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No. 11 Men's Tennis opens NCAA Championships with 4-0 win over Navy
AUSTIN, Texas -- Eleventh-seeded Texas took the doubles point and scored singles victories from freshman Josh Zavala and juniors Milan Mihailovic and Luis Diaz Barriga to defeat Navy by a 4-0 count Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Tennis Championships at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The Longhorns tallied the doubles point with victories at the second and third doubles positions. Diaz Barriga (Cordoba, Mexico) and freshman Jon Wiegand (San Antonio, Texas) opened the doubles session in dominant fashion with an 8-4 win at the second slot over the Midshipmen's Adrian Lai and Jason Hill. UT junior Milan Mihailovic (Nis, Serbia) and sophomore Jonah Kane-West (Free Union, Va.) engaged in a lengthy match at the third slot with Navy's Alex James and Ramsey Lemaich before prevailing by an 8-5 count to nail down the doubles point. Zavala (Amarillo, Texas) pushed the Longhorns' lead to 2-0 on the strength of a 6-1, 6-1 win at fourth singles over Navy's Stanley Kahl. Mihailovic followed suit with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Navy's Lai at third singles, and Diaz Barriga finished off the Texas victory with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at the second slot over Johnny Waters. Texas will meet Boise State on Saturday at 1 p.m. Central at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The winner advances to the NCAA round of 16 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. POSTMATCH NOTES · Texas is now 9-0 in NCAA round-of-64 matches; the NCAA tournament went to a 64-team field in 1999. · Junior Luis Diaz Barriga extended his singles winning streak to 20 matches to continue the longest such streak in the Michael Center era. · Friday's match marked the first men's tennis meeting between Texas and Navy. · Texas is now 7-0 in NCAA tournament matches played at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. · Texas coach Michael Center improved his NCAA tournament record at UT to 12-6. POSTMATCH QUOTES It's the first postseason match and we have a lot of new guys out there. I think we looked a little sluggish to start but you cannot make excuses, you just have to deal with it. So, we are going to have to come out more aggressively. On the Longhorns' freshmen: When we started the season, I really didn't know what to expect. I had not seen them go through a season. We did not know how they would handle the pressure of being the last guy on the court or serving for a match, but these guys have really been great competitors this year. 2007 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships - First Round Singles - Order of Finish: 4, 3, 2 Records: UT 19-8; Navy 15-11
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