Semis Set at ITA National Team Indoor Championships
February 17, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 17, 2008
SEATTLE, WASH. - Top-seeded Virginia, defending champions and No. 2 seeds Georgia, No. 3 seed Ohio State and No. 5 Mississippi posted quarterfinal wins Saturday at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men's Team Indoor Championships. The University of Washington is hosting this year's championships at the Nordstrom Tennis Center and the Seattle Tennis club.
Defending champion Georgia beat No. 7 Texas 4-2 and will face Ohio State, 4-1 winners over Southern California, in tomorrow's 2:30 pm semifinals. No. 1 seed Virginia beat UCLA 4-3, and will face Mississippi in the other semifinal at 11 am.
This event, which features 16 of the nation's top programs, has annually crowned a national indoor champion every year since 1973. This is the third time in five years Nordstrom Tennis Center and Washington have served as hosts.
Georgia (6-0) has captured the last two ITA National Team Indoor titles and carries a 38-match win streak to the semifinals. Last year Georgia beat Ohio State 4-0 in the championship match in Chicago and went on to record a perfect season and capture the NCAA crown. Coach Manuel Diaz's Georgia squad will try to become just the second school to win three straight ITA National Team Indoor titles. Stanford won the first three tournaments in 1973, '75 and '76 (no tournament was held in '74).
The Bulldogs got the doubles point, and singles wins from Travis Helgeson, Jamie Hunt and Christian Vitulli on their way to a 4-2 win over Texas.
Ohio State (10-0) won the doubles point and got wins in singles from Steven Moneke, Matt Allare and Drew Eberly. Eberly, a senior from Lake Forest, Ill., clinched the win at No. 6 singles, beating Jason McNaughton 6-4, 6-4.
Mississippi had a quick win over Oklahoma State, in a match that lasted less than two hours. The Rebels won the doubles point in just 35 minutes, and got singles wins from Matthias Wellermann, Bran ten Berge and Kalle Norberg to win 4-0, and advance to face Virginia in the semifinals. This is not the first time the Rebels and the Cavaliers will face off in the semis: in 2005, No. 6 seeded Mississippi was upset by an unseeded Virginia team in the semifinals at this tournament, 4-1.
Virginia-UCLA came down to No. 1 singles where defending NCAA singles champion Somdev Devvarman beat Harel Srugo 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4. UVA (9-0) lost a tight doubles point but came back to get wins in singles from Dominic Inglot, Sanam Singh and Ted Angelinos. Holden Seguso and Jeremy Drean provided wins for the Bruins. Angelinos' win at No. 6 tied the score at 3-3, setting the stage for Devvarman.
This is the third time in four years that UVA has advanced to the Team Indoor semifinals.
In today's consolation matches North Carolina beat Baylor, 4-3, Notre Dame beat Penn State 4-2, and Illinois beat Boise State 4-3. The Alabama/Washington match is still in progress.
