University of Tennessee Athletics
Smith advances to NCAA Round of 16
May 22, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Tennessee men???s tennis player J.P. Smith cruised through his second round match Thursday to advance in the NCAA Singles Championships played at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.
Smith defeated Kaes Van???t Hof of Southern California 6-3, 6-1. The 2007 SEC Freshman of the Year wasted little time in advancing as Smith took control of the match early and never gave the Trojan hope of a comeback. Van???t Hof had defeated tournament No. 2 seed Greg Ouellette of Florida in straight-sets in the first round.
Smith is now 30-10 on the season and 14-8 against ranked opponents. The Big Orange netter faces Enrique Olivares of ETSU in the third round. Olivares dropped Illinois??? Ruben Gonzales in three-sets in the second round to advance.
The UT rookie???s run to the third round is the deepest a Vol has advanced in the NCAA singles tournament since Peter Handoyo in 2001.
Senior Kaden Hensel could not advance as he fell in three sets to Travis Helgeson of Georgia. The 2007 All-America did not go down without a fight though, Helgeson had won the first set and was serving for the match up 5-4 in the second when Hensel was able to break Helgeson???s serve to continue the match. Hensel ultimately won the set in a tiebreaker. In the third and final set the match stayed on serve until Helgeson was able to break Hensel???s serve when the UT senior was serving to tie the set at six. The Georgia netter advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 victory.
Hensel finishes the season with a 14-11 record, 16 of the 25 matches were against ranked opponents.
In doubles, Hensel and Smith pounced on Ohio State???s Drew Eberly and Justin Kronauge early winning the first set, 6-1. In the second set, the UT duo was able to get up a break early but the Buckeye tandem battled back to force a tiebreaker which they won to force a final set. The Buckeyes used the momentum from their comeback to get up a break early in the final set, leading 3-1 when Hensel and Smith were able to mount a comeback to take the lead in the final set 4-3. The set ended up in another tiebreaker which the Buckeyes won again to take the match and send the fourth-ranked Vols home with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-7 loss.
Hensel and Smith finish the season with a 23-6 record.
With both losses, Thursday marked the end of Hensel???s UT career. The Australia native finishes with 66 singles wins and 85 doubles victories. He was twice named to the All-SEC team and was an All-America selection in 2007. Hensel will become a two-time All-America when the season ends as he and Smith based off their seed in the NCAA tournament will be named All-Americas.
Live scoring can be found at tulsahurricane.com.
NCAA Championships - Thurs., May 22
Singles - Second Round
No. 24 J.P. Smith (UT) def. No. 29 Kaes Van???t Hof (USC) 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 Travis Helgeson (UGA) def. No. 35 Kaden Hensel (UT) 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5
Doubles - First Round
No. 14 Eberly/Kronauge (OSU) def. No. 4 Hensel/Smith (UT) 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5)
