Indiana 6, Samford 1
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- In the opening match of the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend Friday, the No. 65 Samford University men's tennis team was defeated by the No. 56-ranked Indiana Hoosiers, 6-1, in the prestigious four-team event being hosted by the University of Virginia at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
Samford (1-1) fell behind early, 1-0, by losing the initial doubles point and then trailed 5-0 late in singles action before senior Elliot Barnwell knocked off 80th-ranked Sven Lalic in straight sets, 6-5, 6-3, on court No. 1. Barnwell's victory proved to be the biggest of his 2013-14 campaign as he improved to 2-0 in dual-match play this spring.
In doubles play, Samford's combination of Fares Kilani and Austin Akers toppled Indiana's pairing of Michael Sellitto and Elliott Yee on court No. 3, 6-5 (3). With their victory, the Bulldogs' Kilani and Akers moved to 1-1 in doubles this season.
The Hoosiers garnered the double point Friday and then received five singles victories in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event to earn their 6-1 win over the Bulldogs. With its win, Indiana advanced to face the winner of No. 1-ranked Virginia or No. 46 Elon on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Samford will face off against the loser of Friday's nightcap at 1 p.m. (CT).
The ITA Kick-Off Weekend serves as a qualifying tournament for next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Houston, Texas. The winners of the 15 ITA Kick-Off Weekend sites around the nation will join host Texas A&M in this year's tournament.
Adding to the excitement, the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend is currently the first national tournament to use the new, experimental formats decided upon by the ITA Division Operating Committee.
The Operating Committee is comprised of 36 men's and women's head coaches, and represents all 12 ITA regions and 13 of the conferences across the country. The ITA Rankings are well represented on the Operating Committee. Five Top 10 and 21 Top 50 teams are coached by Operating Committee members. In addition, 12 coaches outside the Top 50 are members of the committee.
The teams will play sets in all matches to six games, but with tiebreakers at 5-all and no-ad scoring. All third sets for men's singles will be played out unless the team match is decided.
Virginia 10, Elon 0
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Elon University men’s tennis team, ranked No. 46 in the country, dropped its first match of the season Friday, Jan. 25, in the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament 10-0 to the No. 1-ranked Virginia Cavaliers on the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Elon hung with the Cavaliers in the doubles portion of the match, but each Virginia duo edged out the Phoenix to win the doubles point.
Robert Lindgren and Brian Kowalski were the first Elon pairing to fall, as the duo of Mitchell Frank and Luca Corinteli picked up the 6-3 win. Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski finished off the doubles point for the Cavaliers by topping Juan Madrid and Jordan Kaufman at No. 3 doubles.
Though the point had already been won, Cameron Silverman and Stefan Fortmann finished out their match on court No. 1 against Alex Domijan and Justin Shane. Silverman and Fortmann forced a tiebreaker, but Domijan and Shane proved too strong and won the match 6-5(2).
Turning to the singles portion, the Cavaliers held strong and defeated each Elon player in straight sets.
Silverman, ranked No. 25 in the nation, battled Frank, the No. 3 player in the country, to a tiebreaker in the second set on court No. 1, but Frank held off Silverman to win 6-2, 6-5(4).
Kowalski was the other Elon player to battle to a tiebreaker in the second set, but the junior couldn’t get a break on Shane and fell 6-4, 6-5(7).
Elon returns to the courts tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. to face Southern Conference-rival Samford at 2 p.m. in a rematch of the 2013 SoCon Tournament championship match in which the Bulldogs won 4-3. Samford, ranked No. 65 in the country, fell to No. 56 Indiana earlier Friday in the first match of the tournament. The match will not count as a SoCon match. Samford visits Elon on March 8 as part of the SoCon schedule.