Virginia, Michigan players win NCAA singles titles

   Thai-Son Kwiatkowski pulled off an impressive double in the grueling NCAA Championships.
   Belinda Woolcock, however, fell short.
   Kwiatkowski, who helped Virginia win its third consecutive NCAA team title last week, defeated William Blumberg of North Carolina 6-4, 7-6 (5) today in an all-Atlantic Coast Conference men's singles final in Athens, Ga. Both players were seeded 9-16.
   Woolcock, who led Florida to the NCAA team title, lost to Brienne Minor of Michigan 6-3, 6-3 in the women's singles final. Woolcock was seeded sixth, and Minor was unseeded.
   Kwiatkowski, a senior from Charlotte, N.C., became the second Virginia man in three years to win the NCAA singles crown. Ryan Shane triumphed in 2015.
   Kwiatkowski and Blumberg played for the 12th consecutive day. Kwiatkowski lost to Blumberg 6-3, 6-2 on Court 2 in the team final last Tuesday, but the Cavaliers defeated the Tar Heels for their third consecutive championship.
   "Thank goodness the rest of the guys picked me up, because Will really took it to me when we met indoors last week," Kwiatkowski told reporters. "Today I felt that the coaches gave me a  really good game plan, one that was different than what we had before."
   Minor, a sophomore from the Chicago suburb of Mundelein, Ill., became the third Michigan player and first woman to win the NCAA singles title. Barry MacKay took the 1957 crown, and Mike Leach prevailed in 1982.                            
   "I'm still soaking it all in," Minor said. "When I threw my racket at the end of the match, I just felt this wave of relief because I was just so happy I could get that win. I was super tired, so I was excited to let that racket go and just be done with the match."
   Woolcock, a senior from Australia, also played for the 12th straight day. But Michigan lost to Stanford in the round of 16 on May 19, so Minor had four days off between the team and individual competition.
   Meanwhile, Andrew Harris added to his doubles resume. The unseeded team of Harris and Spencer Papa of Oklahoma edged top-seeded Robert Loeb and Jan Zielinski of host Georgia 4-6, 6-2 [10-6] for the title.
   Harris, a senior, won the 2012 Wimbledon and French Open boys doubles titles with fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios, now ranked No. 19 in the world in singles.
   In the women's doubles final, unseeded Francesca Di Lorenzo and Miho Kowase of Ohio State gave the Big Ten Conference a title sweep by nipping No. 5-8 seeds Maddie Pothoff and Erin Routliffe of Alabama 6-7 (6), 6-4 [10-7].
   Di Lorenzo lost in the first round of singles as the top seed to Pepperdine's Mayar Sherif Ahmed, a transfer from Fresno State.
   Routliffe won the NCAA doubles title in 2014 and 2015 with Maya Jansen, who played for Cal this season as a graduate student. Jansen and Maegan Manasse reached the NCAA semifinals, losing to Di Lorenzo and Kowase 6-2, 6-3.

Altamirano, UVA three-peat; Stanford women fall in final

Collin Altamirano of Sacramento chats before playing
in an exhibition in nearby Antelope last October.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Collin Altamirano made it 3 for 3 today.
   The junior from Sacramento helped the Virginia men win their third consecutive NCAA title, and fourth in five years, today with a 4-2 victory over Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina in Athens, Ga. The match, the last for Brian Boland after 16 years as the Cavaliers' coach, was moved indoors because of rain.
   Altamirano, the USTA Boys 18 champion four years ago, and J.C. Aragone triumphed 6-1 on Court 3 as second-seeded Virginia (34-1) took the doubles point.
   Altamirano, ranked 40th in singles, then dominated Simon Soendergaard 6-3, 6-1 on Court 4 to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead. After Robert Kelly won on Court 3 for ninth-seeded North Carolina (29-5), the 109th-ranked Aragone beat Jack Murray 7-6 (2), 6-2 on Court 5 to clinch the victory.
   Virginia became the first team from outside the Pacific-12 Conference to win three straight NCAA titles or more. Stanford (1988-90, 1995-98), USC (1962-64, 1966-69 and 2009-12) and UCLA (1952-54) have accomplished the feat.
   In 2013, Altamirano became the first unseeded player to win the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in the tournament's 71-year history. In the final, he defeated Jared Donaldson, now a professional ranked 71st in the world. Altamirano is 10 months older than Donaldson.
   Boland announced in March that he would leave after this season to become the USTA head of men's player development.
   No. 1 seed Florida won the women's title, defeating No. 7 seed and defending champion Stanford 4-1 outdoors at night. Ingrid Neel, ranked 31st, beat hobbling Taylor Davidson, ranked 54th, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Court 3 to clinch the victory for the Gators (29-3). The Cardinal ended its season at 26-3.
   Stanford has won a record 18 NCAA team titles. Florida is next with seven.
   The NCAA Men's and Women's Singles Championships are scheduled to begin Wednesday at 6 a.m. PDT in Athens. Doubles play is set to start Thursday at the same time. Video streaming and live scoring of the individual tournaments will be available here.
   Following are Northern California singles and doubles players in the NCAA Championships (seedings in parentheses):
   Men's singles -- Tom Fawcett (8), Stanford; Florian Lakat (9-16), Cal; Andre Goransson, Cal; Saratoga's Victor Pham, Columbia.
   Men's doubles -- Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat (5-8), Cal.
   Women's singles -- Karla Popovic (9-16), Cal; Maegan Manasse, Cal; Taylor Davidson, Stanford; Melissa Lord, Stanford; San Francisco's Caroline Doyle, Stanford; Granite Bay's Kassidy Jump, Arizona State; Sunnyvale's Felicity Maltby, Texas Tech.
   Women's doubles -- Maya Jansen and Maegan Manasse, Cal; Emily Arbuthnott and Taylor Davidson, Stanford; Greenbrae's Hadley Berg and Kentfield's Paige Cline, South Carolina.

