USTA Tennis on Campus 2014

The championship started a little soggy as an overnight storm soaked the Cary Tennis Park, host of the 2015 USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship, April 9 -11. Each team is scheduled to play 3 matches in their assigned “Pool” during the first day of competition. Once pool play concludes teams are assigned to “bracket” play based on their match results. Teams continue within their bracket for the remainder of the tournment. By the end of the 3 day event, each team will play 7 -8 matches, a champion is crowned in each bracket, with the national champion crowned from the Gold Bracket. The national championship match is scheduled for 6:30 Saturday evening.

UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, and Pepperdine had early matches and they didn’t let the weather dampen their spirits. They were happy to begin hitting tennis balls after an hour or so of” squeegeeing”. The later matches saw UCLA, UCI and USD take the courts to begin thier competition.

Typically, each match had its ups and downs, as the team match moved from doubles to singles and concluding with mixed doubles. UCLA, UCI, Cal Poly and UCSB have competed several times in this event, and drew upon their experience to win their first 2 matches. Pepperdine, returning for their second time, had 2 close matches, losing both by only 4 games each. USD, a first time participant, played tough, forcing overtime in their first match, but also fell in both.

As the 3rd match of the day was about to start, the skies opened up in what turned out to be a massive thunder and lightning storm, canceling the remainder of the day’s matches. Match times for Friday are pending.

Recap of the team match results:

UCLA, 2-0, defeated James Madison University (30-14) and UMass Amherst (26-14)

Cal Poly, 2-0, defeated Kennesaw State University. (30-4) and the University of Oklahoma (26-19)

UCSB, 2-0, defeated Yale University (30-8) and Lamar University (30-8)

UCI, 2-0, defeated the University of Iowa (25-1) and Auburn University (23-17)]

Pepperdine, 0-2, lost to the University of Pittsburgh (21-25) and Colorado State University (22-26)

USD, 0-2, lost to the University of Wisconsin (11-29) and the University of Texas (14-26)

Friday’s final pool play matches:

UCLA vs. Northwestern University

Cal Poly vs. Georgetown University