Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NCAA FINALS
NCAA Run Ends In Semifinals For Adamski, Paul
5/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 27, 2007
Athens, Ga. - The quest for a national championship in doubles ended for Wake Forest's Mariusz Adamski and Todd Paul in the NCAA semifinals on Sunday in Athens, Ga. The Deacons were defeated by Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe of Illinois, the defending national champions, 7-5, 7-5.
The match could have gone the other way for the Deacons, but golden opportunities to win both the first and second sets slipped through their fingers.
The Deacons got the first break of the match midway through the first set to take a 4-2 lead. But the Illini answered immediately with a break of their own, putting the match back on serve.
Wake Forest had a set point with Illinois serving at 4-5, 30-40, but Illinois was able to save the point and moments later, held serve. That tied the first set at five.
Having dodged that major bullet, the Illini fired one of their own by breaking Wake Forest's serve and taking a 6-5 lead. Illinois served it out to win the first set, 7-5. It was the first set that Adamski and Paul had dropped during the entire doubles tournament.
Late in the second set, the Deacons once again had an opportunity to change the course of the match. Wake Forest had a 4-3 lead and a break point at 40-ad, but was unable to convert. Both teams held serve until the Illini finally broke through at 5-5. With a 6-5 lead, just as they have in the first set, the Illini served out the set to to clinch the victory.
The eighth-seeded Deacons finished their season at 22-10, as All-Americans and only the second Wake Forest doubles team to reach the NCAA doubles semifinals, joining Christian Dallwitz and Mark Greenan who accomplished the feat in 1988.
The match marks the conclusion of Paul's illustrious collegiate career. By virtually any measure of success, Paul must be considered the best player in Wake Forest history. The native of Stamford, Conn., leaves Wake Forest as a three-time All-American (doubles in 2006, singles in 2006 and 2005). He is the school's only four-time All-ACC selection. Paul had the most career singles wins in Deacon history and tied for the fourth-most wins in doubles history. He finished with a career singles record of 107-45 and a doubles mark of 82-53.
Adamski will return in 2007-08 along with Charles Sartor as the team's senior leaders. Head coach Jeff Zinn expects to return six players from the team that broke the school record for wins and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
Anderson and Rowe, the 2006 NCAA doubles champions, will try to repeat on Monday at noon against Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom of Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders upset second-seeded Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey of Virginia, 6-3, 7-6, in the other semifinal.
