University Southern California Trojans
Steve Johnson Bound For NCAA Title Match
May 29, 2011 | Men's Tennis
May 29, 2011
FOLLOW ALONG AT NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
STANFORD, CALIF. - Three years ago, USC head coach Peter Smith called his NCAA Team Championship team a "steam train" as it charged toward the 2009 national championship. This year, now a junior, Steve Johnson now personifies that chugging engine as he rolls into the NCAA Singles title match with a 34-match head of steam behind him. Johnson is looking to become the first player since 2004 to follow up the NCAA Team Championship - his third straight, by the way - with the NCAA Singles crown. If he can close out tomorrow's title match against Tennessee's Rhyne Williams, Johnson would be the first Trojan since 1996 to win the singles championship. The 2011 title match is set for 12 p.m. at Stanford's Taube Tennis Stadium.
In order to earn his place in the NCAA singles final, Johnson first had to get through a familiar foe in Virigina's No. 3 seeded Michael Shabaz, whom he had just faced in the NCAA Team Championship match. His first set against Shabaz almost mirrored that championship matchup, as the two powerhouses pounded on each other, holding serve to bring up a tiebreak. Top-seeded Johnson won out again, although this one was closer that the 7-2 decision from earlier in the week. Johnson claimed the first set 7-6 (4) for a leg up in the semifinal bout. The second set looked similar, as the players held strong from the service line as Johnson went up 3-2. Frustration started to build to a boil for Shabaz, and a code violation cost him the next game to get Johnson up a break, 4-2. That turnaround somehow prompted Shabaz to decide to retire from the match, giving Johnson the victory and ensuing trip to the singles championship match.
"I'm still not quite sure what happened. [Michael Shabaz] was just done. After that serve, he hits the ball out of the stadium, gets a point penalty and calls it quits. He's a really tough competitor, so I'm not quite sure what happened," Johnson said of the match. "In the first set, I was serving at 5-6, ad-out, and had a 3-4 ball rally, and he hit a slice that I thought was clearly out, by a couple of inches. The official on the line didn't call it, but the chair umpire overruled it... I felt like the referee made the right call, and [Shabaz] probably felt differently. Later, the one break point I had, he kind of just gave it to me, hits it out of the stadium, point penalty, and that was it.
"I had no idea what to expect, having never gone this far in the tournament. I had never been in the semifinals and this atmosphere before. This Stanford crowd is fantastic, and there are tons of people out here, and it's a fun place to play. It's such as special opportunity. I remember in years past saying that it's a great effort, since it's nine or 10 straight days of playing some of the best competition in the country. You don't get that all year when you're playing two or three matches a week and you get five days off. It's a real testament to the training staff we have at USC. My body feels good."
In tomorrow's 12 p.m. championship match, Johnson will square off against one of the mere three players who have beaten him this season. Title contender Rhyne Williams of Tennessee got the best of Johnson back in November 2010 in the ITA National Indoor Championship match, claiming a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 comeback victory over Johnson. Johnson has taken only one other loss since then - to Stanford's Bradley Klahn in January of this year, before Johnson turned around and beat Klahn twice more during his current 34-match winning surge. Williams is the No. 4 seed in this year's singles draw.
"Tomorrow is going to be great for American tennis, bottom-line," head coach Smith said. "It's really great for American tennis. It's interesting, you've got the two finalists from the National Indoors playing outdoors. It has all of the qualities and capabilities of a great match."
Johnson becomes the first Trojan since 1997 to reach the NCAA men's singles final. That year, USC's George Bastl would fall in the title match. Johnson is looking to become USC's first NCAA men's singles champions since Cecil Mamiit won it all in 1996. If he does so, Johnson will be the first player since 2004 to win both the NCAA Team Championship and Singles Championship in the same year.
2011 NCAA MEN'S SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS (Stanford, Calif.)
[1] Steve Johnson
First Round (May 25)
def. Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) - 6-4, 6-2
Round of 32 (May 26)
def. Daniel Kosakowski (UCLA) - 6-2, 6-1
Round of 16 (May 27)
def. [9-16] John-Patrick Smith (Tennessee) -- 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (2)
Quarterfinals (May 28)
def. Blaz Rola (Ohio State) - 6-3, 6-3
Semifinals (May 29)
def. [3] Michael Shabaz (Virginia) - 7-6 (4), 4-2 ret.
Championship (May 30)
vs. [4] Rhyne Williams (Tennessee) - 12 p.m.
Daniel Nguyen
First Round (May 25)
def. Artem Baradach (SMU) - 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
Round of 32 (May 26)
lost to [9-16] Dennis Nevolo (Illinois) - 6-4, 5-7, 5-2 ret. (inj)
Ray Sarmiento
First Round (May 25)
def. [9-16] Chase Buchanan (Ohio State) - 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3
Round of 32 (May 26)
def. Amit Inbar (UCLA) - 1-6, 6-4, 7-5
Round of 16 (May 27)
lost to Marcel Thiemann (Mississippi) -- 6-4, 6-4
2011 NCAA MEN'S DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS
Steve Johnson / Ray Sarmiento
First Round (May 26)
lost to Buchanan/Rola (Ohio State) - 6-2, 7-5