Stanford women win thriller to reach NCAA final

Taylor Davidson, shown in 2014, won the deciding
match 7-6 in the third set today. Tri Nguyen/
TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Today's women's semifinal between No. 7 seed and defending champion Stanford and No. 3 Ohio State in the NCAA Championships came down to a tiebreaker.
   Predictably, Cardinal senior Taylor Davidson won it.
   Davidson, ranked 54th, edged Gabriella De Santis, ranked 95th, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5) on Court 3 to lift Stanford a 4-3 rain-delayed victory over Ohio State in Athens, Ga. The Cardinal overcame a 2-0 deficit to end the Buckeyes' 18-match winning streak.
   In last year's final, Davidson beat Vladica Babic of Oklahoma State 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Court 2 to give Stanford a 4-3 victory. It was Davidson's third victory in the deciding match in the tournament.
   The Cardinal (26-2) will face rival Florida (28-3), the No. 1 seed, on Tuesday at 2 p.m. PDT (ESPNU). The Gators defeated No. 4 Vanderbilt 4-2.
   The second-seeded Virginia men, meanwhile, will play for their third consecutive NCAA title and fourth in five years. The Cavaliers advanced with a 4-2 victory over No. 3 Ohio State in Athens.
   Virginia's Collin Altamirano, a junior from Sacramento ranked 40th, dominated Martin Joyce 6-0, 6-3 on Court 4 but lost 6-4 in doubles with J.C. Aragone to Hunter Tubert and JJ Wolf on Court 3.
   The Cavaliers (33-1) will meet Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina (29-4) on Tuesday at 10 a.m. (ESPNU). The Cavaliers are 3-0 against the Tar Heels this season.
   Virginia can become the fourth school, and first outside the Pacific-12 Conference, to win three or more straight men's team titles. Others that have accomplished the feat are UCLA (1952-54), USC (1962-64, 1966-69 and 2009-12) and Stanford (1988-90, 1995-98).

Altamirano helps Virginia men reach NCAA semis

   The No. 2-seeded Virginia men, seeking their third consecutive title in Brian Boland's final season as the coach, beat No. 10 Texas 4-1 today in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.
   Collin Altamirano, a junior from Sacramento, won both of his matches for the Cavaliers (32-1). He and J.C. Aragone defeated Yuya Ito and Harrison Scott 6-2 on Court 3 to help Virginia win the doubles point. Altamirano, ranked 40th in singles, then demolished George Goldhoff 6-1, 6-0 on Court 4.
   Four years ago, Altamirano became the first unseeded player to win the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in the tournament's 71-year history. In the final, he defeated Jared Donaldson, now a professional ranked 71st in the world.
   Boland announced in March that he will leave after this season, his 16th as Virginia's head coach, to become the USTA head of men's player development.
   Virginia will play No. 3 seed Ohio State (33-3) on Monday at 9 a.m. PDT. The Buckeyes edged No. 6 Texas Christian 4-3.
   In Monday's other semifinal, No. 9 North Carolina (28-4) will play No. 13 and host Georgia (22-7). The Tar Heels upset No. 1 Wake Forest 4-2, and the Bulldogs surprised No. 5 UCLA 4-2.
   The Bruins' Logan Staggs, a junior from Tracy, led 59th-ranked Emil Reinberg 7-6 (3), 5-6 on Court 3 when the match was abandoned. Staggs did not play doubles.
   The women's quarterfinals are scheduled for Sunday. Stanford (24-2), the No. 7 seed and defending champion, will take on No. 2 North Carolina (33-2) at 7 a.m.
   Video streaming and live scoring of the tournament are available here.

Bellis, 17, claims another top-50 victim

CiCi Bellis, shown last July, upset 17th-seeded Yulia Putintseva in the first round
in Dubai. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Despite a late start this season, 17-year-old CiCi Bellis upset another top-50 player today.
   Bellis, a product of Atherton in the San Francisco Bay Area, surprised 17th-seeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-1, 7-5 in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
   Bellis, the youngest player in the top 100 at No. 70, trailed 5-1 in the second set of the Premier Level tournament on the elite WTA Tour.
   "I think some players, when they are up by a lot like that, they relax a little bit," Bellis told reporters, "so I think that's a good time that you can take advantage of, like, a little bit of a level drop from them."
   Bellis, now based in Orlando, Fla., missed January with strained hamstring and gluteus muscles. She returned to the circuit last week in Doha, losing in the second round of qualifying.
   Putintseva, the runner-up in St. Petersburg three weeks ago, is ranked No. 27. The 5-foot-4 (1.63-meter) Moscow native is the sixth top-50 player Bellis has beaten. Three of them -- Dominika Cibulkova, Shelby Rogers and Zhang Shuai -- have reached the quarterfinals or better in a Grand Slam tournament. Cibulkova and Zhang also were ranked in the top 30 at No. 13 and No. 23, respectively.
   Bellis is scheduled to play Germany's Laura Siegemund, ranked No. 41, for the first time on Tuesday at midnight (California time). Siegemund, who will turn 29 on March 4, edged qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3) in 2 hours, 57 minutes on Sunday.
   College -- Virginia finally lost a point in the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships.
   No matter. The top-ranked Cavaliers, with junior Collin Altamirano of Sacramento playing No. 1 singles, defeated third-ranked Ohio State 4-1 at home in Charlottesville, Va., for their sixth title in the tournament.
   Virginia (9-0), which appears headed to its third consecutive NCAA title in May, had won its first three dual matches in the National Indoors 4-0.
   The unranked Altamirano lost to second-ranked Mikael Torpegaard, a junior from Denmark, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Torpegaard, who won the $50,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger on his home courts in September, is ranked No. 342 in the world. Altamirano, the runner-up in last month's $25,000 Long Beach Futures, is No. 813.
   Today's dual match was closer than the score indicated. Ohio State (12-1) was on the verge of closing out matches and No. 3 and No. 5 singles when Virginia's J.C. Aragone edged Herkko Pollanen 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) at No. 4 to clinch the overall victory.

Virginia advances in Indoors; rain hits 75K Tempe

Sacramento's Collin Altamirano, shown in 2014, plays
No. 1 singles for top-ranked Virginia. The Cavaliers,
who have won the last two NCAA titles, beat co-No. 7
UCLA in the quarterfinals of the ITA Nationl Men's
Team Indoor Championships. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Virginia and UCLA men's teams are both ranked in the top 10 with a Northern Californian in the singles lineup.
   But it was no contest when the No. 1 Cavaliers and the co-No. 7 Bruins met today in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships. Virginia, the host and two-time defending NCAA champion, routed UCLA 4-0 in Charlottesville, Va.
   The Cavaliers' Collin Altamirano, a junior from Sacramento, and the Bruins' Logan Staggs, a 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) junior from Tracy, trailed when their matches were abandoned. Martin Redlicki, ranked 73rd, led Altamirano 6-3, 4-2 on Court 1, and Alexander Ritschard was ahead of Staggs 7-5, 1-1 on Court 5.
   Altamirano won in doubles on Court 3 with J.C. Aragone. Staggs did not play doubles.
   Virginia will face defending champion and No. 5-ranked North Carolina, which defeated No. 4 Cal 4-2, in a rematch of last year's final.
   Bears junior Billy Griffith, a Fresno resident ranked 40th, lost to Robert Kelly 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Court 4 but won in doubles with Andre Goransson on Court 2. Cal's J.T. Nishimura, a junior from San Jose, trailed in doubles on Court 3 with Bjorn Hoffmann when their match was abandoned. Nishimura did not play singles.
   Men's Challenger -- Rain wiped out play in the $75,000 Tempe (Ariz.) Challenger. The singles semifinals and final and the doubles final are scheduled for Sunday.
   In the first singles semifinal, No. 7 seed Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area will meet unseeded countryman Tennys Sandgren for the first time. After the doubles final, sixth-seeded Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia will play unseededNikola Milojevic of Serbia.
   Novikov ousted No. 1 seed Ernesto Escobedo of West Covina in the Los Angeles area in the quarterfinals.

Novikov upsets top seed; Virginia, Cal advance

Dennis Novikov, shown in 2015, ousted top seed
Ernesto Escobedo today in the quarterfinals of the
$75,000 Tempe (Ariz.) Challenger. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   No. 7 seed Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area knocked off No. 1 Ernesto Escobedo of West Covina in the Los Angeles region 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4 today in the quarterfinals of the $75,000 Tempe (Ariz.) Challenger.
   Novikov, 23, saved both break points against him, blasted 10 aces and committed only one double fault. Escobedo, 20, had 13 aces and eight double faults.
   Novikov, ranked No. 179, will meet unseeded countryman Tennys Sandgren, ranked No. 198, for the first time on Saturday. Sandgren, 25, ousted No. 5 seed Marco Trungelliti of Argentina 6-3, 7-5.  
   In the other semifinal, sixth-seeded Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia will play unseeded Nikola Milojevic of Serbia.
   Denys Molchanov of Ukraine and Novikov, seeded first in doubles, lost to unseeded Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Jose Hernandez-Fernandez of the Dominican Republic 2-6, 6-3 [12-10] in the semifinals.
   College -- No. 1 seed and host Virginia, the two-time defending NCAA champion, blitzed No. 16 Utah State 4-0 in the first round of the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.
   Collin Altamirano, a junior from Sacramento, led Jack Swindells 6-1, 4-3 on Court 1 when the match was abandoned. Altamirano and J.C. Aragone won in doubles on Court 3.
   The Cavaliers will play No. 8 UCLA, which edged No. 9 USC 4-3, in Saturday's quarterfinals. The Bruins' Logan Staggs, a junior from Tracy, lost to 119th-ranked Jack Jaede of the Trojans on Court 5 to tie the score 3-3. Martin Redlicki, ranked 73rd, won the deciding match on Court 1. Staggs did not play doubles.
   No. 4 Cal, with Billy Griffith of Fresno and J.T. Nishimura of San Jose, beat No. 13 Baylor 4-2. Griffth, ranked 40th, routed Jimmy Bendeck 6-1, 6-2 on Court 4. Nishimura lost to Constantin Frantzen 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Court 6. Griffith won on Court 2 in doubles, but Nishimura lost on Court 3.
   The Bears will face No. 4 seed and defending champion North Carolina, which topped No. 12 Georgia 4-2.
   In the ITA National Women's Indoor Championships in New Haven, Conn., No. 1 seed Florida  defeated North Carolina 4-2 on Monday for the title. No. 7 Cal lost to the Tar Heels 4-2 in the quarterfinals.
   Texas Tech's Felicity Maltby, a sophomore from Sunnyvale, was named to the all-tournament team at No. 3 doubles with junior Gabriela Talaba. They went 2-0.

Altamirano ousts top seed; his Cavaliers ranked No. 1

Collin Altamirano played in an exhibition in
Antelope, near Sacramento, in early October.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Qualifier Collin Altamirano of Sacramento stunned No. 1 seed Tommy Paul of Boca Raton, Fla., 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 on Wednesday in the first round of the $25,000 Los Angeles Futures at USC.
   Paul, the 2015 French Open boys champion, is ranked No. 282 at 19 years old. He turned pro out of high school.
   Altamirano, a Virginia junior, has helped the Cavaliers win the past two NCAA team titles. He is scheduled to play qualifier Karue Sell of Brazil today, but rain is forecast.
   Sell, a former UCLA standout, dispatched yet another qualifier, Timur Khabibulin of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-2.
   If Altamirano beats Sell, he will play a Virginia teammate, either freshman Carl Soderlund of Sweden or senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Charlotte, N.C., in the quarterfinals. Soderlund is seeded eighth.
   No. 5 seed Mackenzie McDonald, who grew up in Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, defeated wild card Thibault Forget (pronounced For-ZHAY), a USC junior from France, 6-3, 6-2.
   Forget's father, Guy (pronounced Ghee), reached No. 4 in the world in singles in 1991 and No. 3 in doubles in 1986. He played on two Davis Cup championship teams for France and captained (coached) the team from 1999 to 2012.
   College rankings -- The Virginia men top the first rankings of the spring season. Cal is tied for fifth, and Stanford is 18th.
   Stanford's Tom Fawcett ranks eighth in singles. Cal's Florian Lakat and Andre Goransson are 12th and 15th, respectively. Cal's Filip Bergevi and Lakat are second in doubles.
   The defending champion Stanford women rank fourth, and Cal is eighth. The Bears' Karla Popovic is 17th in singles.

Stanford women, Virginia men win NCAA titles

   They were seeded 15th.
   They faced the nation's top-ranked team, the NCAA defending champion and the "home" team.
   Four of their six dual matches came down to the last encounter.
   And they trailed 3-1 in the final.
   The Stanford women overcame all of it to win their 18th NCAA team title.
   Taylor Davidson won the deciding match for the third time in this year's NCAA Championships, giving the Cardinal a 4-3 victory over 12th-seeded Oklahoma State today in Tulsa, Okla.
   "My dreams just became reality," the 46th-ranked Davidson, a junior from Statesville, N.C., tweeted after vanquishing No. 44 Vladica Babic 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 on Court 2. "We are the 2016 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!! Nothing compares to this feeling. Nothing. Number 15? No. Number 1."
   About 700 fans made the one-hour drive from Stillwater, Okla., where Oklahoma State is located, to cheer on the Cowgirls (29-5).
   With Oklahoma State leading 3-1, Stanford freshmen Caroline Lampl and Melissa Lord won on Court 5 and 6, respectively, after losing the first set.

