 |
Official NCAA Championships Page More photo galleries to come Downloadable Singles Bracket (through finals)
Downloadable Doubles Bracket
(through finals)
Day
three photo gallery TEAM RESULTS
Third
Place Semifinals Quarterfinals
E-mail
questions
|
 |
|
UC Santa Cruz Sweeps NCAA Division III Men's
Tennis Singles and Doubles Titles; Fitzpatrick Part of Both Championships The University of California Santa Cruz swept the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis singles and doubles championships at DePauw University's Blackstock Courts. UC Santa Cruz senior Derek Fitzpatrick became just the sixth player in the 26-year history of the Championships to win both the singles and doubles titles in the same year as he defeated Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College sophomore Eric Butorac in singles 6-3, 6-2 and teamed with junior Nick Cunningham to defeat seniors Sloan Rush and Ed Rahn of Trinity (Texas) in doubles by a 6-2, 6-3 score. "You know how people refer to "cloud nine?," Fitzpatrick asked after winning the doubles title. "Well, I'm on cloud 10." In singles play, Fitzpatrick fell behind in the first set 3-1, but rallied to win the next five games in the set and then the first four of the second on the way to the straight sets victory. " I just feel very grateful," Fitzpatrick said following the singles title. Just four days earlier Butorac beat Fitzpatrick 6-3, 6-4 in the team semifinals. "I've always wanted to accomplish this and follow in the footsteps of great players. I put more balls on the court (than the last match with Butorac), I was getting to more balls and feeling the ball well." Fitzpatrick and Cunningham then won their doubles semifinal match over University of Redlands (Calif.) senior Steve Marshburn and freshman Brian Murphy by a 6-1, 6-2 count. Rush and Rahn knocked off the top-seeded doubles team of Butorac and sophomore Kevin Whipple 6-3, 7-5. In the doubles title match, Fitzpatrick and Cunningham won the last four games of the first set to break a 2-2 tie. The second set was tied 3-3 before they won the last three games to win the match. "You couldn't have asked Derek to play any better," Cunningham said. "We played really smart tennis today," Fitzpatrick said of the doubles championship. " We made the plays we needed. We're finally learning how to be good doubles players." "I love these kids, UC Santa Cruz head coach Bob Hansen said. "They both started out at six singles and they were really playing tennis today. They neutralized the opponent and played all the right shots." The singles championship was the second overall and second in the last three years by a Banana Slug and the doubles title was UC Santa Cruz's fourth straight, extending their Division III-best count to six. Wednesday's final is set as is
doubles semis Butorac needed only 42 minutes to win his semifinal match against second-seeded Rosty Orach 6-1, 6-0. In the other semifinal match, Fitzpatrick knocked off top-seeded Brett Kaplan of Emory 7-5, 6-2. In doubles play, the top-seeded team of Butorac and Kevin Whipple of Gustavus Adolphus face Trinity (Texas) University's tandem of Sloan Rush and Ed Rahn in one semifinal match. In the other match, the second-seeded team from UC Santa Cruz of Fitzpatrick and Nick Cunningham face Steve Marshburn and Brian Murphy of Redlands (Calif.). The doubles semifinal matches begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday with the championship match scheduled for 1 p.m. RESULTS Williams tops UC Santa Cruz,
4-1, for second Division III title in three years UC Santa Cruz and Williams
to battle for national title in rematch of 1998 final The Ephs from Williamstown, Mass., defeated second-seeded Redlands 4-0 in Saturday's second semifinal match. In quarterfinals play on Friday they beat Washington (Md.) College 4-2. The Banana Slugs from Santa Cruz., Calif., came back from a 3-1 deficit against Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College to win 4-3 in Saturday's first semifinal match. On Friday they topped Emory 4-0 in quarterfinal action. Williams is making its third title match appearance in the last four years as it won the 1999 championship with a 4-1 victory over Kalamazoo College. The Ephs have appeared in seven NCAA tournaments since Division III play began in 1976. UC Santa Cruz competes in its 10th championship match and has won four national titles with the last coming in 1998. The Banana Slugs finished second on five occasions and have played in 17 NCAA Division III tournaments. Third-seeded Williams tops second-seeded Redlands to advance to second finals in three years Third-seeded Williams (Mass.) College defeated second-seeded University of Redlands (Calif.) 4-0 in the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Team Championship semifinal at DePauw University's Blackstock Courts. The win lifted the Ephs to the national finals for the second time in three years. They will play UC Santa Cruz for the national championship at 3 p.m. on Sunday. In Saturday's semifinal match, Williams won the doubles point with an 8-5 win at number one and an 8-1 victory at number three. They then won in straight sets at two, four and five singles to take the 4-0 victory. With the victory, Williams improved to 13-5 on the season. Redlands falls to 21-5 and faces Gustavus Adolphus College at noon on Sunday in the third-place match. Williams won its first NCAA Division III men's tennis championship in 1999 in its only appearance in a title match. UC Santa Cruz has won four championships and finished second five times. They defeated Gustavus Adolphus 4-3 in Saturday's first semifinal match. Results
UC Santa Cruz rallies for 4-3 victory; makes 10th finals appearance UC Santa Cruz improved to 15-5 on the season while Gustavus fell to 35-2. Both of the Gusties losses this season came to UC Santa Cruz. The Banana Slugs will take on the winner of the other semifinal match between Williams College and University of Redlands which got underway around 2 p.m. Sunday's title match is set for 3 p.m. UC Santa Cruz has won four national championships and finished second on five occasions. Results Gustavus
Adolphus 4, MIT 1 UC Santa Cruz 4,
Emory 0 Williams 4,
Washington (Md.) 1 Redlands 4,
Kalamazoo 0
| ||||||
|
©2000-03 DePauw University Email comments to: Bill Wagner |
