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Quigley Wins Tiebreaker to Advance to NCAA Singles Final
Kentucky men’s tennis senior to compete for NCAA Title
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After
dropping the first set of his national semifinals match to No. 9 Blaz
Rola, University of Kentucky men’s tennis senior Eric Quigley responded
in a big way, winning the second set in convincing fashion before
clinching the match with a thrilling win in a third set tiebreaker to
advance to the NCAA Singles Championship Final on Sunday at the Dan
Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
“Eric got off to a
slow start and you are just hoping that he sinks his teeth into the
match and fights back,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “He grabbed a
break there early in the second set and that really swung the momentum
of the match. I thought that Coach (Cedric) Kauffmann did a great job
of making some adjustments on court. Eric started to return the ball a
lot better the second set and when he can simplify the match to where
all he has to do is execute, then he is tough to beat. He was able to
do that today and it really set up his offense well. It was just
another great performance for him.”
The victory for
Quigley in the semifinals moves him into the finals for the first time
in his career and only the third time in school history. The UK star
joins fellow All-Americans Jesse Witten and Carlos Drada as the only
players to advance to the finals of the singles event. Witten was the
last to claim the feat, making the finals of the event in 2002, while
Drada made the finals in 2000. Witten and Drada both lost in the
finals. Kentucky players are now 3-0 all-time in the NCAA Singles
Semifinals.
This is the second career finals appearance
for Quigley in a collegiate grand slam. Quigley advanced to the finals
of the D’Novo/Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American
Championships in 2010 to become only the sixth UK player to advance to
a collegiate grand slam singles or doubles final. Quigley is now the
second player in school history to advance to two grand slam finals,
joining Witten, who went to the 2002 NCAA Singles Final and the 2004
ITA National Indoor Singles Finals.
Quigley, who is ranked
third in the nation in singles and seeded third in the tournament, will
face the nation’s No. 1 player in Steve Johnson of Southern California
in the final Monday at Noon ET. Live video from the match will be
available online here: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2012/05/28,
while a live scoreboard can be found here:
http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/ncaa-2012.html.
Quigley
and Johnson have not faced each other this season, but met once last
season with Johnson earning the win. The matchup came in the 2011 NCAA
Elite Eight matchup between UK and USC with Johnson taking down Quigley
at the No. 1 singles position 6-4, 6-2.
“It doesn’t get
any easier does it,” Quigley said about playing Johnson in the finals.
“His record speaks for itself and he is a great player. I have done a
great job this week of taking it one match at a time and I have to do
the same tomorrow. I am just going to try to keep the same routine and
play as relaxed as I can.”
Johnson, who has spent most the season
ranked No. 1 in the nation and was voted the national winner of the ITA
Senior Player of the Year Award, defeated 2010 NCAA Singles Champion
Bradley Klahn of Stanford in the semifinal to punch his ticket to the
finals. Johnson has won an impressive 71 consecutive singles match,
last losing Jan. 17, 2011.
Rola, who is ranked in the
top 10 in the nation in singles, jumped out to a big lead in the match,
earning several breaks in the first set to win 6-2, which was the first
set Quigley had lost in the tournament. After some adjustments in his
game plan, Quigley come out firing in the second set, winning six of
the seven games to grab the second set 6-1 and force a decisive third
set.
“Our game plan coming in was to make him play his
forehand and he came out and was hitting some big forehands so we had
to make a change,” Quigley said. “Coach Kauffmann made the minor change
of playing his backhand more and I also picked up my game a little bit
and it really helped in the second set.”
“We had a game
plan going into the match and after Eric got down in the first set we
switched it and it worked out a lot better,” Kauffmann said. “Eric was
hot on his forehand so we changed some things to his backhand and it
helped a lot. He also served the ball really well at the right times.”
Both
players stood their ground in the third set, holding serve all the way
through to force a tiebreaker to decide the winner. Quigley would go up
2-0 in the breaker and never look back, mixing in an ace and aggressive
playing to win the tiebreaker 7-1 and earn his spot in the finals.
“I
served very well again today, which is something I have done all
tournament,” Quigley said. “We both played really well in the third set
and I kept telling myself to just get it to a tiebreaker and go from
there. I was able to do that and I took some chances in the tiebreaker
that went my way. It was a great match and I am happy to be in the
finals tomorrow.”
The victory in singles action continues
the most successful season in school history for Quigley. The native of
Pewee Valley, Ky., is now 54-7 on the season, moving his career record
to 172-46 – with both win totals being school records. Quigley started
the event with a win over No. 41 Andre Dome of Cal Poly before punching
his ticket to the Sweet 16 with a straight-sets victory over No. 18
Andreas Mies of Auburn. Quigley advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4,
6-3 win over No. 5 Henrique Cunha of Duke on Saturday. Quigley has only
lost one set the entire tournament.
“I think it is every
college player’s dream to play their last collegiate match on center
court in Athens,” Emery said. “Eric has a chance to do that tomorrow
and we look forward to it.”
For NCAA Tournament live
scores, streaming video, ticket information and more, visit the
tournament central webpage here:
http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/ncaa-2012.html.
For
more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow
“UKMensTennis” on Twitter or like “University of Kentucky men’s tennis
team” on Facebook.
NCAA Singles Championship
First Round – Wednesday, May 23, 2012
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #41 Andre Dome, CAL POLY, 7-5, 6-4
#15 Alex Musialek (9-16), KENTUCKY def. #69 Damian Hume, BOISE STATE, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
#2 Mitchell Frank (2), VIRGINIA def. #22 Anthony Rossi, KENTUCKY 6-4, 6-4
Second Round – Thursday, May 24, 2012
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #18 Andreas Mies, AUBURN, 7-6(4), 6-3
#15 Alex Musialek (9-16), KENTUCKY def. #52 Ignacio Taboada, GEORGIA 6-2, 6-7 (9), 6-4
Round of 16 – Friday, May 25, 2012
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #13 Artem Ilyushin (9-16), MISSISSIPPI STATE 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)
#39 Alex Domijan, VIRGINIA def. #15 Alex Musialek (9-16), KENTUCKY 6-0, 3-6, 6-2
Quarterfinals – Saturday, May 26, 2012
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #5 Henrique Cunha (5), DUKE 6-4, 6-3
Semifinals – Sunday, May 27, 2012
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY def. #9 Blaz Rola (9-16), OHIO STATE 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1)
Finals – Monday, May 28, 2012
#3 Eric Quigley (3), KENTUCKY vs. #1 Steve Johnson (1), SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – Noon ET
NCAA Doubles Championship
First Round – Thursday, May 24, 2012
#7 Eric Quigley/Panav Jha (5-8), KENTUCKY def. Gregg Cohenca/Evan Zimmer, BUCKNELL 6-2, 6-0
Round of 16 – Friday, May 25, 2012
#7 Eric Quigley/Panav Jha (5-8), KENTUCKY def. #68 Andre Dome/Matt Fawcett, CAL POLY 7-6, 6-3
Quarterfinals – Saturday, May 25, 2012
#1 Blaz Rola/Chase Buchanan (1), OHIO STATE def. #7 Eric Quigley/Panav Jha (5-8), KENTUCKY 6-3, 6-4
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