Photo by Walt Beazley
J.P. Smith celebrates a point during the NCAA Singles quarterfinals action on May 24, 2008 in Tulsa.
TULSA, Okla. - Tennessee's J.P. Smith played a healthy two sets of tennis to advance to the NCAA singles championships. Smith, however, needs to lay off the American football.
Smith defeated Pepperdine's Andre Begemann 6-2, 6-4 to reach the final during Sunday's action at the hot and humid Case Tennis Center.
Unseeded Smith will face the defending champion and No. 1 Somdev Devvarman of Virginia in Monday's 5 p.m. (EDT) final.
Smith will try and win the Vols' second individual NCAA singles title since 1977. Chris Woodruff, who is Tennessee's assistant tennis coach, won the 1993 singles championship.
When asked why he had his shoulder iced, Smith just smiled and said he had been throwing the football around too much. Not used to the motion or the shape of the college football, Smith worked muscles he never uses.
Of reaching the final, Smith was almost surprised.
"I had not really thought about it," he said. "I'm looking forward to it. It's great now."
Smith got off to a good start against Begemann and made some crucial serve and volley points when he needed them the most. Smith forced Begemann into some unforced errors and capitalized on them.
"I'm playing my best tennis now," Smith said.
What will his strategy be against Devvarman, who won 6-4, 7-6 (3) over Stanford freshman Alex Clayton and reached his third straight NCAA final.
"Somdev's quick and serves well," Smith said. "I will take my chances when they are presented. I'm not going to leave anything behind."
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Comments » 16
tigervol9802 writes:
Well dang.
Good luck J.P.!!!!!
ncvol writes:
Way to go J.P. Let's bring home the single's championship.
hbvol writes:
Phenomenal. A freshman no less.
GO VOLS! BRING THAT BIG TROPHY HOME!
BillVol writes:
Not even Paul Annacone won NCAA singles. It is fantastic already that J.P. has reached the finals. Way to go! We lose only one senior off of this team. J.P. is just a freshman.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Living the dream. Can see the Grail. Thanks for the highly competitive effort. Good luck.
Bigger_Al writes:
Cinderella story... This unknown, I guess... Coming out of nowhere... To play for the NCAA title...
volboy81#211803 writes:
Good Luck JP, we're pulling for you!!!
GO VOLS!
murrayvol writes:
Talk about exceeding expectations. I was happy when he reached the quarterfinals.
Way to be JP.
Titan writes:
Go JP - win it all!!
I'm a semi serious tennis fan. The story says that Smith FORCED Begemann into some UNFORCED errors. Huh???
ncvol writes:
He plays at 4pm today(Monday)
I know you can stream it on ncaa.com
Good luck J.P.
It would be nice if KNS let us know at the end of the article when the next competition is on all the Vols events.
ncvol writes:
Well, I looked on NCAA.Com and they are showing the women's singles match right. Sorry, for giving the wrong info. I guess the men's singles match will be after this one is completed.
ncvol writes:
J.P. is getting ready to play.GT won the women's title. They beat Baylor. Live Streaming on ncaa.com
UT4ME writes:
Just started.
http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/livest...
Select court 1
ncvol writes:
Sad but J.P. lost 6-2,6-3.
You made us proud J.P.
john#208876 writes:
JP went down 6-3,6-2. Great effort by him and no shame at all in losing to a guy playing in his third straight NCAA final. Outstanding job by all the Tennis Vols this year.
I was quick to criticize UT's hiring of Coach Winterbotham over Chris Woodruff, but that said, Coach W has managed to keep Chris W on board and they have done an exceptional job with a young team. I have since met Coach W and know he is passionate about keeping the Vols among the nations elite programs. Hopefully there are more great things ahead for the Tennis Vols!
murrayvol writes:
Great run JP. Amen to john's post. No shame in losing to this guy.
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