said USF head coach Ashley Fisher. "We played some incredible doubles the last two days and I was so happy for Manu and Alvin today aswell as Sonny and Toni coming through the way they did. All nine of us contributed the last two days which is what it's all about. We will learn from this year and continue building and climbing. The quest for excellence never ends and I believe we have a group that can create history next year. Thank you to everyone that supported us and made this season possible. We will forever be grateful for the opportunity to represent USF."
Ole Miss 4, Tulane 0
The 22nd-ranked Tulane University men's tennis team (15-8) had its 2021 season come to an end in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament in a 4-0 defeat against host and No. 15 overall seed Ole Miss (13-10) on Sunday afternoon at the William F. Galtney Indoor Tennis Center.
Due to rainy conditions, the match was pushed indoors prior to its start where a very contentious fight for the doubles point got underway. In a battle full of momentum shifts across all three courts, Ole Miss notched the first victory, 6-3, on court two, as the remaining matches on courts one and three remained deadlocked.
On court one, the 21st-ranked duo of Hamish Stewart and Ewan Moore raced out to an early 5-2 lead over No. 1-ranked Tim Sandkaulen and Finn Reynolds, but the Rebels were able to stave off multiple match points and eventually force a 6-6 tiebreaker. The Green Wave held a 3-2 lead before the Rebels clinched on court three.
After suffering a break early in the match, Tulane's No. 3 duo of Fynn Kuenkler and Luis Erlenbusch earned a crucial break despite trailing 5-4 to win the next two games, get the match back on-serve and take a 6-5 lead. The Rebels held serve to force the tiebreaker before building a commanding 5-1 advantage. They would close it out, 7-2, to claim a 1-0 lead in the overall match.
Tulane held its own early in singles and clawed its way to three first-set victories on courts one, two and three, respectively. Unfortunately for the Green Wave, the Rebels were able to close courts four, five and six in straight sets to earn the clinch.
Up next, Stewart and Moore will await draws for the 2021 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships which run May 23-28 at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla..