Three C-USA Men's Tennis Teams Receive NCAA Bids

Michael Kogan

For the fifth time in Conference USA’s seven-year history, three men’s tennis teams have advanced to the NCAA Championship. South Florida earned C-USA’s automatic bid by winning the league championship and will face Miami (Fla.) May 11 in Gainesville, Fla. Tulane will make its sixth straight NCAA appearance when it meets Washington May 11 in Palo Alto, Calif. No. 30 TCU has qualified for the NCAAs for the 12th straight season and 17th overall. The Horned Frogs will meet No. 31 LSU May 11 in College Station, Texas.

South Florida won its only regular season match with Miami this season, 4-3 in Coral Gables. Should the Bulls advance, they would battle the winner of the Florida-Georgia State match. USF head coach Don Barr was named Conference USA Coach of the Year after leading the Bulls to their fourth C-USA title. South Florida had four All-Conference selections: Sophomores PACO ANTELO and MARTIN WETZEL were named to First Team, while senior DAN MCCAIN and junior NADIM NASER were named to the All-Conference Third Team. Antelo currently has a 22-12 singles record, while Wetzel is 14-5, McCain is 13-5 and Naser is 19-9 in singles play.

Tulane received an at-large bid to the tourney after finishing second in the Conference USA championship. Last year, the Green wave won the C-USA title and defeated Baylor in the first round of the NCAAs before losing to fourth-ranked TCU in the second round. This year's Wave team is led by sophomore MICHAEL KOGAN (Kfar-Saba, Israel), the two-time Conference USA Player of the Year. Kogan, who is No. 20 in the nation in the Omni Hotels ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, has posted a 17-4 record in singles action this spring. He also recorded a 20-2 record in doubles action, including 19-2 with junior VICTOR ROMERO(Atizapan, Mexico). Romero and Kogan were named the Outstanding Doubles Team of the C-USA Tournament. That duo is ranked No. 19 in the country. Kogan was also selected to the NCAA Singles Championship which begins on May 23 with 64 contestants. Romero was chosen as the top alternate for the singles championship, while Kogan and Romero will also compete in the NCAA Doubles Championship.

The Horned Frogs' match with the LSU Tigers will mark the fourth time the two schools have met in the NCAA Championships. TCU holds the edge over LSU with a 2-1 record in their three NCAA meetings and a 13-3 mark all-time versus the Tigers. The last time the two teams met was on May 18, 1996, in the first round of the NCAA Championships. The Horned Frogs prevailed with a 4-3 victory and went on to make their second appearance in school history in the national semifinals that year. TCU made its third national semifinal appearance last year. Should the Horned Frogs defeat LSU, they would take on the winner of the Texas A&M-Southern University match on May 12.