Tulane Men's Tennis - NCAA Regional
May 14, 2004 | Men's Tennis
May 14, 2004
No. 19 Tulane University Men's Tennis
18-4 overall, 10-1 home, 4-2 away, 4-1 neutral
vs. No. 30 Notre Dame (15-8)
NCAA Tournament First Round, Cambridge, Mass.
May 15, 9 a.m.
Eight-for-Eight: Tulane University is making its eighth straight trip to the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament, one of just 13 schools with seven-straight trips to the NCAAs. Tulane has posted an 11-4 record against teams that are currently in the national rankings.
The Regional Field: Tulane (Conference USA Champion) and Notre Dame (Big East Champion) are joined at the Cambridge Regional by host Harvard (21-6, Ivy League Champion) and Quinnipiac (14-5, Northeast Conference Champion). It is the only Regional with four conference champions and the only Regional with as many as three teams ranked in the top 30 in the country. Harvard is No. 21 in the nation.
Last Year: Tulane University made its first trip to the NCAA Round of 16, losing to powerhouse Stanford. The Green Wave won the New Orleans Regional, defeating Southern (4-0) and South Alabama (4-1) to advance to Athens, Ga. It was the furthest the Wave has advanced under the current NCAA format, although the Wave won the NCAA Championship in 1959.
The Rankings: Tulane is currently ranked No. 19 in the Omni Hotels National Rankings with an 18-4 overall mark. Last year, the Green Wave climbed to an all-time high ranking of No. 14; although Tulane did produce powerhouses in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, winning the NCAA Team Championship in 1959 and taking second in 1949 and 1957. Individually, senior Michael Kogan (Kfar-Saba, Israel) is currently ranked No. 11 in the nation with a 16-4 record this spring. Junior Dmitriy Koch (Bueckeburg, Germany) has a 13-3 record this season and is ranked No. 46 in the country. In doubles play, Kogan and freshman David Goulet (Longueuil, Quebec) have teamed up to record a 16-1 record and a No. 12 national rating. Kogan and the now-graduated Victor Romero were rated as high as No. 4 in the country last year.
NCAA Streak: Tulane is making its eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Robert Klein. The Wave earned Conference USA's automatic bid in 1997 after capturing the league championship. After earning three straight at-large bids, Tulane again captured the C-USA title in 2001 for an automatic bid. In 2002, Tulane fell in the C-USA Championship match, but still received an at-large bid. However, this year and last year, the Wave again captured the league title. In each of the last two years, the Wave has defeated TCU to earn the league's automatic bid.
Newcomers: The Green Wave success in 2004 has been made all the more impressive because it is relying on four newcomers providing major contributions. Three of the rookies arrived in January, while freshman David Goulet joined the team in the September. After struggling some early, all four have posted winning records in dual-match play. Freshman Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) is 9-7 overall, including 7-5 at No. 3 singles; Goulet is 11-8, including 8-4 at No. 4; sophomore transfer Jacobo Hernandez (Mexico City, Mexico) is 15-4, including 8-2 at No. 5; and freshman Alberto Sottocorno (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) is 13-7 overall and 9-3 at No. 6.
Good at Goldring: The Green Wave has been a powerful force on its home courts at the Goldring Tennis Stadium. Tulane is a near-perfect 10-1 at home this year and has lost just one home match since March 28, 2001, a stretch of 35 home matches. This year's lone home loss came in the season-opener with four newcomers in the lineup as Tulane fell 4-3 to San Diego. The last home loss before that came at the hands of Alabama, in a match that was actually played indoors at the Hilton RiverCenter. However, the match immediately prior to that one was also a loss, to No. 9 Tennessee.
Kogan's Kudos: Sophomore Michael Kogan (Kfar-Saba, Israel) has continued his amazing career which began in 2001 as a freshman. The Wave's No. 1 player, he has earned Conference USA Player of the Year honors in each of his four seasons, as well as Louisiana Player of the Year honors in his first three years (the award has not been selected for 2004). In 2001, Kogan added C-USA Freshman of the Year accolades while in 2001 and 2003, he earned All-America recognition in both singles and doubles.
