Women's final:
And it's over. Paladins win in a brutal, nail-biting match. ETSU's girls fought valiantly. Morales going down 7-5, 7-6, Bakhodirova not being able to contain Kozarov (ranked 78th), Elizarraras going down in 3 sets, combined with losing the doubles point, spelled too much to overcome. If any *2* of those would have gone the other way, it would have been a VERY noteworthy triumph.

The good news is.....we have no seniors on this years team. The bad news is......Danni Vines will be back next year for them, one would imagine. This was a good chance to upset their Paladin cart.

Men's final: Due to start at ~6:30 tonight.

Men's final:
Sickeningly.........we've once again lost the doubles point to Furman (AGAIN!). (Furman downed Mercer in the semis, 4-0, with 2 singles matches going 3 sets.) I think ETSU should search for someone to endow a "chair of excellence" in tennis doubles play. And we've lost 4 out of the first 6 sets in singles - altho every single one was close.

[update:
Buccos fighting back. Rengifo and David Gonzalez have jumped back to split sets, and Miguel is close to winning his on court 6.]
[update to update: Miguel did close out his win. Match score now 1-1]

[further update:
Yusuf Khamis has now lost the second set, after having won the first, so he's split. Frazier, being the total warrior he is, overwhelmed Ivan Mitric 6-1, in *both* the second and third sets to put ETSU tentatively up 2-1. Three of the four others are now split sets, and Sergi Fontcuberta is on the brink of a narrow loss on court 2.]

[yet another update:
Wow. Sergi clawed back to win the second set 7-6, so now all four ongoing matches are split sets. In the other 3 that were already underway in the third sets, they're all too close to call. I think Khamis is up a break, but Gonzalez is down a break.]

[probable last update before the end:
Gonzalez did indeed lose in 3 sets, to make it 2-2. Sergi is up a break at #2, Juan Lugo is also up a break at #3, but Khamis is no longer up a break at #4.
Whoops - update to this update:
Juan did close out his match, so Bucs up 3-2.]

Bucs win. Sergi completed his comeback with a 6-1 shellacking of Clarke Wilson at #2 to make it 4-2. Yusuf Khamis was up 5-4, but that one was still very much in doubt, so well done, Sergi!

Furman has certainly improved this year. They've got such a great program there, in both men's and women's, but most certainly in women's. They've won *22* women's regular-season titles, and about 2/3 as many tournament titles. And that only goes back to 1984, when the league began having women's tennis titles.

Anyway...........sorry for the tangent. Well-earned victory for the Buccos. We'll likely be a #4 regional seed again this year, as our OOC body of work just wasn't that strong. Oh well.

SoCon's wrap-ups:

Men:

ETSU edges Furman

Women:

Furman edges ETSU

Not much color there, but fwiw....

(04-21-2019 09:36 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  SoCon's wrap-ups:

Men:

ETSU edges Furman

Women:

Furman edges ETSU

Not much color there, but fwiw....

Thanks for all these updates. How does the previous coach's troubles affect our team going forward?

(04-21-2019 11:59 AM)bucfan81 Wrote:  Thanks for all these updates. How does the previous coach's troubles affect our team going forward?

etsubuc asked a very similar question at the end of last year (before the NCAA tournament). Post #15 back in the "Tennis 2018 - both teams" thread, and I never have/still haven't gotten around to answering it, altho I haven't forgotten it.
I *promise* I'll get to that (and your question, as they obviously are related) soon, and sort of lay it out to the best of my ability.
Too complex for a simple answer - at least one that would have much meaning.
And of course you're welcome.

So we drew the Gamecocks again, like two years ago. We did get a 3 (regional) seed, which is nice, but it's a low 3 seed, as Virginia is who we'd play should we be fortunate enough to prevail. [After I posted what I did earlier, about us likely getting a 4 seed, I reconsidered and realized we had a decent shot at getting a 3 seed, but decided no point in posting the theoretical.] UVA is ranked 5th, and they're usually ranked higher than that, so this region is considered a strong one. I guess they gave us some partial credit for all those 4-3 losses. St. John's (UVA's opponent first round) went undefeated in the Big East (7-0 including tournament), which really isn't saying much. They played MTSU close back in Feb., and appropriately lost to the strong Ivy League schools they encountered along the way.

USC 'only' went 5-7 in the SEC - but I'm assuming most of you know the SEC is year in and year out the strongest tennis conference in the country. Along the way they beat, in the SEC tournament, 42nd-ranked LSU and 11th-ranked Texas A&M. Lost to #6-ranked Miss St. in the semis, 4-2, in what apparently was a brutal contest.
Also......the SEC is very, very even this year. Most of their matches went 4-3 or 5-2, one way or the other.

