THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050707
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Five of the top 50 men's college tennis teams, three of the top 15 singles players and four of the top 12 doubles teams will be in action at Old Dominion University beginning today when the NCAA Region II tournament gets underway at ODU's tennis complex.
``Top to bottom, this is probably the best collegiate tennis we've ever had in the area,'' ODU tennis director Darryl Cummings said.
Duke, ranked No. 9 in the country, and No. 16 Florida State are the favorites in the three-day, six-team tournament, one of eight such events being contested throughout the country.
Action starts today with fourth-seeded Clemson (20-11) taking on fifth-seeded North Carolina (14-10) at 10 a.m. and third-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (19-5) playing sixth-seeded South Carolina (12-14) at 2 p.m.
On Saturday, the top-seeded Blue Devils (21-4) play the Clemson-North Carolina winner at 10 a.m., followed by second-seeded Florida State (18-7) against the VCU-South Carolina winner at 2 p.m.
The regional final will be played Sunday at 1 p.m. The champion advances to the 16-team NCAA finals May 13-21 in Athens, Ga. Eight teams earned automatic berths to the finals; the ninth-ranked Blue Devils missed going directly to the finals by one spot.
Players to watch include Duke's Chris Pressley, ranked 10th in the country; Blue Devil No. 2 Rob Chess, the nation's 18th-ranked college player; and North Carolina's David Caldwell, a Richmond native who is ranked No. 13 nationally.
STRONG PAIRS: Doubles, which just a few years ago was almost an afterthought in dual matches, should now provide some of the most intense competition of the tournament.
For the third year in a row - second in NCAA tournament play - the three doubles matches will be played before the six singles matches. The team that wins at least two of the doubles matches receives one team point.
When the singles were played first, fatigue often led players to go through the motions in doubles. Sometimes, when the singles matches had already determined the outcome of the team match, the doubles weren't played at all.
Top-ranked teams include Clemson's Frank Salazar and Mitch Sprenglemeyer (ranked seventh in the country); Duke's Peter Ayers and Chess (No. 8); Florida State's Ken McKenzie and Brian Stantonis (No. 10) and North Carolina's Caldwell and Brent Morrow (No. 11).
SPARTAN NEWS: Norfolk State's men's tennis team will also be in regional tournament action today, as the Spartans host the Division II south section tournament.
The Spartans (21-7) will play Wingate (12-6) today at 1 p.m. Mars Hill (11-8) plays Millersville (9-9) at 3 p.m. The winners meet Saturday at 10 a.m., with the champion advancing to the Division II finals in Davis, Calif. by CNB