Collin Altamirano of Sacramento
has won two NCAA team titles in
his two years at Virginia. 2014
photo by Paul Bauman

   Stanford (20-5) beat Florida, ranked first but seeded second, 4-3 in the round of 16 and sixth-ranked Vanderbilt, the defending champion, 4-2 in the semifinals.
   The Cardinal leads all schools with its 18 NCAA team titles. Florida is next with six.
   The NCAA Men's and Women's Singles and Doubles Championships begin Wednesday in Tulsa.
   Men's final -- In a virtual replay of last year's final, top-ranked Virginia defeated No. 11 Oklahoma 4-1. The Cavaliers defeated the Sooners 4-2 for the 2015 title in Waco, Texas.
   Virginia (30-4) won its third NCAA team title in four years and appeared in the final for the fifth time in six years. Oklahoma (20-11) still seeks its first NCAA title after losing in the final for the past three years.
   Henrik Wiersholm, a sophomore from Kirkland, Wash., won the clinching match on Court 6.
   No. 33 Collin Altamirano, a Virginia sophomore from Sacramento, Calif., trailed No. 25 Axel Alvarez Llamas 7-5, 4-3 on Court 2 when their match was abandoned. Altamirano won at No. 3 doubles to help the Cavaliers win the doubles point.
   Oklahoma is coached by John Roddick, the older brother of former world No. 1 Andy Roddick.
   ITA awards -- Cal's Amanda Augustus was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women's Coach of the Year.
   The Bears won their first National Women's Team Indoor championship and opened the dual-match season with a school-record 19 consecutive victories.
   Ranked No. 1 for most of the season, Cal was seeded first in the NCAA Championships and reached the semifinals before falling to Oklahoma State. The Bears finished 23-2.
   Sem Verbeek, a senior on the Pacific men's team, received the Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award.

Women's final

No. 15 Stanford 4, No. 12 Oklahoma State 3

Doubles

   1. No. 43 Maria Alvarez and Kelsey Laurente (OSU) def. No. 5 Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle, 6-3.
   2. No. 54 Viktoriya Lushkova and Carla Tur Mari (OSU) def. No. 31 Melissa Lord and Carol Zhao, 5-5, suspended.
   3. No. 79 Katarina Adamovic and Vladica Babic (OSU) def. Krista Hardebeck and Caroline Lampl, 6-1.
   Order of finish: 3, 1

Singles

   1. No. 47 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) def. No. 25 Carol Zhao, 6-4, 7-5.
   2. No. 46 Taylor Davidson (STAN) def. No. 44 Vladica Babic, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
   3. No. 66 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) def. No. 67 Caroline Doyle, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
   4. No. 100 Krista Hardebeck (STAN) def. Kelsey Laurente, 6-4, 6-4.
   5. Caroline Lampl (STAN) def. Katarina Stresnakova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
   6. Melissa Lord (STAN) def. Carla Tur Mari, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2.
   Order of finish: 4, 1, 3, 5, 6, 2

Men's final

No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 11 Oklahoma 1

Doubles

   1. No. 4 Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane (VA) def. No. 24 Axel Alvarez Llamas and Andrew Harris, 7-5.
   2. Alex Ghilea and Spencer Papa (OKLA) def. No. 16 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger, 7-5.
   3. J.C. Aragone and Collin Altamirano (VA) def. Andre Biro and Austin Siegel, 6-1.
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles

   1. No. 97 Andrew Harris (OKLA) def. No. 8 Ryan Shane, 7-6 (3), 6-0.
   2. No. 25 Axel Alvarez Llamas (OKLA) led No. 33 Collin Altamirano, 7-5, 4-3, unfinished.
   3. No. 9 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. No. 82 Spencer Papa, 6-4, 6-4.
   4. No. 78 Alexander Ritschard (VA) led No. 61 Alex Ghilea, 6-1, 1-6, 5-2, unfinished.
   5. No. 110 J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Florin Bragusi, 6-3, 6-4.
   6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) def. Andre Biro, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
   Order of finish: 5, 3, 1, 6

Cal women, Virginia men seeded first in NCAAs

   The Cal women and defending champion Virginia men, featuring sophomore star Collin Altamirano of Sacramento, received No. 1 overall seedings today in the NCAA Division I Tennis Championship.
   Both schools will open at home in the 64-team tournaments. The second-ranked Bears (19-1), who claimed the top seeding for the first time, will meet Texas-Rio Grande Valley (11-10) on May 13 at 1 p.m. The top-ranked Cavaliers (24-4) will face Monmouth (11-9) on May 14.
   The Cal men and Stanford women also will play at home. The 13th-seeded Bears (17-6) will meet Army (12-8) on May 14 at noon, and the 15th-seeded Cardinal (14-5) will face Texas A&M Corpus Christi (24-0) on May 13 at 2 p.m.
   The Stanford men (14-10), seeded 17-32, will play Notre Dame (15-13), seeded 33-48, on May 14 in Evanston, Ill.
   First-round winners will play at the same sites on the following day. The last four rounds in the men's and women's tournaments are scheduled for May 19-24 in Tulsa, Okla. The Stanford women could meet top-ranked Florida (21-2) in the round of 16.
   The Stanford men and women each have won 17 NCAA team titles. The women rank first, far ahead of second-place Florida with six. The men rank second behind USC with 21. The Cardinal women last won the title in 2013 and the men in 2000. Cal has never won the men's or women's title.
   In last year's finals, the Virginia men defeated Oklahoma 4-1, and the Vanderbilt women topped UCLA 4-2. The Bruins since have added freshman standout Alaina Miller of Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   Here are links to this year's brackets for the men and women.

