Tulane University
National Indoor Championships
Kogan Wins First Round Match
Nov 8, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Nov. 8, 2001
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas - Tulane University sophomore Michael Kogan defeated Harvard's Jonathan Chu, 6-2, 6-4, Thursday afternoon in first round action at the Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at Brookhaven Country Club.
Kogan, the number two seed in the tournament, continued his strong fall season, improving to 16-3.
"Michael played well today," Tulane head coach Robert Klein said. "On a scale of one to 10, he was probably an eight. He played well enough to win fairly handily today, but he can play better."
Kogan advances to meet Baylor's Benjamin Becker in the second round Friday morning. Becker is ranked No. 99 in the country. Kogan is the No. 15 ranked player in the nation.
With a win over Becker, Koagn will play a second match on Friday, facing the winner of the match between Ohio State's Phil Metz and Georgia's Brandon Wagner. Metz, ranked No. 12 in the nation, upended Mississippi State's Romain Ambert, the No. 8 seed in the tourney and the No. 17 player in the country. Wagner is ranked No. 63.
Stanford's K.J. Hippensteel, a senior from Roanoke, Va., and the No. 5 player in the nation, is the top seed in the tourney. He collected his second career national singles title at last month's ITA Men's All-American Championships. Kogan lost in the semifinals at the All-American Championships. Hippensteel, a three-time All-American, and Kogan, an All-American as a freshman, are followed by the following six seeds (in order): Oliver Maiberger of San Diego State, Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn, Al Garland of Pepperdine, Daniel Klemetz of Middle Tennessee, Jesse Witten of Kentucky and Romain Ambert of Mississippi State.
Only one player, Arizona State's Sargis Sargsian in 1994-95, has ever won the All-American, National Indoor and NCAA singles titles during the same season.
The Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, administered by the ITA, feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including: qualifiers from Omni Hotels Regional Championships held across the country during the fall, the ITA National Small College champions, the winners of the ITA All-American Championships and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee. Overall, more than 10,000 players from nearly 600 schools participate annually in the Omni Hotels Regional and National Intercollegiate Championships. This event was inaugurated in 1978 and has been traditionally held in the month of February. This year will be the first time the event will be played in the November.
