Wake Forest Athletics
Four Deacs to Open Singles and Doubles Championships
5/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
NCAA Singles Bracket | NCAA Doubles Bracket | Live Stats/Video | Wake Forest NCAA History
By Andrew Wilson, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMTennis)
WACO, Texas - Four members of the 12th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team will open their runs in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships this week, as the brackets for the two tournaments were announced Tuesday by the NCAA.
Noah Rubin, who earned the No. 7 seed in the championship, and Romain Bogaerts will open their respective singles championship chases Wednesday while Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim will play their first-round doubles match on Thursday.
Rubin, who is ranked No. 6 in the ITA poll, is matched up with Tom Fawcett of Stanford while Bogaerts, who is one of the No. 9-16 seeds in the tournament and ranked No. 16 in the ITA singles poll, will take on Adrien Berkowicz of Texas. Rubin's match is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT) while Bogaerts will battle Berkowicz at 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. CT) on Wednesday.
Ranked No. 13 in the ITA doubles poll, Mansouri and Seraphim are set to start their run at the doubles title on Thursday, May 21, against Korey Lovett and Becker O'Shaughnessey of Alabama.
Rubin has posted a mark of 21-3 in his first season with the Demon Deacons, including a 13-3 mark against nationally-ranked opponents with three straight-set victories over top-10 foes. Last week, Rubin was named ITA Carolina Region Rookie of the Year, adding to his four ACC Player of the Week awards and conference Player and Rookie of the Year honors. A winner of his last 12 matches, Rubin will battle Fawcett, who is ranked No. 26 in the ITA singles poll. Like Rubin, Fawcett is in his first season of collegiate tennis and won ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year last week. Fawcett has posted a 26-11 mark overall this season with a 14-7 record in dual-match play. Against the nation's best, Fawcett has posted a 7-8 mark.
With a victory over Fawcett, Rubin would move on to the second round to face the winner of No. 43 Andreas Bjerrehus of Virginia Tech and No. 50 Chris Diaz of Ohio State on Thursday.
Bogaerts, who played primarily at No. 2 singles for the Deacs this season, has had an impressive junior campaign in posting a 25-8 mark overall, including a 21-5 record in dual-match action. Against the nation's elite, Bogaerts posted an 11-6 record, which included wins over Virginia's Ryan Shane when he was No. 2 in the country and Oklahoma's Axel Alvarez Llamas when he was No. 3 in the nation. Alvarez is the top-ranked player entering the singles championship this week. Bogaerts will take on Berkowicz, who is ranked No. 54 in the country with a 28-13 overall mark and a 16-7 dual-match record. Playing primarily at No. 3 for the Longhorns, Berkowicz posted an 11-7 mark at the position while earning a perfect 5-0 record at No. 2 singles. Berkowicz has lost each of his last two matches and is 7-7 this season against nationally-ranked opponents.
If Bogaerts tops Berkowicz, the junior would match up with the winner of No. 27 Or Ram-Harel of Tulsa and No. 47 Jeremy Efferding of Texas A&M on Thursday.
This season, Mansouri and Seraphim climbed from unranked to as high as No. 9 in the nation. Currently at No. 13, the freshmen have posted a 20-8 mark overall with an 18-7 record in dual-match action. Playing primarily at No. 1 doubles, the two have posted a mark of 8-5 against nationally-ranked opponents. During the season, the duo won 14 matches in a row from February 6 to April 10. The pair's first opponent - Lovett and O'Shaughnessey - posted an 11-9 record this season, all of which came at No. 1 doubles. Ranked No. 25 in the ITA doubles poll, Lovett and O'Shaughnessey went 4-5 against nationally-ranked opponents this year. Together, the two are 4-6 in their last 10 matches and dropped three straight to end the season. After the season, Lovett was named ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year.
Should Mansouri and Seraphim top the Alabama duo, they would take on the victor of Baylor's eighth-ranked duo of Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano, who earned a No. 5-8 seed, and Texas A&M's 10th-ranked pairing of Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant in the second round on Friday, May 22.
Live scoring and video will be available for each match, provided it is played outdoors at Hurd Tennis Center in Waco.
Players Mentioned