Altamirano helps Virginia men regain No. 1 ranking

Collin Altamirano of Sacramento improved to 20-2 in singles
for top-ranked Virginia. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman 

   The Virginia men, with sophomore Collin Altamirano of Sacramento, Calif., returned to No. 1 in this week's college rankings.
   The Cavaliers (20-3, 9-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), the defending NCAA champions, had been No. 3. They won 5-2 at then-No. 31 Georgia Tech on Friday and 7-0 at Clemson on Sunday to regain the top spot for the first time since March 15.
   North Carolina (22-4, 7-3 ACC) plunged from No. 1 to No. 5 after losing 5-2 at then-No. 55 Notre Dame on Friday.
   The Tar Heels defeated Virginia 4-2 to win the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., in February. The Cavaliers had won 140 consecutive dual matches against ACC opponents, the longest winning streak in conference history in any sport.
   Altamirano, the 2013 USTA boys 18 national champion, is ranked 39th in singles with a 20-2 record (1-1 at No. 1, 11-0 at No. 2 and 8-1 at No. 3) and unranked in doubles at 11-5 (1-1 at No. 2 and 10-4 at No. 3).
   In two years at Virginia, Altamirano is 40-5 in singles and 29-9 in doubles.
   The Cal women (19-0, 7-0 Pacific-12 Conference) remained No. 1 for the sixth straight week.
   This is the last week of the regular season. Conference tournaments are scheduled for next week, and the NCAA Tournament begins May 13.

COLLEGE RANKINGS

(Top 10 and Northern California; previous ranking in parentheses)

Men's team

1. Virginia, with sophomore Collin Altamirano of Sacramento, Calif. (3)
2. Texas Christian (2)
3. Ohio State (5)
4. UCLA, with junior Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont, Calif. (4)
5. North Carolina (1)
6. Georgia (7)
7. Wake Forest, with sophomore Keivon Tabrizi of Fresno, Calif. (6)
8. Oklahoma (9)
9. USC, with freshman Jake DeVine of Los Altos Hills, Calif. (8)
10. Texas Tech (11)
16. Cal (19)
29. Stanford (42)
69. UC Davis (67)
71. Pacific (66)

Men's singles

1. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane (1)
2. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State (2)
3. Roberto Cid, South Florida (5)
4. Aleks Vukic, Illinois (4)
5. Cameron Norrie, Texas Christian (3)
6. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia (6)
7. Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech (12)
8. Mackenzie McDonald (Piedmont, Calif.), UCLA (9)
9. Ryan Shane, Virginia (7)
10. Tom Fawcett, Stanford (8)
27. Andre Goransson, Cal (23)
30. Florian Lakat, Cal (30)
39. Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.), Virginia (38)
68. Billy Griffith (Fresno, Calif.), Cal (56)
72. David Wilczynski, Stanford (69)
97. Cameron Klinger (San Jose, Calif.), Vanderbilt (116)
103. Oskar Wikberg, Cal (76)
106. Jake DeVine (Los Altos Hills, Calif.), USC (105)

Men's doubles

1. Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo, Florida (3)
2. Brett Clark and Robert Kelly, North Carolina (1)
3. Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane, Virginia (2)
4. Mackenzie McDonald (Piedmont, Calif.) and Martin Redlicki, UCLA (5)
5. Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash, Oklahoma State (7)
6. Korey Lovett and Mazen Osama, Alabama (6)
7. Ben Wagland and Austin Smith, Georgia (4)
8. Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares, Texas Tech (8)
9. Jordan Daigle and Boris Arias, LSU (11)
10. Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia (9)
11. Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat, Cal (14)
15. Cameron Klinger (San Jose, Calif.) and Rhys Johnson, Vanderbilt (16)
20. Shawn Hadavi and Richard Pham (Saratoga, Calif.), Columbia (21)
41. Maciek Romanowicz and Tom Fawcett, Stanford (39)
58. Maciek Romanowicz and Nolan Paige, Stanford (53)
90. Sem Verbeek and Jose Chamba, Pacific (83)

Women's team

1. Cal (1)
2. North Carolina (2)
3. Georgia (4)
4. Florida (6)
5. Ohio State (3)
6. Vanderbilt (5)
7. Miami (Fla.) (7)
8. Duke (8)
9. Michigan (11)
10. Pepperdine (9)
17. Stanford (19)
21. USC, with seniors Giuliana Olmos of Fremont, Calif., and Paige Keating of Menlo Park, Calif., and sophomore Meredith Xepoleas, a native of Sacramento, Calif. (24)
37. Fresno State (39)

Women's singles

1. Hayley Carter, North Carolina (1)
2. Danielle Collins, Virginia (3)
3. Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ohio State (4)
4. Ellen Perez, Georgia (6)
5. Luisa Stefani, Pepperdine (2)
6. Stephanie Wagner, Miami (Fla.) (5)
7. Brooke Austin, Florida (8)
8. Sinead Lohan, Miami (Fla.) (7)
9. Belinda Woolcock, Florida (9)
10. Maegan Manasse, Cal (10)
12. Klara Fabikova, Cal (12)
24. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont, Calif.), USC (22)
33. Taylor Davidson, Stanford (28)
52. Mayar Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State (52)
68. Lynn Chi, Cal (58)
73. Denise Starr, Cal (75)
84. Paige Cline (Kentfield, Calif.), South Carolina (none)
87. Caroline Doyle (San Francisco), Stanford (78)
102. Krista Hardebeck, Stanford (97)
112. Kassidy Jump (Granite Bay, Calif.), Arizona State (84)
114. Olivia Hauger, Cal (105)

Women's doubles

1. Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter, North Carolina (1)
2. Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi, Kentucky (2)
3. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal (6)
4. Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle (San Francisco), Stanford (4)
5. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida (7)
6. Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips, UCLA (5)
7. Anna Sanford and Miho Kowase, Ohio State (3)
8. Stephanie Wagner and Wendy Zhang, Miami (Fla.) (9)
9. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont, Calif.) and Gabby Smith, USC (8)
10. Blair Shankle and Kiah Generette, Baylor (12)
24. Mayar Sherif Ahmed and Rana Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State (21)
25. Hadley Berg (Greenbrae, Calif.) and Paige Cline (Kentfield, Calif.) (24)
62. Caroline Lampl and Krista Hardebeck, Stanford (49)
74. Sammi Hampton and Kassidy Jump (Granite Bay, Calif.) (65)
77. Gaelle Rey and Marie Klocker, San Jose State (86)

Virginia's incredible streak ends in National Indoors

Virginia's Collin Altamirano, practicing in his home-
town of Sacramento in 2014, came within one game
of going undefeated in singles and doubles in the ITA
Team Indoors. Photo by  Paul Bauman 

