D'Agord Cruises in First Round of NCAA Singles Championships

May 24, 2006

PALO ALTO, Calif. – University of Miami junior Luigi D’Agord defeated Southern Methodist’s Alex Skrypko in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) Wednesday afternoon in the First Round of the 2006 NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championships held on the campus of Stanford University.

D’Agord, the tournament’s overall No. 3 seed, advances to the 32-player Second Round where he will face Illinois’ 24th-ranked Kevin Anderson who knocked off Kentucky’s Alex Hume Wednesday. Second Round action at Taube Stadium is slated to begin Thursday at 10 a.m. PST.

With the win over Skrypko, who is ranked No. 55 in the Fila/ITA Collegiate rankings, third-ranked D’Agord improves to 35-4 overall on the year and extends his unbeaten streak to 20-straight matches. One more win would place him in a three-way tie for the second-most singles victories recorded in a single season at UM.

The win also makes D’Agord, the 2006 ACC Player of the Year, the first Miami player to record a win in the NCAA Singles Championships since former UM All-America Todd Widom advanced to the semifinals of the 2003 tournament.

D’Agord will pull double-duty Thursday with the start of 2006 NCAA Men’s Doubles Championships. Pairing with freshman Daniel Vallverdu, the 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year, the 10th-ranked duo will face Cal’s 30th-ranked tandem of Tyler Browne and Conor Niland in the field of 32.