Georgia, Auburn open with victories in USTA Tennis On Campus Fall Invitational
Two of the top teams competing at the USTA Tennis On Campus Fall Invitational both admitted to not feeling the pressure to win the seventh annual popular event kicking off the Tennis On Campus season and taking place at the Palmetto Dunes Tennis Center.
“I think there is a little pressure on us, but I would think there is more pressure on Auburn, since they won the national title in April,” said Will George, captain of the Fall Invitational defending champion Georgia Bulldogs. “Last year was a long time ago. There are a lot of good teams here, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Georgia opened with three wins in pool play on Friday and were one of 16 teams to advance on to the Gold Bracket championship rounds to be played on Saturday. Georgia had wins over Ferris State, North Carolina State and the Colorado School of Mines.
Meanwhile, Auburn showed its strength and depth in three wins in pool play to also advance on. Auburn had wins over Ohio University, Duke and Radford.
“No pressure on us,” said Auburn’s top player, Mitchell Vegas. “We’re just here to have fun.” Last April, it was Vegas on the court in the deciding mixed doubles match helping clinch a 23-22 super-tiebreaker win over the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for the Tigers first-ever national title.
The junior George from Georgia is a transfer for Division I Kennesaw State of the Atlantic Sun Conference where he played for the intercollegiate team as a freshman. George is an Accounting major who decided he wanted to focus his time on his studies, but loves Tennis On Campus for the friendships he’s made.
Georgia placed 13th at Nationals last year and have only one returning player from last year’s Fall Invitational winning team in Annie Marcinkowski, who actually was asked to join the varsity team in the spring but has decided to return to her Tennis On Campus roots this season.
Georgia is led by Stephanie Wei, who played intercollegiate tennis for George Washington for two years and serves as Georgia’s sole former varsity player they are allowed to use under Tennis On Campus rules.
Also going 3-0 on the day were Florida, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and the University of Central Florida.
The winner and runner-up from the tournament qualify for an automatic bid to compete for the national title at the 2017 USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., April 13-15, 2017.
LET’S GO, INDIANS, LET’S GO!: There is little doubt what three of the Ohio State team members from Cleveland will be doing each of the evenings this weekend. That’s because the Cleveland Indians are taking on the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. “Cleveland is on top of the sports world right now,” said Brian Chan, who grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Solon, Ohio, and admitted bringing one Indians t-shirt on the trip. Besides the Clevelanders, the Ohio State team is made up of two players from Columbus, two from Cincinnati, two from Dayton and one from Sweden.
ASTROS COME A CALLIN: Right in the middle of her 6-0 win in women’s singles, N.C. State’s Jessica Miller got an email she’s been waiting for. The 22-year-old Statistics major had applied to every major league team to do Research & Development analysis similar to sabermetrics made famous by the Brad Pitt movie “Money Ball.” The Houston Astros emailed her back and said they were very interested in her and requested an interview. “I’ve always loved sports and have always wanted to work for a major league team,” said Miller, who did advanced statistics for the Wolf Pack men’s basketball team, as well as match stats for the men’s tennis team while an undergrad at State.
HURRICANE AFTERMATH: This tournament was postponed three weeks ago because of Hurricane Matthew. A Palmetto Dunes resident since 1978, Mary Jackson said her family evacuated west to Columbia where they stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn for six days. But she said she knew some neighbors who stayed. “Every person I’ve asked who stayed say if they had to do it again, they would have left,” said Jackson, who has worked in the Palmetto Dunes Tennis Center pro shop since 1998. “Usually the storms have veered off, but this one never did. This is the worst it’s ever been.”
The tennis courts opened on Oct. 18 and storm debris and downed trees can be seen throughout the Palmetto Dunes grounds. The three golf courses at Palmetto Dunes remain closed and will be for some time, according to the local manager at the general store. “We did not get his as hard as others, and there are still tennis facilities on the island that are closed,” said Jackson, adding her home had minor structural damage caused by downed trees, including one that took out an air-conditioning unit.
RETURNING TO HILTON HEAD ISLAND: First-year Fall Invitational Tournament Director Newlyn Wing played this event for two years in 2012 and 2013 competing for the Ferris State team. Wing was part of the Professional Tennis Management undergraduate degree program at Ferris State. “It is great to be back,” said Wing, who after graduation was hired by the USTA and now works as a National Coordinator for TSRs, High School and Tennis on Campus at the new National Campus in Orlando. “We didn’t know if we’d be able to pull it off after the hurricane but it’s a credit to the venue here at Palmetto Dunes, and the other site we use at Sea Pines Country Club, as well as our amazing staff, and most importantly, our great players!”
FIRST-TIMERS: Radford University for one was happy the tournament was kept alive and postponed instead of cancelled. “We were so happy,” said Radford captain junior Madeline Johann of Richmond, Va. “This is the biggest tournament we’ve ever been to and it’s great to be playing all the bigger schools.” Radford is in southwest Virginia just down the road from Virginia Tech, which is in Blacksburg. All 10 of the club’s 18 members who were planning on playing this event Oct. 7-9 were all able to make it to Hilton Head Island, despite the date change.
Another first-time school, the University of Colorado in Boulder, were the beneficiaries of the postponement. “We were on the waiting list but didn’t get in,” said CU captain Jack Greene. “Then two weeks ago they called and said we were in. We can’t believe we’re here.”
To catch up on all the Fall Invitational action and for all stories and scores, log onto: www.tennisoncampus.com.
This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Georgia, Auburn open with victories in USTA Tennis On Campus Fall Invitational."