   At least Collin Altamirano didn't contribute to Virginia's historic loss on Monday.
   The sophomore from Sacramento helped the top-ranked Cavaliers win the doubles point, and his match at No. 3 singles was abandoned in a stunning 4-2 loss to No. 7 North Carolina in the final of the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.
   The Cavaliers had won 140 consecutive dual matches against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, the longest winning streak in ACC history in any sport.
   It was Virginia's first loss to a conference foe in almost 10 years -- since April 23, 2006.
   The defending NCAA champion Cavaliers (8-1) were seeking their sixth ITA Indoors title, while the Tar Heels (9-0) were playing in the final for the first time.
   Altamirano and J.C. Aragone clinched the doubles point for Virginia with a 6-3 victory over Blaine Boyden and Ronnie Schneider on Court 3.
   Aragone then won on Court 5 to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead. North Carolina pulled within 2-1, but Ryan Shane and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski won the first set on Court 1 and Court 2, respectively, before losing third-set tiebreakers.
   Jack Murray outlasted Mac Styslinger 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 on Court 4 to clinch the victory for North Carolina. Altamirano trailed Brett Clark 4-5 in the third set on Court 3 when the match was halted.    
   "Credit to North Carolina," Virginia coach Brian Boland said on virginiasports.com. "They just hung in there and gave themselves a chance to win in the end. It would have been very easy for them to look up at the scoreboard and go away, but they kept fighting on every court."
   Altamirano came within one game of going undefeated in singles and doubles in the 16-team tournament, finishing 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. He and Aragone lost 7-6 to Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky of Wake Forest in the quarterfinals.
   Altamirano, the 2013 USTA Boys 18 national champion, made the NCAA All-Tournament team at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles last season.

Virginia, with Altamirano, earns top men's ranking

Collin Altamirano of Sacramento helped
Virginia win the NCAA team title last May
as a freshman. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Defending champion Virginia, with sophomore Collin Altamirano of Sacramento, opens 2016 as the No. 1 men's collegiate team in the country.
   The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released the rankings today.
   Altamirano was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles last spring. He finished the season 20-3 in singles and 18-4 in doubles and was selected to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference third team.
   Altamirano won the singles title in the 2013 USTA Boys 18 National Championships and was the runner-up in 2014. He reached the U.S. Open junior quarterfinals in 2013.
   The Stanford and Cal men are ranked 20th and 21st, respectively. The schools each placed one player in the singles top 10. The Bears' Andre Goransson, a junior from Sweden, is ranked third, and the Cardinal's Tom Fawcett, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) sophomore from Winnetka, Ill., is ninth.
   On the women's side, Cal is ranked sixth and Stanford eighth.
   The Bears have two women in the singles top 10: No. 5 Maegan Manasse, a junior from Redondo Beach, and No. 10 Klara Fabikova, a senior from the Czech Republic.
   Stanford's highest-ranked woman in singles is No. 20 Taylor Davidson, a junior from Statesville, N.C.
   Cal's Manasse and Denise Starr, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., are ranked third in doubles.
   Stars Carol Zhao, a Stanford junior from Canada, and Mackenzie McDonald, a junior on the UCLA men's team from Piedmont, are unranked because they played pro rather than college tournaments last fall. They finished last season ranked second and third in college, respectively.  
   Both McDonald ($100,000 Tiburon) and Zhao ($50,000 Toronto) advanced to the semifinals of pro tournaments in their home regions last October.

   Zhao reached the NCAA singles final last May, losing to Jamie Loeb of North Carolina. Loeb, a sophomore, then turned pro.

COLLEGE RANKINGS

(Top 10 and Northern California)

Men's team

   1. Virginia
   2. Oklahoma
   3. Texas Christian
   4. Baylor
   5. Texas A&M
   6. Illinois
   7. Georgia
   8. USC
   9. North Carolina
   10. Ohio State
   20. Stanford
   21. Cal
   55. USF
   57. UC Davis
   67. Fresno State

Men's singles

   1. Dominik Koepfer, Tulane
   2. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia
   3. Andre Goransson, Cal
   4. Cameron Norrie, Texas Christian
   5. Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
   6. Christopher Eubanks, Georgia Tech
   7. Mikael Torpegaard, Ohio State
   8. Felipe Soares, Texas Tech
   9. Tom Fawcett, Stanford
   10. Hugo Di Feo, Ohio State
   30. Florian Lakat, Cal
   38. Alec Adamson, UC Davis
   39. Billy Griffith, Cal
   54. Oskar Wikberg, Cal
   57. David Wilczynski, Stanford
   61. Michael Genender, Stanford
   76. Connor Farren (Hillsborough), USC
   86. Filip Bergevi, Cal
   89. Maciek Romanowicz, Stanford
   98. Logan Staggs (Tracy), UCLA

Men's doubles

   1. Brett Clark and Robert Kelly, North Carolina
   2. Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares, Texas Tech
   3. Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo, Florida
   4. Jack Findel-Hawkins and Yannick Zuern, North Florida
   5. Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Virginia
   6. Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan, Notre Dame
   7. Filip Vittek and Jordan Angus, San Diego
   8. Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen, New Mexico
   9. Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash, Oklahoma State
   10. Ben Wagland and Austin Smith, Georgia
   30. Mikus Losbergs and Kasparas Zemaitelis, Sacramento State
   38. Florian Lakat and Oskar Wikberg, Cal
   42. Maciek Romanowicz and Nolan Paige, Stanford
   59. Andre Goransson and Florian Lakat, Cal

Women's team

   1. Vanderbilt
   2. USC
   3. Florida
   T4. North Carolina
   T4. Georgia
   6. Cal
   7. Virginia
   8. Stanford
   9. UCLA
   10. Texas A&M
   45. Saint Mary's
   54. Fresno State
   72. San Jose State

Women's singles

   1. Joana Eidukonyte, Clemson
   2. Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ohio State
   3. Belinda Woolcock, Florida
   4. Danielle Collins, Virginia
   5. Maegan Manasse, Cal
   6. Hayley Carter, North Carolina
   7. Sinead Lohan, Miami
   8. Julia Elbaba, Virginia
   9. Stephanie Wagner, Miami
   10. Klara Fabikova, Cal
   20. Taylor Davidson, Stanford
   26. Maiar Sherif Ahmed, Fresno State
   39. Caroline Doyle, Stanford
   42. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont), USC
   43. Paige Cline (Kentfield), South Carolina
   81. Olivia Hauger, Cal
   90. Marie Klocker, San Jose State
   101. Andrea Ka, USF
   103. Jamie Pawid, Saint Mary's

