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Virginia's Devvarman, Georgia Tech's McDowell Win NCAA Singles Titles

Virginia's Somdev Devvarman with his singles title trophy.
Virginia's Somdev Devvarman with his singles title trophy.

May 26, 2008

Tulsa, Oklahoma - Virginia's Somdev Devvarman defended his NCAA singles title, while Georgia Tech's Amanda McDowell won the school's first-ever singles crown on the last day of the NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of The University of Tulsa.

Devvarman captured a straight set 6-3, 6-2 victory over Tennessee freshman J.P. Smith, making him only the fourth men's champion in the last 50 years to win back-to-back singles titles. It's the first time since the 2001 and 2002 seasons when Georgia's Matias Boeker won back-to-back titles. The other players to repeat as singles champions in the last 50 years include Mikael Pernfors (Georgia, 1984, `85) and Dennis Ralston (USC, 1963, `64).

He completed the season with an overall 44-1 record and increased his NCAA record for singles tournament wins with his 18th career victory today.

McDowell won the school first-ever singles championship as she posted a victory over the 2005 singles champion Zuzana Zemenova of Baylor. Zemenova won the first game, and then McDowell won the next five games to win the first set 6-2. She went on for the straight set victory with a 6-3 margin in the second set.

McDowell improved her school's single-season wins record to 45-8 with her victory in the championship match.

Two PAC-10 schools wrapped up the doubles championships as the UCLA women and USC men grabbed the crown. It was the sixth doubles championship for UCLA and the fifth for the USC men.

UCLA's Riza Zalameda and Tracy Lin, who last week helped the Bruins win the team title, added a second national championship to their name this year. The duo posted a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Fresno State's No. 2-ranked Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe to claim the women's doubles crown.

After defeating one Ole Miss doubles team in the semifinals in three tie-breaker sets last night, the USC tandem of Robert Farah and Kaes Van't Hof faced another Bulldogs team. This time it was the No. 4 seeded team of Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit, as the USC duo won in straight sets, both in tie-breakers as well, 7-6(10), 7-6 (6).