Pac-12 tennis sweeps NCAA team championships
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - USC and UCLA captured the 2014 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships in dramatic fashion this weekend, giving the Pac-12 its 467th and 468th NCAA team titles.
The UCLA women opened the day of championship play with a match against UNC that came down to the wire. The Bruins clinched the doubles point and two singles match victories, but UNC came back with three singles victories of its own to even the match at 3-3. It all came down to Kyle McPhillips on court three, which went to three sets and saw a match point where McPhillips came back from being down 0-40 to force seven break points and four match points before sealing the 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win that gave UCLA the title. It marks the 111th NCAA Championship for UCLA, which leads the nation in NCAA titles, and second for the Bruin women’s tennis program. It is also UCLA’s second title this academic year as the Bruin women’s soccer team won its first-ever title in December.
The top-ranked USC men made history, coming back from an 0-2 deficit to defeat second-seeded Oklahoma, 4-2. The Trojans dropped the doubles point and the singles match on court three before storming back to pick up three straight-set singles victories, followed by a three-set victory by Max DeVroome on court four. DeVroome, who was playing in the first NCAA Championship match of his career, No. 91 DeVroome came back from dropping the first set to upset No. 53 Andrew Harris of OU, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. It marks the 100th NCAA Championship for the Trojans, making USC only the third school all-time to reach 100 NCAA titles along with UCLA and Stanford. It is the school’s 21st men’s tennis title and fifth in sixth years.
The NCAA Championships continue for men’s and women’s tennis with individual singles and doubles play beginning today, Wednesday, May 21 with the first round of men’s and women’s singles. A total of 25 singles and doubles players were selected for the tournament, including eight men’s and 17 women’s singles players, as well as three men’s doubles teams and six women’s doubles teams. The Pac-12 holds both doubles No. 1 seeds and the No. 1 men’s singles seed as well as the No. 2 overall women’s seed. The singles and doubles finals will take place beginning at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, May 26 at Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., hosted by the University of Georgia.