Women's doubles

   1. Aldila Sutjiadi and Mami Adachi, Kentucky
   2. Whitney Kay and Hayley Carter, North Carolina
   3. Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr, Cal
   4. Giuliana Olmos (Fremont) and Gabby Smith, USC
   5. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, Florida
   6. Anna Sanford and Miho Kowase, Ohio State
   7. Maddie Lipp and Alex Chatt, Northwestern
   8. Luisa Stefani and Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai, Pepperdine
   9. Kelsey Laurente and Maria Alvarez, Oklahoma State
   10. Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle, Stanford
   42. Sammi Hampton and Kassidy Jump (Granite Bay), Arizona State
   43. Klara Fabikova and Oliva Hauger, Cal
   T54. Giuliana Olmos and Rianna Valdes, USC
   58. Sophie Watts and Anneka Watts, Fresno State

Altamirano adds NCAA team title to resume

Sacramento's Collin Altamirano, the 2013 USTA 18-and-
under champion, helped No. 3 Virginia topple No. 1 Okla-
homa 4-1 for the NCAA title. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   Collin Altamirano is building quite an amateur resume.
   The 19-year-old Sacramentan today added an NCAA team title to his 2013 USTA 18-and-under national championship. He also reached last year's USTA 18-and-under final, losing to Wimbledon junior boys champion Noah Rubin.
   Altamirano, a freshman, won both of his matches as third-ranked Virginia toppled No. 1 Oklahoma 4-1 in Waco, Texas, for its second NCAA team crown in three years.
   "I couldn't be more proud of the players," Virginia coach Brian Boland said on virginiasports.com. "They have bought in to being a true team, and the culture was tremendous. It has been a great journey with this group, and I am so glad we could end this season with a championship. There is nothing more special for me than to see a group of young men work hard, come together and do things the right way, and then celebrate in the end." 
   The No. 4 Vanderbilt women (25-6) beat No. 6 UCLA (23-5), the defending champion, 4-2 for their first title.
   The Virginia men had lost to Oklahoma 4-3 on March 10 in Norman, Okla. Also, the Cavaliers had been 0-2 this season against tournament host Baylor before defeating the No. 2 Bears 4-2 on Monday.
   Virginia (29-3) became the sixth program in the 70-year history of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships to win multiple titles. The Cavaliers joined USC (21), Stanford (17), UCLA (16), Georgia (six) and William and Mary (two).
   Oklahoma (29-3), seeking its first NCAA title, lost in the final for the second consecutive year under coach John Roddick. His younger brother, former world No. 1 Andy Roddick, attended the match.
   Altamirano and J.C. Aragone clinched the doubles point for Virginia with an 8-5 victory over Axel Alvarez and Jose Salazar 8-5 on Court 3. Altamirano, ranked 77th in singles, later gave the Cavaliers a 2-1 lead by dismissing No. 44 Dane Webb 6-3, 6-3 at the third position.
   No. 20 Mitchell Frank clinched the title for Virginia with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over No. 7 Andrew Harris on Court 2. Harris won the 2012 Wimbledon and French Open junior boys doubles titles with fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios, now ranked 30th in the world at age 20.
   Frank, a senior from Annadale, Va., also clinched the Cavaliers' 2013 crown but under much more stress. He saved a championship point in a 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over UCLA's Adrien Puget at the third spot.
   "I said it last time we won a national championship: If there was one player we could have on the court to clinch a match, it would be Mitchell Frank," Boland said. "They guy is a warrior. He loves the game and is incredibly unselfish. To his credit, he really put the team above himself this year." 
   Frank was named the NCAA Men's Championship Most Outstanding Player, and Altamirano made the All-Tournament team at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles.
   Altamirano did not earn a berth in the NCAA 64-player singles or 32-team doubles tournament. Singles play will begin on Wednesday and doubles on Thursday.
   UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald, a sophomore from Piedmont, is seeded third in men's singles. He will open against Lloyd Glasspool of Texas.
   Cal's Andre Goransson will face fifth-seeded Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville, and Stanford's Tom Fawcett will meet the seventh-seeded Rubin of Wake Forest.
   Stanford's John Morrissey and Robert Stineman are seeded 5-8 in doubles, and UCLA's McDonald and Martin Redlicki are unseeded.
   Among the women's singles seeds are No. 2 Carol Zhao of Stanford, No. 4 Maegan Manasse of Cal and No. 9-16 Giuliana Olmos of USC and Fremont.
   The field also includes Stanford's Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle; Cal's Klara Fabikova, Zsofi Susanyi and Denise Starr; and Fresno State's Sophie Watts.
   Davidson and Zhao are seeded second in doubles, and Manasse-Starr and Fabikova-Susanyi are each seeded 5-8. Doyle-Ellen Tsay and Olmos-Zoe Scandalis are unseeded.  

No. 3 Virginia 4, No. 1 Oklahoma 1

Doubles

   1. No. 2 Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane (Virginia) def. No. 57 Andrew Harris and Alex Ghilea 8-4.
   2. No. 42 Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia) def. Dane Webb and Spencer Papa 8-5.
   3. Collin Altamirano and J.C. Aragone (Virginia) def. Axel Alvarez and Jose Salazar 8-5.
   Order of finish: 1,3,2

Singles

   1. No. 8 Ryan Shane (Virginia) vs. No. 1 Axel Alvarez 4-6, 5-5, DNF.
   2. No. 20 Mitchell Frank (Virginia) def. No. 7 Andrew Harris 7-5, 7-5.
   3. No. 77 Collin Altamirano (Virginia) def. No. 44 Dane Webb 6-3, 6-3.
   4. No. 19 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia) def. No. 103 Alex Ghilea 6-3, 6-4.
   5. Spencer Papa (Oklahoma) def. Alexander Ritschard 6-3, 6-2.
   6. J.C. Aragone (Virginia) vs. Florin Bragusi 6-7 (5), 4-6, 1-0, DNF.
   Order of finish: 5,3,4,2

