Tennis Vols back in NCAAs

#126
#126
GoVols2003 said:
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I stand corrected then.

When I had heatstroke I literally couldn't stop puking for two hours -- just dryheaving; trying to get down fluids; puking; then dryheaving; rinse, lather, repeat -- and there's no way I could have played anymore tennis.
 
#127
#127
The last point was just terrible, though - I don't care how sick he was. Literally, a middle schooler could've won that point. The Georgia player really didn't do anything to win at the end - it was just Smith screwing up and leaving everything short.
 
#128
#128
Anyone that plays tennis knows that these things happen.... I'm sure nobody is more upset than he is. Losing to a guy he had beaten twice and was clearly better than. But that is what happens when you play a top 10 team in the country and expect to beat them for the 3rd time in the season. JP gave his heart to the university for 4 years. And on that note I'm very disappointed in how Sandgren and Fago played. Fago beat the guy that destroyed Sandgren today, and Sandgren lost to him earlier in the year in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Would have thought he would've shown up a little bit more. I feel sorry that JP may walk away without a single championship trophy. Will be fun to watch them in the individual championships next week.

And yeah, Sandgren ain't going pro and I'm guessing that unless Williams progresses as much this summer as he did last summer (which will be hard) then he'll be back as well.... His backhand needs major work
 
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#129
#129
VolsDeep said:
Anyone that plays tennis knows that these things happen.... I'm sure nobody is more upset than he is. Losing to a guy he had beaten twice and was clearly better than. But that is what happens when you play a top 10 team in the country and expect to beat them for the 3rd time in the season. JP gave his heart to the university for 4 years. And on that note I'm very disappointed in how Sandgren and Fago played. Fago beat the guy that destroyed Sandgren today, and Sandgren lost to him earlier in the year in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Would have thought he would've shown up a little bit more. I feel sorry that JP may walk away without a single championship trophy. Will be fun to watch them in the individual championships next week.

And yeah, Sandgren ain't going pro and I'm guessing that unless Williams progresses as much this summer as he did last summer (which will be hard) then he'll be back as well.... His backhand needs major work
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Yeah, his backhand does need work. I think he really wants to go pro, though. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I agree with what you said about JP.

When was the last time Fago won a match? He has been fading bad towards the end of the season, which was not what you hoped you would get from a senior.
 
#130
#130
kidbourbon said:
Yeah, his backhand does need work. I think he really wants to go pro, though. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I agree with what you said about JP.

When was the last time Fago won a match? He has been fading bad towards the end of the season, which was not what you hoped you would get from a senior.
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From what I gather it's not so much that his backhand needs work as it is that he abandons it when in a tight match, etc... He HAS backhand, but just relies on his slice too much (reminds me a bit of roddick, only roddick could get away with it b/c of his forehand and serve)....

I can see why Rhyne would want to leave, just as I can understand why Scotty Hopson left. Neither intended on staying longer than a year or two and don't want to admit that they aren't quite good enough yet. The question, I guess, is which is better for Rhyne's development: college tennis or professional..
 
#131
#131
Don't know what to say about this. I feel like I've been punched in the gut. Really thought this was Ut's year.

I don't put any blame on Smith's loss. If you do, you don't understand these team matches. Smith had his chances to break and didn't. That is tennis. He played his heart out, played well, but the breaks did not bounce his way.

For these team matches, you have to have a little help from time to time from more than two or three singles players. The bottom of the line up is the sole reason UT lost today.

I could only follow through the live blog UT puts out, but it didn't appear like in any of those singles losses (outside of JP) that the UT player was ever in the match. They were outclassed all match long. Wasn't a contest.

Rhyne Williams was MVP today. Tennys Sandgren, as he did last year v. USC, failed to show up.
 
#132
#132
DyronNix said:
I don't put any blame on Smith's loss. If you do, you don't understand these team matches. Smith had his chances to break and didn't. That is tennis. He played his heart out, played well, but the breaks did not bounce his way.

For these team matches, you have to have a little help from time to time from more than two or three singles players. The bottom of the line up is the sole reason UT lost today.
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I understand the Team Tennis aspect very well, and I have to disagree. Of course, Smith is not the sole reason they lost. Sandgren, Fago, and Jones all got destroyed.

The fact remains though, that in the second set, JP did not drop the hammer when he needed too. A player of his caliber and experience has to be counted on to do that. He left him in bad position too many times by continually trying to run around his backhand and by only slicing the ones that he did hit.
 
#133
#133
I am curious to see how the lineup shakes out next year. Jones seems to be improving. Reese came in this semester and seems to be improving already. The Fickey kid out of Knoxville is a good player, but has a McEnroe esque temper.
 
#134
#134
GoVols2003 said:
I am curious to see how the lineup shakes out next year. Jones seems to be improving. Reese came in this semester and seems to be improving already. The Fickey kid out of Knoxville is a good player, but has a McEnroe esque temper.
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I'm curious how I can follow recruiting closer? Is there a website you go to for this? Who is UT looking at for next year? UT could be decent next year (and by decent I still mean top 10-15), but losing 3 seniors (esp. conkic and smith) will hurt, maybe not from a talent level but an experience level....

Anyways, I'm curious if we have any studs coming in next year's class a la alex domijian style. That would be great!
 
