Trojans Participate In Inaugural Team Tennis Tournament
October 04, 1999 | Women's Tennis
Oct. 4, 1999
Stanford, CA -- USC tennis stand-outs Veronika Safarova, Kara Warkentin, Parker Collins and Greg Hill, participated in the inaugural WingspanBank.com/WTT National Collegiate Tennis Championships last weekend (Oct. 1-3) in Stanford, Calif.
The three-day tournament featured the World Team Tennis concept which was originated by tennis legends Billie Jean King and Larry King. The tournament was comprised of teams of at least two men, two women and a coach. Each team match consisted of five sets, with one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. One point was awarded for each game won, to determine the team winner of each match. The tournament marked only the second NCAA-sanctioned sporting event to crown a co-ed national champion.
Sixteen of the nation's top collegiate men's and women's tennis teams were selected to compete in the tournament. USC's men's and women's tennis teams were invited after posting 19-5 and 21-9 records respectively in the 1998-99 season.
On Friday (Oct. 1), USC fell to Vanderbilt in the first round of play, 25-20. The Trojans won two sets in the match. Women's double team, Veronika Safarova and Kara Warkentin, defeated Christy Blumberg and Kate Burson of Vanderbilt, 6-2. The Trojans' second victory came in the men's doubles set as Parker Collins and Greg Hill defeated Brad Hambrick and Andrew Niskar, 6-5.
USC faced Stanford on Saturday (Oct. 2) in the first round of consolation play. Despite the Trojans aggressive efforts, Stanford earned the match victory, 29-25. In a repeat performance, Collins and Hill won their doubles set (6-5), while the Trojans fell just one point short of a win in the women's singles (5-6), women's doubles (5-6) and mixed doubles (5-6). Later that day, the Trojans faced Kansas and gained their first win of the tournament, 28-17. USC took four of the five sets including women's doubles (6-4), men's doubles (6-3), women's singles (6-1) and mixed doubles (6-3). The final match of the consolation bracket featured USC and Pepperdine, competing for 13-place in the tournament. The Waves narrowly defeated the Trojans, 25-24, in a match determined in a mixed-doubles overtime tie-breaker. After Safarova earned a decisive win in singles (6-1), mixed doubles Hill and Warkentin twice defeated Pepperdine doubles Sebastian Graeff and Paola Palencia (6-5, 5-2) to tie the team score, 24-24. The final set was determined by a "supertiebreaker" in which Pepperdine garnered a 2-0 victory to take the match. Top-seeded Texas A&M defeated Duke, 27-23, in the tournament finals on Sunday, October 3, to be crowned the first-ever co-ed collegiate tennis champions.
First Round
Vanderbilt 25, Southern California 20
WD: Veronika Safarova/Kara Warkentin (USC) def. Christy Blumberg/Kate Burson (VAN) - 6-2
MS: Andrew Niskar (VAN) def. Greg Hill (USC) - 6-2
MD: Parker Collins/Hill (USC) def. Brad Hambrick/Niskar (VAN) - 6-5
WS: Blumberg (VAN) def. Warkentin (USC) - 6-4
MX: Burson/Niskar (VAN) def. Collins/Safarova (USC) - 6-2
Consolation - Round 1
Stanford 29, Southern California 25
WD: Gabriella Lastra/Keiko Tokuda (STAN) def. Veronika Safarova (USC) - 6-5
MS: Geoff Abrams (STAN) def. Greg Hill (USC) - 6-4
MD: Parker Collins/Hill (USC) def. Abrams/Alex Kim (STAN) - 6-5
WS: Laura Granville (STAN) def Safarova (USC) - 6-5
MX: K.J. Hippenstee/Tokuda (STAN) def. Collins/Warkentin (USC) - 6-5
Consolation - Round 2
Southern California 28, Kansas 17
WD: Veronika Safarova/Kara Warkentin (USC) def. Brooke Chiller/Julia Sidorova (KAN) - 6-4
MS: Rodrigo Echagary (KAN) def. Greg Hill (USC) - 6-4
MD: Parker Collins/Hill (USC) def. Alejandro Barragan/Echagary (KAN) - 6-3
WS: Warkentin (USC) def. Chiller (KAN) - 6-1
MX: Hill/Warkentin (USC) def. Echagary/Sidorova (KAN) - 6-3
Consolation - 13-place match
Pepperdine 25, Southern California 24
WD: Ipek Senoglu/Paola Palencia (PEP) def. Veronika Safarova/Kara Warkentin (USC) - 6-3
MS: John Hull (PEP) def. Greg Hill (USC) - 6-3
MD: Hul/Sebastian Graeff (PEP) def. Parker Collins/Hill (USC) - 6-4
WS: Veronika Safarova (USC) def. Horvath (PEP) - 6-1
MX: Hill/Warkentin (USC) def. Graeff/Palencia (PEP) - 6-5
Hill/Warkentin (USC) def. Graeff/Palencia (PEP) - 2-0 (OT)
Graeff/Palencia (PEP) def. Hill/Warkentin (USC) 7-6 (Supertiebreaker)