Altamirano helps Virginia reach NCAA final

One second after a teammate's victory, Collin Altamirano
of Sacramento clinched No. 3 Virginia's win over No. 2
and host Baylor. 2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   It happened within one second.
   Mitchell Frank and Sacramento's Collin Altamirano won match points in singles almost simultaneously to give the third-ranked Virginia men a 4-2 victory over No. 2 and host Baylor on Monday in Waco, Texas, in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
   The Bears won the doubles point as Felipe Rios and Vince Schneider defeated Altamirano and J.C. Aragone 8-7 (5) on Court 3. 
   With the overall match tied 2-2, the 20th-ranked Frank defeated No. 35 Tony Lupieri 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 on Court 2. Then No. 77 Altamirano, a freshman and the 2013 USTA 18-and-under champion, beat No. 58 Max Tchoutakian 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Court 3 to clinch the victory.
   The Cavaliers (28-3), who had been 0-2 against the Bears (25-6) this season, will play top-seeded Oklahoma (29-2) today at 11 a.m. PDT for the title. The Sooners, who advanced with a 4-3 victory over No. 6 Texas Christian, beat Virginia 4-3 on March 10 in Norman, Okla.
   Virginia reached the final for the fourth time in five years and Oklahoma -- coached by John Roddick, Andy's older brother -- for the second straight year. The Cavaliers seek their second NCAA title, after winning two years ago, and the Sooners their first.
   The sixth-ranked UCLA women (23-4) will try to win their second straight crown when they face No. 4 Vanderbilt (24-6) today at 3 p.m. The Bruins topped No. 6 Georgia 4-1, and the Commodores knocked off No. 1 USC 4-0.
   The Trojans' Giuliana Olmos, a junior from Fremont, lost both of her matches on Court 2. The 19th-ranked team of Olmos and Zoe Scandalis fell to No. 18 Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma 8-6, and No. 14 Olmos dropped the clincher to No. 42 Sharma 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Altamirano, Virginia face battle in NCAA semifinals

Collin Altamirano of Sacramento and No. 3 Virginia
will face No. 2 Baylor, playing on its home courts,
in Monday's NCAA semifinals in Waco, Texas.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   The picnic is over for Sacramento's Collin Altamirano and the Virginia men.
   The third-ranked Cavaliers have won all four of their NCAA Tournament matches 4-0. On Monday, however, they will face second-ranked Baylor, playing on its home courts, in the semifinals in Waco, Texas.
   Baylor is 2-0 against Virginia this season, winning 4-3 in February in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago and 5-2 in March in Waco.
   "We are looking forward to the opportunity to play Baylor in the semifinals," Virginia coach Brian Boland said on virginiasports.com. "They are a great team, which we saw in the two matches earlier this season when they beat us.
   "They are the No. 2 team in the nation, playing on their home courts in front of their fans and should be the favorites. We embrace the underdog role."
   Virginia (27-3), the 2013 NCAA champion, reached the semis for the sixth consecutive year by dismissing fifth-ranked Texas A&M (24-5) on Saturday.
   Altamirano, a freshman, and J.C. Aragone defeated AJ Catanzariti and Arthur Rinderknech 8-5 at No. 3 doubles.
   Altamirano trailed Rinderknech, a freshman from France, 1-6, 6-1, 0-1 at No. 3 singles when the match was abandoned because Virginia clinched the overall victory. Altamirano is ranked No. 77, and Rinderknech is No. 84.
   Baylor (25-5) eliminated eighth-ranked USC (25-5), the defending champion, 4-2. In the other semifinal, No. 1 Oklahoma (28-2) will face No. 6 Texas Christian (25-7).  
   In the women's quarterfinals, 14th-ranked Stanford (18-5) will play No. 7 Georgia (23-6) today at 10 a.m. PDT.

Altamirano wins, but Virginia falls at Indoors

   Here's how loaded the University of Virginia men are: Top-ranked Thai-Son Kwiatkowski played No. 3 singles against Baylor on Saturday. And Collin Altamirano, a freshman from Sacramento who won the USTA 18 national title in 2013 and reached last year's final, played No. 4.
   Still, the third-ranked Cavaliers lost to No. 11 Baylor 4-3 in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Chicago. The Bears will take on No. 2 Oklahoma today, and No. 1 USC will meet No. 4 Georgia in the other semifinal.
   Virginia (6-1) will face No. 7 North Carolina in a consolation match. No. 13 Cal (6-2), which lost to No. 15 Columbia 4-3 in a consolation quarterfinal, will play No. 22 Penn State.
   Altamirano overwhelmed Diego Galeano 6-1, 6-2 but lost at No. 3 doubles with Mitchell Frank, 6-3. Kwiatkowski fell to No. 27 Tony Lupieri 6-4, 7-6 (10).
   Mate Zsiga gave Baylor the victory by defeating Alexander Ritschard 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 5.
   No. 10 Julian Lenz of Baylor humbled Frank, unranked only because he has been playing in professional instead of college tournaments, 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1. 
   Frank won two Futures tournaments last summer, beating former world No. 1 junior Yuki Bhambri for the title in Edwardsville, Ill. Bhambri was ranked No. 152 among the world's men at the time.
   In 2013, Frank clinched Virginia's only NCAA team title in men's tennis with a 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over UCLA's Adrien Puget at No. 3, saving a championship point. 

No. 11 Baylor 4, No. 3 Virginia 3

Doubles

   1. No. 37 Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane (Virginia) vs. No. 40 Mate Zsiga and Tony Lupieri, 6-6, did not finish.
   2. Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano (Baylor) def. No. 41 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger, 7-6 (2). 
   3. Vince Schneider and Felipe Rios (Baylor) def. Collin Altamirano and Mitchell Frank, 6-3.
   Order of finish: 3, 2*.
   *Clinched the doubles point.

Singles

   1. No. 10 Julian Lenz (Baylor) def. Mitchell Frank, 6-2, 6-0.
   2. No. 4 Ryan Shane (Virginia) def. No. 67 Max Tchoutakian, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
   3. No. 27 Tony Lupieri (Baylor) def. No. 1 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, 6-4, 7-6 (10).
   4. Collin Altamirano (Virginia) def. Diego Galeano, 6-1, 6-2.
   5. Mate Zsiga (Baylor) def. Alexander Ritschard, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
   6. J.C. Aragone (Virginia) def. Vince Schneider, 6-3, 6-4.
   Order of finish: 1, 4, 6, 2, 3, 5**.
   **Clinched the overall match.