Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NCAA Singles Championships
Paul Ousted In NCAA Second Round
5/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 25, 2006
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Wake Forest junior Todd Paul fell in the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship on Thursday, dropping a three-set epic, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, to 11th-ranked Ryler DeHeart, a senior from Illinois. The match was played at Stanford University.
Paul finished his junior campaign with a 27-14 record. DeHeart advances to the round of 16 with a 37-9 mark.
Paul, the nation's 18th-ranked player, played one of his best matches of the season, according to head coach Jeff Zinn. But DeHeart proved to be too much for the Wake Forest junior.
Paul won the first set, 7-5 and was on serve in the second set, leading 5-4, just four points away from becoming Wake Forest's first singles All-American since 1990. But DeHeart, who has been ranked in the top 10 in 17 of the last 18 polls, held serve to even the second set at five games each. He then broke Paul's serve and forced a third set.
Paul, who did not lose a service game in Wednesday's first round match, had his serve broken to end the match, falling 6-3 in the final set.
The loss ends the season for Paul as an individual. Two weeks ago, the Demon Deacons lost in the NCAA Team Championships -- also in the second round.
Players Mentioned
