Buikema and Thibaudeau Claim Doubles Title at Crimson Tide Championships
10/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA ?? Dan Buikema and Mathieu Thibaudeau capped off a successful 2006 Crimson Tide Championships by winning the top flight doubles championship with a 4-0 record in the round robin tournament.
"We are pretty close friends off the court so that has a lot to do with our success," said Buikema. "Our styles are basically the same. We both have big serves and good volleys. Now we are both starting to make our returns so we are turning in to a very good combination."
The Crimson Tide was strong throughout the four-day tournament, winning 35 of the 43 matches they competed in. They had two perfect days in singles and finished with 24 wins in 28 singles matches. After the first day of competition they were victorious in 21 of the 22 singles matches they competed in.
Buikema and Thibaudeau faced Jordan Delass and Luke Rassow-Kantor of Georgia Tech in their final doubles match of the tournament. The Alabama duo won easily 8-3 to stay perfect on the weekend and improve to 11-3 in the fall. The Crimson Tide also won its other two doubles matches on Sunday. Billy Mertz and Saketh Myneni played together for the first time and defeated Georgia Tech's George Gvelesiani and Scott Blackmon in a tiebreaker 9-8 (6). Alabama also tried out the combination of Joseph Jung and Jordie Kindervater for the first time this fall. It proved successful as they won easily 8-1 against Austin Roebuck of Georgia Tech and Thomas Weiss of UAB.
Alabama played six singles matches on the final day of the fall championships. Buikema shined again in the singles ranks, improving to 4-0 with a victory over Rassow-Kantor 5-7, 6-4, 6-0. Mertz was also a perfect 4-0 in singles. He won in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 against Blackmon. Jung and Myneni also won in straight sets. Jung won his team-high ninth singles contest of the fall by the score of 6-3, 6-2 over Delass. Myneni picked up a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Gvelesiani.
Taylor Striplin came from behind for a three-set win against Roebuck. After losing the first set 7-5, Striplin rallied to take the final two sets 6-3, 6-2 for the win. Kindervater also won in three sets, edging Tim Bauer of UAB in a super tiebreaker 6-0, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3).
Miami's Daniel Vallverdu won the singles top flight championship with a 3-1 record. His only loss came against Jung of Alabama. Mississippi State's Ivan Bjelica was undefeated at 2-0 but did not qualify after missing his final two matches.
The Crimson Tide Fall Championships wrapped up the fall season for Alabama. They will return to action Jan. 18-22 for the SEC Indoors in New Orleans, La. The dual meet season will begin Jan. 27 when Alabama hosts Jacksonville State and Troy.
Singles
Joseph Jung (Alabama) def. Jordan Delass (Georgia Tech) 6-3, 6-2
Dan Buikema (Alabama) def. Luke Rossow-Kantor (Georgia Tech) 5-7, 6-4, 6-0
Billy Mertz (Alabama) def. Scott Blackmon (Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-1
Saketh Myneni (Alabama) def. George Gvelesiani (Georgia Tech) 6-2, 6-3
Taylor Striplin (Alabama) def. Austin Roebuck (Georgia Tech) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
Jordie Kindervater (Alabama) def. Tim Bauer (UAB) 6-0, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3)
Daniel Vallverdu (Miami) def. Pjotrs Necajevs (Mississippi State) 6-2, 6-1
Vivek Subramian (Miami) def. Eric Lim (Mississippi State) 6-3, 7-5
Tim Bauer (UAB) def. Hector Nieto (Miami) 6-3, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (10-1)
Ryan Farlow (Mississippi State) def. Josip Rupena (Miami) 6-2, 6-1
Barnabas Carrega (Miami) def. Alex Emery (UAB) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-4)
Thomas Weiss (UAB) def. Westin Wendt (Miami) 7-5, 6-4
Adrian Tollstam (UAB) def. J.C. Whitner (Miami) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-0)
Doubles
Buikema and Thibaudeau (Alabama) def. Delass and Rassow-Kantor (Georgia Tech) 8-3
Myneni and Mertz (Alabama) def. Gvelesiani and Blackmon (Georgia Tech) 9-8 (6)
Jung and Kindervater (Alabama) def. Roebuck (Georgia Tech) and Weiss (UAB) 8-1
Vallverdu and Subramanian (Miami) def. Necajevs and Kuznetsov (Mississippi State) 9-8 (8-6)
Lim and Farlow (Mississippi State) def. Nieto and Carrega (Miami) 9-7
Vallverdu and Subramanian (Miami) def. Szatmary and Tate (Nebraska) 8-2
Nieto and Carrega (Miami) def. Clow and VanImpe (Nebraska) 8-6
Navarro and Stahmer (Nebraska) def. Wendt and Whitner (Nebraska) 8-2
