(College Station, TX) - USD junior All-America
Pierrick Ysern (Paris, France) won his Sweet 16 match today at the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Individual Championships with a 6-2, 7-6 (7) victory over No. 7 seed Ryler DeHeart of Illinois. Ysern won in straight sets for the second consecutive day and will now face No. 4 seed Catalin Gard of Ole Miss in Saturday's quarterfinal round (11:30 a.m. PST). Gard, who knocked off Mat Cloer of Florida State today (6-2, 4-6, 6-3), is just one of three top seeds remaining for tomorrow's quarters. He joins top seed Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor and No. 3 seed Jesse Witten of Kentucky.
The last time a USD men's tennis player advanced to the NCAA Individual quarterfinals was 4-time All-America Jose Luis Noriega who did it three times (1990, 1991 & 1992); he reached the semifinals during his senior campaign in 1992. Ysern, seeded 9-16 in the 64 player draw, improves to 24-6 on the season. Ysern has now won 11 straight matches dating back to the middle of March. During this stretch he had two matches that were not completed in tournament play, one at the WCC's and his match in the first round of the NCAA Team Championships.
Gard, a 5-10 senior from Galati, Romania, began the season ranked No. 1 in the nation. A three-time All-America, this past fall he won the Icy Hot/All-American Men's Tennis Championships, the first leg of the three ITA National Tournaments. It was there that he defeated USD's Ysern in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-3. Gard recently led Ole Miss to the semifinals of the NCAA Team Championships where they lost to eventual champion UCLA. Gard takes a record of 36-6 against Ysern.
2005 NCAA Division I Men's Singles Championships
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center; College Station, Texas
Denotes: (#ITA Rank); [Tournament Seed]
Round of 16 Results (May 27th)
(#10) Pierrick Ysern [9-16], San Diego df. (#8) Ryler DeHeart [7], Illinois; 6-2, 7-6 (7)
Quarterfinals Schedule For Saturday, May 28th
(#2) Benedikt Dorsch [1], Baylor vs. (#49) Greg Ouellette, Florida
(#3) Jesse Witten [3], Kentucky vs. (#32) Jonathan Chu, Harvard
(#4) Catalin Gard [4], Ole Miss vs. (#10) Pierrick Ysern [9-16], San Diego
(#11) Benjamin Kohlloeffel [9-16], UCLA vs. (#37) Izak van der Merwe, Old Dominion
