Men's Tennis Falls to No. 6 UCLA at USTA/ITA Indoor Nationals
Feb. 16, 2007
CHICAGO, Ill. – The third-seeded UCLA men’s tennis team topped 14th-seeded Miami, 4-1, late Friday in first round play at the USTA/ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships at Chicago’s Midtown Tennis Club.
UCLA won the doubles point, and then got wins in singles play at both the No. 5 and 6 positions to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The 26th-ranked Hurricane’s comeback bid sent the last four remaining matches to third sets, but UCLA’s fifth-ranked Ben Kohlloeffel, the 2006 NCAA and ITA National Indoor singles champ, clinched the win at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, over senior Luigi D’Agord (Freeport, Bahamas), sealing the victory for the Bruins and handing D’Agord his first loss of 2007.
Senior Josh Cohen (Weston, Fla./Laurel Springs) picked up UM’s lone singles victory, downing No. 27 Chris Surapol, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 3 spot to improve to 10-4 overall.
The No. 2 doubles pair of sophomore Daniel Vallverdu (Valencia, Venezuela) and junior Vivek Subramanian (East Brunswick, N.J.) won Miami’s lone doubles match, 8-2, over Haythem Abid and Chris Surapol.
D’Agord and Cohen saw their eight-match win streak snapped at the No. 1 doubles position, falling to UCLA’s pairing of Kohlloeffel and Philipp Gruendler.
With the win, UCLA (6-1) advances to the Team Indoor quarterfinals for the ninth straight year. Miami (4-2), playing in this event for the first time since 1992, was looking to reach the final eight for the first time since 1991. This was the first meeting between the schools since 1993.
The Bruins, who are making their 27th tournament appearance, are second all-time in Team Indoor victories (65), final appearances (6) and titles (7).
UCLA will face Illinois in Saturday’s quarterfinals at 6:30 pm in a rematch of last year’s NCAA round of 16 – a 4-2 Bruin win. UCLA and Illinois last faced each other at the Team Indoors in the 2004 final (won by UI). Miami will face Oklahoma State in a consolation match at 6:30 pm.
UCLA 4, Miami 1
Singles
1. No. 5 Benjamin Kohlloeffel (UCLA) def. Luigi D’Agord (MIAMI) 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3
2. Haythem Abid (UCLA) vs. Daniel Vallverdu (MIAMI) 3-6, 7-5, 5-4, unfinished
3. Josh Cohen (MIAMI) def. No. 27 Chris Surapol (UCLA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
4. Mathieu Dehaine (UCLA) vs. Vivek Subramanian (MIAMI) 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 5-4, unfinished
5. Philipp Gruendler (UCLA) def. Hector Nieto (MIAMI) 6-1, 6-3
6. Michael Look (UCLA) def. Barnabas Carrega (MIAMI) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
1. Benjamin Kohlloeffel/Philipp Gruendler (UCLA) def. Josh Cohen/Luigi D’Agord (MIAMI) 8-6
2. Daniel Vallverdu/Vivek Subramanian (MIAMI) def. Haythem Abid/Chris Surapol (UCLA) 8-2
3. No. 18 Mathieu Dehaine/Jeremy Drean (UCLA) def. Hector Nieto/Barnabas Carrega (MIAMI) 8-4
