May 5, 2005
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Sophomore Josh Cohen of the University of Miami men’s team earned an at-large bid to participate in the 2005 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships as announced today by the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Subcommittee in Indianapolis, Ind.
The 64-player field will compete at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas May 25-30 following the conclusion of the team championships held May 21-24.
Cohen, a native of Weston, Fla., was one of eight players selected out of the southeast region – which is one of eight regions across the country – to receive an at-large bid joining the southeast region’s four automatic qualifiers.
The tournament field and seedings are based upon competition between September 7, 2004 and May 1, 2005 during which time Cohen – who is currently ranked 42nd nationally in singles – posted an overall record of 23-11.
During the fall season, he went 8-4 while also claiming the USTA National Open Indoor Championship for the second consecutive season. This year, he set the national record at the USTA Tournament, dropping a total of just 22 games in six matches en route to the championship title.
Over the spring dual season, Cohen went 15-7 overall and 13-5 from the No. 1 position in UM’s lineup to earn All-ACC accolades. He heads to College Station having and nine of his last ten matches including each of his last six.
Three of his last four victories have come at the expense of a higher-ranked opponent, including third-ranked Ludovic Walter of Duke, 15th-ranked Doug Stewart of Virginia and 32nd-ranked Mat Cloer of Florida State. Walter earned a national No. 5 seed to this year’s tournament and Stewart and Cloer both made the field as an automatic qualifier and an at-large participant, respectively.
During that four-match stretch, Cohen also defeated Stephane Rod of Virginia Tech who also was an automatic qualifier.
Cohen becomes the first UM singles player to advance to the NCAA Championships since former Hurricane Todd Widom did so in 2003. That year, Widom advanced to the semifinals and garnered All-America honors.
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