Interestingly, we have a common opponent in the ethically-challenged Ga St. team. We beat them here this year, 4-0 (but it was closer than that), and USC beat them earlier 5-2, in Columbia. We also both played El Cid, but that's hardly a worthwhile comparison.

More later when I have more time. We gave them a run for their money 2 years ago.

Ok........so in about 9.5 hours, the strokes commence in Charlottesville. Here's the Gamecocks' previews:

'Cocks vs. Bucs - again - I

On the right sidebar of that page, there's an in-depth interview with their coach after the selection show. (No separate link.) He's quite complimentary of ETSU. Worth watching, if one cares about this match. And as I speculated, this is a tough bracket, as they were hoping for a #1 regional seed, and apparently just missed.

'Cocks vs. Bucs - again - II

We don't have anyone who can handle their #1, Brit Paul Jubb. He's quite possibly going to be a pro on the tour in a few years. Not sure how successful he'll be, but he's good enough to give it a shot. Ranked #5 in the country, and was 11-1 vs. the almost-as-tough-as-their-football SEC. That's a good indication. Rengifo, altho a warrior, doesn't have as many tools in his toolbox. Would be a historic upset if he could somehow win. Then they're gonna have 3 freshmen in the next spots. That's our big hope - to do well in the middle, I think, and maybe pull out some from there and maybe even #5 or 6. But their #2 guy is also ranked - but "only" 83rd or so.

So, we've GOT to win the doubles point, or it's likely an absurdly uphill climb. And then, should we be so fortunate, fight and scrap the rest of the way.
This is of course a big obstacle, but not *nearly* as big a one as the Buckeyes were last year.

As almost an afterthought, I'll go ahead and post the ETSU version of the preview:

Bucs vs. 'Cocks - again

Not looking good............
We're down a break on courts 2 and 3, even at #1 (where we just blew a HUGE chance to be up a break). Steigwalt is doing a massive amount of on-court coaching on 2; USC's coach on 1. It's almost disgusting; why can't they just let them play, like in the old days?

[update: Now we're down a break at both #1 and #2.]

[further update: Lost the doubles point. 6-2 and 6-3 respectively on 1 and 2. We were down 5-4 on 3 but on serve. USC just plays doubles better (not surprisingly, as that's always been an ETSU weakness). They kept us on our heels on most points, and we didn't take advantage of (most of) the opportunities we did have. And I have never, ever, ever, ever seen so much on-court coaching in a college tennis match. It's WAY beyond ridiculous.]

Hello! Both Rengifo and Fontcuberta broke the Gamecocks' guys in the first singles games.

[update #1: Rengifo *almost* broke Jubb again - and would have if not for a poorly-executed drop shot. One could tell Jubb was having some doubts, and is well aware he's in a battle. But Fontcuberta has now been broken to even that one up. Yusef Kamis is up a break at #4, so we're holding our own. But we've got to do more than that.
So.....as of the moment, no big advantage for either team.]

[update #2: Fontcuberta, Juan Lugo, and Miguel Este are now all down a break at #s 2, 3, and 6. Rengifo and Kamis are both still up a break. ]

[update #3: Looking bleak. We've now lost the first set in 4 of the matches. The Rengifo/Jubb match is *very* entertaining.]

[update #4: Sergui has lost at #2, 2 and 3. (USC up 2-0). Juan Lugo and Miguel are trying to rally at #3 and #6.]

And it's finished, 4-0, altho ETSU was up in 1 match. USC knows they were in a battle, but they also know they were ultimately the better team. About what one would expect for a #2 vs #3 regional seed. Rengifo finally lost, 5 and 3. There was one *extremely* critical point towards the end of the first set in which the judge overruled him. Had that not happened, he would have won the game, and the set, but instead he ultimately lost it. (It happened on the far end of the court, so I couldn't tell.)

#1 - Jubb over Rengifo 7-5, 6-3
#2 - Rodrigues over Fontcuberta 6-2, 6-3
#6 - Thomas Brown over Este 6-2, 7-5

Khamis was up a set; Lugo was about to (hopefully) even up his match at a set apiece; Gonzalez was 4-4 in the second after losing the first.

So.............a "respectable" showing, but truly not as good as it could have been. Ultimately disappointing.

A fairly good and fair accounting of things:

'Cocks down Bucs - again

I'm not even gonna bother seeing what the ETSU hacks put out. There's no chance it will be remotely as complete or nuanced.

The Cavs took down the Redmen, also 4-0, but it wasn't ever in doubt, I'd say. Just from the looks of the scores, we *may* have been able to handle them, too.
Also........the UVa team site gives some nice (preview) words to ETSU, even mentioning our first-round wins in earlier years vs. 'bama and Notre Dame.

