University of Tennessee Athletics
J.P. Smith reaches NCAA Semifinals
May 25, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Photos
Tennessee men???s tennis player J.P. Smith continued his impressive run in the NCAA Championships Saturday as the freshman netter defeated Ohio State's Steven Moneke in three sets to advance to the semifinals.
?????It was another good performance,??? head coach Sam Winterbotham said. ???J.P. has proven that he is capable of winning this tournament. He is doing a great job of staying focused and taking it one match a time.
???I think this is the kind of performance that we can start expecting from more players in our program. Other players on our team have the ability to make it this far in the tournament and I hope that J.P.???s success sets a standard that helps this become a regular occurrence for us.???
For the first time all tournament, Smith dropped a set as Moneke won the second set in a tiebreaker to force a third and final set. Smith prevailed in the final set as he continued the deepest run a Vol has made in the NCAA singles championships since associate head coach Chris Woodruff won the tournament in 1993.
The 24th-ranked Vol moved on to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory.?? The SEC Freshman of the Year is now 33-10 on the year and 16-8 against ranked opponents.
Smith faces 11th-ranked Andre Bergemann of Pepperdine in the semifinals on Sunday. The other semifinal match pits top-ranked Somdev Devarrman of Virginia against seventh-ranked Alex Clayton of Stanford.
Live scoring for all matches can be found at tulsahurricane.com
NCAA Championships - Sat., May 24
Singles - Quarterfinals
No. 24 J.P. Smith (UT) def. No. 32 Steven Moneke (OSU) 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3
