Tulane University
NCAA Singles Championships
Kogan Advances to NCAA Championship Match
May 30, 2004 | Men's Tennis
May 30, 2004
TULSA, Okla. - Michael Kogan has had a brilliant career with the Tulane men's tennis team. Apparently, he does not want to see it end. The Green Wave senior notched a dominant performance in the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championship at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa, cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over South Alabama's Franticek Babej to advance to the Championship match.
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"Tomorrow is definitely my last collegiate match, win or lose," Kogan said. "I will give 110 percent on the court. If he is going to beat me, then good job by him, what can I say. I will enjoy it and have fun.
The 11th-ranked Kogan has reached a point not seen by a Tulane individual since 1955, when Jose Aguero captured the NCAA Singles Championship for the Green Wave. The last NCAA titles for Tulane came in 1959 when the Wave tennis team won the championship and the doubles team of Crawford Henry and Ron Holmberg also captured the national title.
"It feels great to represent Tulane at this level," Kogan said. "I love the school and would love to bring the trophy back home."
In the NCAA Championship, at 1 p.m. on Monday, he will face the nation's 15th-ranked player, Baylor's Benjamin Becker, a junior from Germany.
"I played him [Becker] two years ago at the National Indoor Championships," Kogan said. "We both played well, but he beat me in two sets. But this is much different. That was indoors and in the fall season. This is playing for a national title and it is my last match. I think he may be tired, having played a lot of matches lately, team and doubles. I think I might be a little bit fresher than he is.
"He plays very aggressive," Kogan continued. "He hits hard from the baseline and serves really, really well, but I will stick to my game. I will be aggressive but control my unforced errors. That will be the key for tomorrow - do not give up any free points and make him earn every point."
On Sunday, Kogan wasted little time, knocking off the red-hot Babej in approximately one hour. He dropped the first game on Babej's serve, but then won six straight games to take the first set, 6-1. The second set was more of a battle with Babej breaking Kogan once early, but the Wave senior dialed in once again for three straight games to clinch the victory, 6-3.
"In the second set, he tried to come in more and be more aggressive," Kogan said. "He tried to move me around a little bit more, but I made adjustments too. The biggest game was when he broke me at one-all in the second set, and I broke him right back in the fourth game. I think that made him feel the pressure, he knew I was not going to give him anything free."
Prior to meeting Kogan, Babej, ranked No. 33 in the country, had won eight straight sets. He knocked off No. 2 seed Benedikt Dorsch (#2) from Baylor, Phil Stolt (#51) from Illinois, Bo Hodge (#14) from Georgia and Nicolas Monroe (#29) from North Carolina. He dropped the first set against Dorsch, but won the other three matches in straight sets.
"Babej was playing great coming into today," Tulane coach Robert Klein said. "Michael got off to a much better start than that young man. I think today, Michael's experience truly helped out. He has played four years and put in a lot of training with tough matches year-in and year-out. All that paid off today."
Kogan, who reached the quarterfinals as a freshman, is the four-time Player of the Year in Conference USA and Tulane's all-time leader in victories. This is his third time earning All-America recognition in singles and he is also a two-time Doubles All-American.
"I am very happy for Michael, but not surprised," Klein said. "We've always known he was capable of this, but you never how things will work out. He is just playing tough, not making mistakes and attacking his opponents when he gets the opportunity."
Becker defeated No. 20 Gabor Zoltan Pelva from Auburn, 6-3, 7-5 in the other semifinal match. Becker already has one NCAA Championship as he helped the Bears to the NCAA team title on May 25th when they stopped UCLA, 4-0. Becker also played in the NCAA Doubles Championship, as did Kogan. They are two of 21 players to play in all three NCAA Championships this spring.
"Becker hits the ball very hard from both sides and he is playing very well," Klein said. "He has a big serve. It will be a tough test. Michael is not really a big hitter, he doesn't overpower you, but he plays steady."
Kogan has now won 16 of his last 17 matches and owns a 26-6 singles record this year with 21 wins over ranked opponents. The Green Wave senior is hoping to become the sixth Green Wave player to win an NCAA Singles Championship. Cliff Sutter (1930, 1932), Ernest Sutter (1936, 1937), Jack Tuero (1949), Ham Richardson (1953, 1954) and Aguero all won titles for the Wave.
Monday's match will be televised on the Tennis Channel on a tape delay basis. The first airing will be Saturday, June 5th at 6 p.m. (Central).
