University of Tennessee Athletics
Smith falls in NCAA Singles final
May 26, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Photos
Tennessee freshman J.P. Smith fell to top-ranked Somdev Devvarman of Virginia in two sets Monday afternoon in the NCAA singles championship match played at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.
???It was a fantastic tournament for J.P.,??? head coach Sam Winterbotham said. ???It is an amazing accomplishment for a freshman to make the finals. I???m so proud of him for what he???s done. To make the NCAA finals as a freshman is a heck of an accomplishment and I have a feeling that he will be back here again.
???I???m also very proud of J.P.???s teammates as some of them got in a car and drove from Knoxville to Tulsa. They had a teammate in the finals and knew he would need their support. As a coach, you love to see a team that is close and would drive 1,600 miles roundtrip to see their teammate play one match.???
Both players held serve at the beginning of the first set as each was effective with their serve. Devvarman was able to break Smith???s serve late in the set to take a 5-3 lead and then served out to win the first set. In the second set, the Cavalier won a long tiebreaker to break Smith???s serve in the first game of the set. Devvarman broke Smith???s serve again in the third game of the set to take a 3-0 lead that he never relinquished as the UT freshman was never able to break his serve. Devvarman won his second consecutive NCAA singles championship with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
The loss was only Smith???s second in his last 14 matches.
The Australia native finishes the season with a record of 34-11. He was on the All-SEC first team, named SEC freshman of the year, Southeast region rookie of the year and ranked as high as fourth in doubles and 16th in singles during his debut season for the Big Orange.
Devvarman becomes the 13th player in the 124-year history of the tournament to win consecutive titles, and just the fourth to do so in the past 50 years. Matias Boeker of Georgia was the last to win back-to-back championships, completing the feat in 2001 and 2002.
Smith???s match is the final official UT tennis event for the 2007-08 season. The freshman netter helped Tennessee return to the top-10 for the first time since 2002 as the Vols finished with a 23-4 record. The Vols return five of the six players from their singles lineup including three freshmen that were on the All-SEC freshmen team.
NCAA Championships - Mon., May 26
Singles - Finals
No. 1 Somdev Devvarman (UVA) def. No. 24 J.P. Smith (UT) 6-3, 6-2