#135
#135
VolsDeep said:
I'm curious how I can follow recruiting closer? Is there a website you go to for this? Who is UT looking at for next year? UT could be decent next year (and by decent I still mean top 10-15), but losing 3 seniors (esp. conkic and smith) will hurt, maybe not from a talent level but an experience level....

Anyways, I'm curious if we have any studs coming in next year's class a la alex domijian style. That would be great!
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TennisRecruiting.net is probably the best place to check out recruits.... its the tennis version of Rivals or Scout.

I work in athletics and a portion of that deals with tennis around the state, so I get to see some of the better kids in TN from time to time.

They got 2 kids this year. Hunter Reese enrolled in January, but he just trained with UT while finishing out some Junior events. Since enrolling, he won the USTA National Open and finished 3rd at the USTA National Spring Championship. He is ranked as the #11 prospect. I think he will be solid, but I am not sure he is quite on par with Williams or Sandgren.

The other kid is Brandon Fickey out of Knoxville Webb. He is a top 25 recruit also. He beat Reese pretty handily in the USTA Spring Championship. Really good player, explosive temper, a little on the small side.

I think they are both 4-6 players in a lineup with Sandgren and Williams. Those 2 just had a lot more international experience when they got to UT vs. this pair.

The State as a whole has turned out some good prospects in the past few years on both the Men's and Women's side. The UT Men have gotten those prospects, and the Women have not, thus the disparity in programs. I think the next wave of high level talent in state is 2 years away.
 
#136
#136
Btw, the current HS Sophomore class in the State of TN is absurd. If TN can find a way to land the top 4 in TN that year, your talking possibly 4 Blue Chip players ranked in the top 20 in the Nation.

The #1 kid Lipman is ranked #1 in the country and recently beat Reese (our incoming commit) handily. I believe his brother went to Vandy and played so he will be a tougher pull.
 
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#137
#137
GoVols2003 said:
Btw, the current HS Sophomore class in the State of TN is absurd. If TN can find a way to land the top 4 in TN that year, your talking possibly 4 Blue Chip players ranked in the top 20 in the Nation.

The #1 kid Lipman is ranked #1 in the country and recently beat Reese (our incoming commit) handily. I believe his brother went to Vandy and played so he will be a tougher pull.
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very good to hear! yeah i'd like to start following it more. I went to the US Open last year and to be honest enjoyed watching the juniors as much as I did the pros.... It was cool konwing that I could be watching the "next" Rafa or Federer... and of course they were damn good for only being 16 or so.

It is impressive how many quality tennis players come from TN. Ben Rogers and Cameron (can't remember if that was his first or last name?!?!?) were the biggies when I was in high school.
 
#138
#138
GoVols2003 said:
Btw, the current HS Sophomore class in the State of TN is absurd. If TN can find a way to land the top 4 in TN that year, your talking possibly 4 Blue Chip players ranked in the top 20 in the Nation.

The #1 kid Lipman is ranked #1 in the country and recently beat Reese (our incoming commit) handily. I believe his brother went to Vandy and played so he will be a tougher pull.
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Great info, man. Definitely don't be shy in the future about passing along any recruiting info you might have. :good!:
 
#139
#139
Tennisrecruiting.net ranks players by number of stars, but their top classification is "blue chip", which I guess you could say is the equivalent of being a 5-star guy in football. I love it that we've basically only signed "blue chip" guys the last two recruiting classes. Right now our two signees put us as the #4 class, which is lovely.

Top Men's Classes - TennisRecruiting.net - The Tennis Recruiting Network

I'd still love to see us pull some foreign stud like how Baylor landed Benjamin Becker several years back and he led them to the 2004 team championship (and he won the singles championship as well).
 
#140
#140
I would like to think that since TN only took 2 this time around (unless there is a foreigner or two in the works), they think that Williams and Sandgren will stick around.

It also would not surprise me if they ended up waiting and bringing someone in next Jan. CSW seems to be a proponent of that as he has done that the last 2-3 years now.

As I mentioned previously, the loss of the Indian kid last year was a blow to this season and next to some degree. I know they were upset with him leaving...apparently some of the wrong people got in the kids ear and told him he could be making money instead of redshirting here....kid was in reality probably 2 years out from being ready. Would have been a solid 3 or 4 in this lineup. Difference in being out and possibly going all the way.
 
#144
#144
And the Gators take the Women's title after a masterful Stanford choke job.

CAn't believe the LV's have never beaten UF.
 
#146
#146
does anyone know if there is a livestream to watch the singles and doubles? I assume they will be playing on the same courts as the team championships right?
 
#147
#147
VolsDeep said:
does anyone know if there is a livestream to watch the singles and doubles? I assume they will be playing on the same courts as the team championships right?
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I imagine Stanford will do a livestream like they did for the team match. Google it or go to gostanford.com and peruse around. I don't have the link off hand.

Also, I am surprised UVA lost.
 
#148
#148
JP, Boris, Rhyne, and Tennys are all officially All Americans. Everyone won their match today, which leaves me banging my head against the wall screaming, "what if?!?!?!".... Seriously, how can Tennys go from playing so bad in both team matches (but esp UGA) to making it to the 3rd round? And JP whooped jarmere jenkins easily, and he's a solid solid player
 
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