University of Georgia
The month of March comes to a close today and there are several matches in all parts of the country to keep people entertained while they eat their colored eggs and holiday feasts. Out west you have Cal hosting USC, in the midwest Minnesota hosts Illinois, in the south you have Georgia hosting Texas A&M, Kentucky hosting Auburn, and South Carolina hosting LSU and in the southwest you have Oklahoma hosting Rice. I’m going to put Illinois and Kentucky on upset alert and I think the Georgia/Texas A&M match could be the most entertaining of them all.
Who do you see getting upset – Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, or no one? Make your pick and follow along at the provided links to see how it all shakes out.
Sunday:
#12 Texas A&M at #3 Georgia - 1pm est – Live Scoring/Video @ - http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/tennis-live-stats-m.html - Texas A&M lost another heartbreaker to Tennessee on Friday with the Aggies dropping a pair of 3rd sets at 1 and 6 and it won’t get any easier as A&M heads to Athens to face the SEC’s top ranked team. The Aggies need the doubles point and will have to win at least 2 of 3 at the 3, 4, and 5 spots to have a shot at the upset. I don’t think they’ll quite get there as I look for KU Singh and Ben Wagland to sweep the top 2 spots and I like Nathan Pasha and Hernus Pieters to pick up wins at 3 and 5. The match at 4 between Shane Vinsant and Austin Smith should be a good one as both freshmen have fared well this year. Prediction: Georgia 4-1
#19 Illinois at #47 Minnesota – 1pm est/Noon cst – Live Scoring & Video @ http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/live-video.html - Minnesota pulled off its 3rd straight upset on Friday when they knocked off #26 Northwestern 4-3 so Illinois better be ready. The Badgers have played in 10 matches this year that finished with a 4-3 score though they’ve won just 4 of those 10. The Gophers will need the doubles point and need to sweep the top 2 spots to have a chance at the upset. I think they’ll come up just short and drop another 4-3 decision. Prediction: Illinois 4-3
#31 Alabama at #14 Vanderbilt – 1pm est/Noon cst – Live Scoring @ http://www.vucommodores.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm - Vanderbilt has now dropped 3 straight after losing to Auburn on Friday while Alabama took it on the chin in Lexington and was shut out by Kentucky. I look for Vandy to pick up wins from Ryan Lipman, Gonzales Austin, Kris Yee, and Marc van der Merwe to put an end to their slide. Prediction: Vanderbilt 5-2
#53 Arkansas at #20 Florida – 1pm est – Live Scoring @ http://www.gatorzone.com/tennis/live/?sport=tennm&live_match=10949 – Arkansas dropped to 0-8 in conference after falling to South Carolina on Friday while Florida lost its 2nd straight in a 4-2 loss at home to LSU. The Gators were a man down in singles with Bob van Overbeek out of the lineup. Florida won’t need Bob in the lineup on Sunday and I see them posting a shutout win. Prediction: Florida 4-0
#32 Auburn at #8 Kentucky – 1pm est – Live Scoring/Blog @ http://www.ukathletics.com/athletic-dept/live-blog.html – Auburn won its 2nd straight on Friday with an impressive 4-2 win at Vanderbilt while Kentucky cruised to a 7-0 shutout over Alabama. Kentucky will be without its #3 singles player Alejandro Gomez for a while since he fractured his wrist so everyone else aside from Rossi and Jomby will be playing up a spot. Auburn is 3-0 on the road in conference and I think they have a very good chance at making it 4 straight. I like Auburn in doubles and I think Dennis Lengsfeld and Lukas Ollert will win at 3 and 4. The question is where will that 4th point come from. I can’t see Anthon Rossi or Tom Jomby losing at 1 and 2 so it’ll likely come down to 5 or 6. I’ll take Lucas Lopasso at 5 over Kevin Lai to give Auburn the upset win. Prediction: Auburn 4-3
#33 LSU at #25 South Carolina – 1pm est – Live Scoring & Video @ http://www.gamecocksonline.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/tennis-live.html – LSU has now pulled off an upset on Friday 3 weeks in a row with their latest victim being Florida while South Carolina has won 3 straight and is coming off a 5-1 win over Arkansas. These are 2 evenly matched teams and I think this will be a tight one. For LSU I like Chris Simpson at 1 and Olivier Borsos at 3 while I like Andrew Adams, Chip Cox, and Kyle Koch at 2, 4, and 5 for South Carolina. The doubles point and #6 singles are toss-ups. Prediction: South Carolina 4-2
#7 Ohio State at Iowa – 1pm est/Noon cst – Live Scoring @ http://www.hawkeyesports.com/livestats/c-tennis/xlive.htm - Ohio State rolled over Nebraska on Friday winning 6-1 while Iowa dropped a close one to Penn State 4-3. Buckeyes will win this one going away. Prediction: Ohio State 7-0
#69 Rice at #11 Oklahoma – 2pm est/1pm cst – Live Scoring @ http://www.soonersports.com/sports/m-tennis/archive/033113aaa.html - Rice gave Tulsa all it wanted on Friday before falling 5-2 while Oklahoma is coming of a 7-0 over San Diego. Rice will challenge OU in a few spots in the lineup but the Sooners will pull it out. Prediction: Oklahoma 6-1
#2 USC at #15 Cal – 4:30pm est/1:30pm pst –Broadcast on the Pac12 Network – no live stats or video available online – USC knocked off Stanford on Friday winning 6-1 while Cal gave UCLA a run for their money but still fell short and lost 5-2. When these 2 met a month ago USC gave Cal a beating and blew them off the courts with 5 straight set wins. I think this will be closer than that but USC is too strong from top to bottom to get picked off by Cal. Prediction: USC 5-2
