By Bobby Knight - Friday brought us a pair of close ones in the Pac 12 as both Stanford and Cal went north and came away with 4-3 wins while the Texas trio of Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech all came up short.  South Carolina’s upset bid in Starkville was turned away as Mississippi State dug deep in a few key spots to hold on to a 4-2 win.  Florida took advantage of an Ole Miss squad that was without its top player, Nik Scholtz (elbow), and went into Oxford and beat the Rebels 4-1.  Louisville put it all together in Richmond and upset VCU 4-2, Virginia Tech stopped a 3 match losing streak and pulled out a 4-3 upset win over North Carolina State as Joao Monteiro provided the clincher at 6 winning 7-5 in the 3rd, and in Auburn the Tigers upset Texas A&M 4-3 with Lukas Ollert clinching it at 4 winning 6-4 in the 3rd.  Texas Tech jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Tulsa but the Golden Hurricanes rallied to win 4 straight to win it 4-3.  The Red River Rivalry in Norman was short on drama as Oklahoma swept the top 4 spots and cruised to a 5-2 win over Texas.  There were a few matchups that didn’t pan out like we thought as LSU’s Friday’s upset streak came to a halt as Georgia went into Baton Rouge and put it on the Bayou Bengals 4-0 and Duke went to Clemson and won every match in straight sets in route to a 7-0 shutout.

 

Saturday brings us several matches that I see finishing with a 4-3 score.  My 2 upset picks for the day are Michigan and Michigan State though I can potentially see 5 lower ranked teams getting upset wins. 

 

Follow along at the provided links to see who finishes with the 4 and who finishes with the 3. 

 

Saturday:

#28 Illinois at #34 Michigan – Noon est – Live Scoring @ http://www.mgoblue.com/livestats/m-tennis/index-m.html - Both teams have been up and down this year with consistency being an issue.  The one constant for Michigan has been Evan King who is 15-1 on the year at #1 singles.  I think the Wolverines take the doubles point and pick up wins from King, Barrett Franks, and Alex Petrone to win a close one.  Prediction:  Michigan 4-3

 

#29 Northwestern at #49 Michigan State – Noon est – Live Scoring @ http://www.msuspartans.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm - Michigan State is just 3-9 this year against ranked opponents though they do own wins against a pair of top 20 teams (South Carolina/Vanderbilt).  Northwestern is 7-5 against ranked opponents with their best win coming against Notre Dame.   Looking at those numbers you’d think Northwestern would take this one but I’m going to go with MSU in an upset with the Spartans taking the doubles point and picking up wins from Aaron Pfister, John Patrick Mullane, and Gijs Linders.  Upset Special:  Michigan State 4-3

 

#1 Virginia at #25 Wake Forest – Noon est – Live Scoring @ http://www.wakeforestsports.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm - Virginia will be favored at every spot in the lineup and will take this one without too much of a problem.  Prediction:  Virginia 6-1

 

#8 Kentucky at #14 Vanderbilt – 1pm est/Noon cst – Live Scoring @ http://www.vucommodores.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm - This will be a very interesting matchup with Kentucky trying to rebound from a 6-1 loss to Ohio State while Vandy split last week versus Auburn and Alabama.  I like VU’s Ryan Lipman at 1, UK’s Tom Jomby at 2, UK’s Charles Minc at 3, and VU’s Marc van der Merwe at 5.  The Kris Yee/Grant Roberts match at 4 should be tight and 6 will depend on who Kentucky puts out there.    If Vanderbilt can take the doubles point I like their chances but the Dores have dropped the doubles point in 4 of the last 5 matches.  Prediction:  Kentucky 4-3

 

#10 Pepperdine at Portland – 2pm est/11am pst – No Live Scoring - The Waves took care of Gonzaga on Friday 6-1 while the Pilots flew past Loyola Marymount 5-2.  Pepperdine will win this one but it will require a little more effort.  Prediction:  Pepperdine 5-2

 

#47 Stanford at #44 Oregon – 3:30pm est/12:30pm pst – Live Scoring @ http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=248&SPSID=4407 – Stanford is coming off a big 4-3 win at Washington while Oregon dropped a hard fought battle to Cal 4-3.  The difference in both of those matches was the doubles point.  The difference in this one will be the doubles point as well.   I’ll take the Cardinal in doubles and John Morrissey at 1, Nolan Paige at 2, and Trey Strobel at 6.   I like Daan Maasland at 3, Alex Rovello at 4, and Daniel Sardu at 5 for Ducks.  Prediction:  Stanford 4-3     

 

#21 Cal at #30 Washington – 4pm est/1pm pst  - Live Scoring @ http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-tennis/wash-live-stats.html - Cal knocked off Oregon on Friday 4-3 while Washington fell to Stanford 4-3.  These are 2 evenly matched teams and this one will probably be headed for a 4-3 result.  I like UW’s Kyle McMorrow at 1 over Ben McLachlan, Cal’s Campbell Johnson at 2 over Marton Bots, UW’s Max Manthou at 3 over Christoffer Konigsfeldt, Cal’s Gregory Bayane at 4 over Emmett Egger, Cal’s Mads Engsted at 5 over Viktor Farkas, and UW’s Nicholas Kamisar at 6 over Chase Melton.    So I think the winner of the doubles point will end up with the win.  Prediction: Cal 4-3

 

#75 Utah at #3 USC – 4pm est/1pm pst – Live Scoring @ http://www.usctrojans.com/livestats/tennis/Scoreboard.html - On Friday USC shutout Arizona 7-0 while Utah went down to UCLA 6-1.  USC will give their depth players some more action and will win easily.  Prediction:  USC 6-1

 

#71 Arizona at #2 UCLA – 4pm est/1pm pst – Live Scoring @ http://www.uclabruins.com/livestats/tennis/xlive.htm - UCLA ran over Utah on Friday 6-1 while Arizona fell to USC 7-0.  Bruins will get the shutout this time.  Prediction:  UCLA 7-0

 

Check back tomorrow for a preview of the Sunday lineup which includes Ohio State hosting red hot Minnesota, Ole Miss hosting South Carolina, and Florida hosting Mississippi State.  

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