Saturday, May 4
Winston-Salem, N.C.
3:00 PM
Wake Forest University
4
vs
1
Kentucky
Photo by: Brian Westerholt/Sports On Film
Fourth-Seeded Deacs Claim Fifth Consecutive NCAA Regional Title
5/4/2019 7:36:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Wake Forest defeated Kentucky, 4-1, to advance to the Super Regional round
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The fourth-seeded and third-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team advanced to the Super Regionals of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship with a 4-1 victory over No. 36 Kentucky Saturday (May 4) at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.
The victory is the fifth consecutive NCAA Regional title for the Demon Deacons (31-3), who matched a program record for wins a season with the result.
For the first time in the history of the NCAA Tennis Championship, the winners of this weekend's regionals will now meet in a Super Regional round. As a top-8 seed, the Demon Deacons will host a Super Regional contest next Friday (May 10) against the winner of the College Station Regional, hosted by 13th-seeded Texas A&M. Winners of the Super Regional round will then advance to Orlando for the remainder of the tournament.
Wake Forest and Kentucky's (16-15) meeting in the second round was the second such meeting in the past three years, as the Demon Deacons defeated the Wildcats, 4-2, in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Championship.
The doubles point came down to the wire, as all three matches went to a tiebreaker. It was Kentucky who would emerge with the first point of the match with identical 7-5 tiebreaker victories at the No. 1 and 3 positions.
Unaffected, Wake Forest stormed out of the gate in singles, winning five of the first six sets. Borna Gojo and Melios Efstathiou on Courts 1 and 5, respectively, picked up 6-0 victories while Petros Chrysochos (Court 2) and Siddhant Banthia (Court 6) cruised to 6-1 decisions. Rrezart Cungu won the fifth first set with a 7-5 win at No. 4 singles.
Banthia quickly evened the match at 1-all, finishing off Ying-Ze Chen at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-0. Efstathiou put the Deacs ahead, 2-1, with a 6-0, 6-3 win at the No. 5 spot. Gojo extended the lead to 3-1 after taking down No. 93 Enzo Wallart, 6-0, 7-6(3) on the top singles court.
It was a battle to see who would pick up the clinching fourth point, as Chrysochos, Bar Botzer and Cungu all had chances to do so. Eventually it was Botzer emerging with the clinching point, as he rebounded from a first-set defeat to win, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
First serve for the Super Regional is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on Friday, May 10 at the Wake Forest Tennis Center. The College Station Regional is slated to conclude on Sunday after their first round was postponed due to weather.
The victory is the fifth consecutive NCAA Regional title for the Demon Deacons (31-3), who matched a program record for wins a season with the result.
For the first time in the history of the NCAA Tennis Championship, the winners of this weekend's regionals will now meet in a Super Regional round. As a top-8 seed, the Demon Deacons will host a Super Regional contest next Friday (May 10) against the winner of the College Station Regional, hosted by 13th-seeded Texas A&M. Winners of the Super Regional round will then advance to Orlando for the remainder of the tournament.
Wake Forest and Kentucky's (16-15) meeting in the second round was the second such meeting in the past three years, as the Demon Deacons defeated the Wildcats, 4-2, in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Championship.
The doubles point came down to the wire, as all three matches went to a tiebreaker. It was Kentucky who would emerge with the first point of the match with identical 7-5 tiebreaker victories at the No. 1 and 3 positions.
Unaffected, Wake Forest stormed out of the gate in singles, winning five of the first six sets. Borna Gojo and Melios Efstathiou on Courts 1 and 5, respectively, picked up 6-0 victories while Petros Chrysochos (Court 2) and Siddhant Banthia (Court 6) cruised to 6-1 decisions. Rrezart Cungu won the fifth first set with a 7-5 win at No. 4 singles.
Banthia quickly evened the match at 1-all, finishing off Ying-Ze Chen at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-0. Efstathiou put the Deacs ahead, 2-1, with a 6-0, 6-3 win at the No. 5 spot. Gojo extended the lead to 3-1 after taking down No. 93 Enzo Wallart, 6-0, 7-6(3) on the top singles court.
It was a battle to see who would pick up the clinching fourth point, as Chrysochos, Bar Botzer and Cungu all had chances to do so. Eventually it was Botzer emerging with the clinching point, as he rebounded from a first-set defeat to win, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
First serve for the Super Regional is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on Friday, May 10 at the Wake Forest Tennis Center. The College Station Regional is slated to conclude on Sunday after their first round was postponed due to weather.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3
#1 Singles Match
12
Enzo Wallart / 0 (93/-) [UK]
06
67
#2 Singles Match
1234
Ryo Matsumura / 0 (42/-) [UK]
1620
635UF
#3 Singles Match
123
Kento Yamada / 0 [UK]
633
266
#4 Singles Match
1234
Cesar Bourgois / 0 [UK]
5710
760UF
#5 Singles Match
12
Kevin Huempfner / 0 [UK]
03
66
#6 Singles Match
12
Ying-Ze Chen / 0 [UK]
10
66
Order of Finish:
6,5,1,3
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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