Men's Tennis Sweeps NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships

St. Louis, Mo., May 20, 2007 — It’s safe to say the University of California-Santa Cruz had a successful week in St. Louis. Three days removed from winning the NCAA team championship at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center, the Banana Slugs swept the Division III singles and doubles championships Sunday, highlighted by senior Matt Seeberger’s two titles on the final day.

Seeberger, the top-ranked singles player in the nation, faced John Watts of Washington University in the singles national championship. Seeberger jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Watts settled into the match. Watts countered by winning four straight games, including his second break of Seeberger to knot the first set at 4-4. However, Seeberger broke back for a 5-4 lead to regain the momentum. In the decisive game, Watts won the first two points on Seeberger’s serve, but Seeberger answered with four straight points to take the opening set, 6-4.

In the second set, each player held serve twice before Seeberger broke Watts for a 3-2 lead. With the score 5-4 in favor of Seeberger, Watts, a freshman, tied the final game score at 30-30 before Seeberger closed out the championship, 6-4.

Seeberger and Max Ortiz of UC-Santa Cruz advanced to the doubles national championship via a walkover, as the Middlebury College duo of Kevin Bergesen and Andrew Thompson had travel conflicts Sunday. Michael Goodwin and Yoji Masuoka of Emory University punched their ticket to the doubles national title match with a 6-4, 7-6 (1) win against UC-Santa Cruz’s Max Liberty-Point and Brian Pybas. Goodwin and Masuoka trailed 3-0 in the second set before rallying for the win.

In the doubles championship match, Goodwin and Masuoka won the first set, 7-6 (5). In the tiebreaker, Seeberger and Ortiz led 3-0 before Emory posted seven of the next nine points to take the opening set. UC-Santa Cruz responded with a 6-4 win in the second frame to send the championship the distance. In the third set, Seeberger and Ortiz cruised to a 6-2 victory.

With the two titles Sunday, Seeberger closed out his career a three-time singles (2004, 2005, 2007), a three-time doubles (2005, 2006, 2007) and two-time team champion (2005, 2007).