United Nations of Tennis: Tulane's 10-man roster includes players from nine different countries. France is the lone country with two representatives (Patrizio Maucci and Maxime Lacroix). However, Jacobo Hernandez (Mexico City, Mexico) and Alberto Sottocorno (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) both come from Spanish-speaking countries and Michael Kogan (Kfar-Saba, Israel) and Dmitriy Koch (Bueckeberg, Germany) were both born in the former Soviet Union and speak Russian. Goran Vasiljevic (Varmo, Switzerland) is a multi-lingual player who can communicate in Serbian, German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.
Double Trouble: For the first time in three years, Tulane struggled in doubles play. Despite the dominant performance of Kogan and Goulet at No. 1, the Green Wave has lost the doubles point seven times (posting a 5-2 record in those matches). When winning the doubles point this year, the Green Wave has posted a 13-2 mark. Over the past three years, the Wave record is 48-8 when winning the doubles point.
Least Losses: Tulane is assured of losing its least matches in head coach Robert Klein's 11 years at the helm of the program. The Green Wave dropped just six matches in 1997 and 2003, while this year, Tulane has fallen just four times.
4-3: Tulane four losses have all come by tight 4-3 margins. In matches decided by 4-3 scores, the Green Wave is 4-4 this season.
200: Tulane head coach Robert Klein earned his 200th career victory when the Green Wave defeated TCU to win the Conference USA Championship on April 18th. Klein, who earned his fourth C-USA Coach of the Year Award this year, has compiled an overall mark of 200-126 (.613) in 14 years as a head coach. In his 11 years at Tulane, Klein has notched a 175-91 (.658) mark. He has coached 18 first-team All-Conference USA selections, eight second-teamers and 10 third-team picks while guiding two players to seven league Player of the Year awards. A 1986 graduate of Emporia State University, Klein was ranked as high as No. 26 nationally for the NAIA school, while also earning Academic All-America honors.
Long Time Since Losing: The Green Wave has three impressive winning streaks currently and senior Michael Kogan (Kfar-Saba, Israel) is involved in two of them. The veteran has not lost in singles since March 9 (10 straight wins) while he has teamed with David Goulet (Longueil, Quebec) to win 15 straight decisions in doubles (only loss came on Feb. 14). The other streak is owned by sophomore Jacobo Hernandez (Mexico City, Mexico). The newcomer has won 13 straight matches (seven in a row at No. 5 and six in a row before that at No. 6). His last singles loss came on March 9.
C-USA Domination: Senior Michael Kogan had a dominant Conference USA career. In addition to capturing Player of the Year honors four straight years, the Wave star has won the league's Player of the Week honor 13 times in his career. In the eight years of C-USA play prior to this year, the award had been won by the same player more than twice just once (UAB's Martin Woisetschlager collected the honor three times in 1999).
More C-USA Domination: Kogan's Player of the Week monopoly may be diminished somewhat by the fact that league schools do not regularly play each other (the Wave had just six matches against C-USA opponents this year). However, the Wave's No. 1 man leaves little doubt of his ability against the league when it comes to the postseason. In four years of Conference USA Tournaments, Kogan has compiled a 19-1 record in singles and doubles action.
History: Under the guidance of Coach Robert Klein, the Green Wave is working toward reclaiming the past glory of the Tulane Tennis program. In 1998, Robert Samuelsson became the Wave's first All-American since 1960. Tulane's 1997 NCAA Tournament appearance was its first since 1965. From 1930 to the mid-sixties, the Green Wave was a national power. The Wave won the NCAA Team Championship in 1959 and had a pair of second-place finishes (1949 and 1957). Tulane also had eight singles champions and two doubles champions in that time. From 1939 to 1964, the Green Wave won 18 SEC Championships.
State of Tennis: The Green Wave has had excellent success in recent years against foes from within the state, winning 13 of its last 14 matches against Louisiana schools. The wins have come versus LSU (1), Southern (2), UL-Lafayette (5), UNO (2) and Southeastern La. (2). The lone loss came this year on the road at UL-Lafayette (4-3). Tulane's last loss to a state school also came at the hands of UL-Lafayette in the opening round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament (May 13 in College Station, Texas).
