NCAA Finals
Ohio State’s Blaz Rola Denies Jamere Jenkins Singles Title; Stanford’s Gibbs Cruises to Second Title
May 27 2013 ITS Staff, Urbana Illinois. - Buckeye’s Blaz Rola won the NCAA Men’s Singles crown over highly favored Jamere Jenkins of University of Virgina with hard-fought 7-6(7) 6-4 victory on Monday at the Atkins Tennis Center. In the women’s singles final, Nicole Gibbs of Stanford had no problem beating Nebraska’s Mary Weatherholt in straight sets 6-2 6-4 to register back-to-back NCAA Women’s Singles title.
Gibbs also became the first player to capture the NCAA team and singles crowns in the same season since Duke's Mallory Cecil in 2009 at College Station, Texas. The Cardinal junior, who closed out the 2011-12 campaign winning 17 consecutive matches, improved to 30-1 in May including winning 14 straight matches. The Slovenia-native Rola played an excellent match against Jenkins capitalizing on his solid lefty serves and groundstrokes which kept Jenkins on the defensive during two-hour match.
After squandering four set points 6-2 in the tie-breaker, Rola allowed Jenkins to win 5 consecutive points to fall behind 6-7 before reeling off three straight points to close out the first set. Both players clawed and battled until Rola broke Jenkins’s serve in the seventh game. Rola hung with excellent all-around play as he hung on to his serve winning the match on his second match point.
Cavaliers Jenkins, Styslinger Captures Doubles
virginiasports.com: The Virginia duo of Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) and Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.) won the fifth NCAA Individual title in school history, capturing the NCAA Doubles Championship over Chris Camillone and David Holiner of Texas 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 Monday at the Atkins Tennis Center. Earlier in the day, Jenkins' bid for the NCAA Tennis Triple Crown came up short as he suffered a 7-6(8), 6-4 loss to Blaz Rola of Ohio State in the NCAA Singles Final.
Jenkins and Styslinger become the third NCAA Doubles Champions in Virginia history. Michael Shabaz and Dominic Inglot won the title in 2009 and Shabaz defended his title the following year, teaming with Drew Courtney. The championship capped the career of Jenkins, who ends his Cavalier career third in singles wins (140), seventh in doubles victories (111) and fifth in combined victories (251).
USC' Christian, Santamaria Cop NCAA Doubles Plum
usctrojans.com: USC's Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria carved their names deeper into the Trojan history books today, slicing their way to the first NCAA Doubles Championship for the Women of Troy. Already holding an ITA/Riviera All-American doubles title and back-to-back Pac-12 and ITA National Indoor doubles crowns, Christian/Santamaria put an extra flourish on their expanding honor roll with today's 6-4, 6-3 victory in the 2013 NCAA Doubles Championship in Urbana, Ill. The Trojan duo is the first USC women's pair to win a national championship.
Men's Singles Final
#12 Blaz Rola, OSU def. #3 Jarmere Jenkins, UVA (3) 7-6(7) 6-4
Women's Singles Final
#13 Nicole Gibbs, STAN def. #11 Mary Weatherholt, NEB 6-2 6-4
Women's Doubles Final
#2 Christian/Santamaria,USC vs. #25 Anderson/Morton,UCLA 6-4 6-3
Men's Doubles Final
#4 Jenkins/Styslinger, UVA (4) vs. #41 Camillone/Holiner, TEX 3-6 6-2 6-4