Just FYI.............Virginia downed the Gamecocks today, 4-1, in a fairly tight match. Jubb split sets, and they did not finish, with UVa's 3rd-ranked Carl Soderlund, so that shows that Frazier Rengifo's close loss to Jubb yesterday was no fluke. I doubt many of you have seen him play (although I can tell you Armus came to some of the matches), but he's one of the best athletes at ETSU. Consider checking him out next year.
So.............the rankings probably were about right for the four teams in this regional.

And in Raleigh, UT downed Furple's girls 4-0 in their regional match-up. I watched a fair amount of that, and while Furple won a couple of sets in singles, overall they were overmatched. UT's girls were just the aggressors all up and down the line. Don't know if that's coaching, or just the type of players they've recruited. Most of their players are from Europe or Oz, but not all. Some of them have, or have had, world rankings (tho not real high).

And in case you all didn't already know, that should end any tennis this year, as we don't have any individuals who've qualified for the NCAA's non-team draws.

Ok...........so it's still 2019, and I'll throw this in here even tho it's a new season.
In the just-completed Gamecock Invitational, Frazier Regifo and Yusuf Khamis competed for ETSU. Note this statement from the etsubucs.com article:

"Khamis’ final two matches were lost due to walk off."

That's it!? No explanation? In tennis, a "walkoff" can mean several things, but in this case, since his opponents advanced, it likely means he was either a no-show, or was somehow disqualified. But, to be clear, with a wonky scheduling/bracket situation in such a format as this, there could *conceivably* be some other sort of explanation. One of those matches was to be on Sunday, so maybe to save money they left town a day early?

That theory may have some merit because that article also says:

" The ETSU duo paired together in the Garnet Doubles Draw, falling to Yuya Ito and Siem Woldeab of Texas by the score of 8-4 before dropping a second match in a forfeit."

They did complete a pro-set doubles match on Saturday, but the first of Khamis's walkoffs was also on Saturday.

Inquiring minds want to know - and us fans/stakeholders deserve more and better info than that.

Rather than stick this in a (supposed) new thread for tennis 2020, I'll append this here. Just a nice story about Sander:

Sander Gille talks about his pro career and his time at ETSU

etsubucs.com has posted a couple of nice articles on Sander Gille's success at the French (still ongoing, and hope this isn't a jinx). Quite surprising as they didn't used to do a good job of that. Here's the latest:


https://www.etsubucs.com/mtennis/news/20...emifinals/

[I post this here instead of the more recent (tennis alumni) thread because of the strong Gille theme.]

This is way cool..... Ex-Buc Gille to play in the French Doubles final:

https://www.etsubucs.com/mtennis/news/20...-saturday/

(06-08-2023 12:47 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  This is way cool..... Ex-Buc Gille to play in the French Doubles final:

https://www.etsubucs.com/mtennis/news/20...-saturday/

Fantastic! Thanks for the update.

Lost, 3 and 1. More details later........

(06-10-2023 01:58 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  Lost, 3 and 1. More details later........

Sorry - been too busy to follow-up.....

Unfortunately, NBC pulled a "Heidi" (I think most of you are old enough to know what that means), and shifted the broadcast over to Peacock, and since I don't believe in "pay TV", I didn't get to see any of it after it was 3-4 in the first set. But it was moderately clear that Austin Krajicek (distantly-related to former Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek) had much game. In fact, he's now ranked #1 in the world in doubles, moving up from #4(?)(5?) with that win. Anyway, Gille and his partner Joran Vliegen competed well, until that 8th game, in which Krajicek and his partner, Ivan Dodig broke, and then ran out the set. Apparently, then...........Gille and Vliegen won the first game of the second set, before being steamrolled to a 6-1 loss therein.

The announcers, who included Mary Carillo and Johnny Mac, mentioned that 3 of the 4 players in the match played college tennis in the U.S. I heard them note that Krajicek played for Texas A&M, and that Vliegen played for East Carolina, but I did not catch them mentioning ETSU and Gille - but that may have happened after they switched over to Peacock. While yes, altho "it's just doubles", it's still a very nice feather in the cap of an ETSU guy - not to mention a pretty decent paycheck. He now moves up to the #25 world ranking in doubles, from ~40 at the start of the French.

I'm not sure why, but the ETSU SID people seemed to do an above-average job of covering this tournament. (Other than laughably confusing of "points" and "games". "Dodig and Krajicek went on to win the final six points....." ) Kinda puzzling, but so be it.

https://www.etsubucs.com/mtennis/news/20...mpionship/

Would be so nice if they could cover ETSU matches in a like manner.

As an additional note.................the switch over to Peacock was due to a soccer match. Which would have been understandable and ok, as "it's only doubles", after all. BUT...............it was a **replay** of a soccer match. Pre-empting a LIVE event for something taped just isn't right, no matter *what* it is. But as per usual, NBC didn't ask me.

Will be interesting to see if Gille and Vliegen can capitalize on this performance going forward. Hard to say, with grass courts and then hard courts coming up.....