Buikema/Thibaudeau Fall in Quarterfinals of ITA Regional Championships
10/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
LEXINGTON, Ky. ?? The University of Alabama men's tennis team saw success at the 2007 Wilson/ITA Regional Championships, hosted by the University of Kentucky. The Crimson Tide picked up16 wins over four days of competition.
Alabama won all four of its first round doubles matches and had two tandems advance to the round of 16.
The fifth ranked tandem of Dan Buikema and Mathieu Thibaudeau had the most success in the tournament as it made it to the quarterfinals in the main doubles bracket. The Alabama pair fell to Kentucky's Cox and Agostinelli 9-8 (4).
"Dan and Mat had a disappointing match today where they had a lead and let their opponents back in it," said Alabama head coach Billy Pate. "I felt they had a great chance to win it." "Dan rebounded well by turning around and winning the consolation draw over a very talented freshman from Tennessee."
In other doubles action, the Alabama doubles pair of Saketh Myneni and Sammy Struyf made it to the round of 16 before falling to Miami's Subramanian and Rosenfeld, 8-5.
In singles, Buikema took home the crown in the consolation bracket as he defeated three opponents before defeating Tennessee's Jeremy Tweedt, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 10-7, in the final. Buikema recorded the most singles wins of any Tide player on the weekend with five.
In the main bracket, Thibaudeau was the only Tide player to defeat his first round opponent. The junior went on to defeat Phillippe Frayssinoux of Mississippi State in the round of 32 before falling to 11th seeded Nate Schnugg of Georgia in the round of 16.
"All in all we hit the ball well this weekend," said Pate. "We had chances to make a real statement but just didn't win some close matches and capitalize on pivotal situations."
For a complete list of tournament results and updated brackets, visit www.itatennis.com.
