Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson lost their first doublesmatch of the season yesterday at ITA All-American Tournament inChattanooga, Tenn. The 53rd-ranked duo lost to No. 18 PatrickBriaud and Conor Niland of California, 8-3.
Baccarani and Thompson had defeated LSU's Danny Bryan and ColtGaston in the opening round of the tournament.
"We had a lot of chances to win, but didn't capitalize," coachBill Richards said. "They definitely outplayed us, though."
Baccarani and Thompson earned an automatic bid from theirnational doubles ranking at the end of last season, and sweptthrough Flight A of the Ball State Fall Invitational earlier in thefall.
The ITA All-American Tournament is the main individualtournament of the preseason, and is used to help determinepreseason rankings for the spring. Only the top teams in thecountry and those who advance through qualifiers earn their wayinto the tourney.
"To come to a tournament like this and win was good," Richardssaid. "But when you win, you want to win more, so it wasdisappointing we weren't able to keep going."
Briaud and Niland defeated the No. 6 team of Rylan Rizza andNick Meythale of Virginia, but lost to New Mexico's No. 24 DavidKowalski and Ryan Stotland in the quarterfinals.
Baccarani and Thompson are both juniors, and will start at thetop doubles slot for the Cardinals this year.
"Up to this point, it was their first loss," Richards said. "Itwas to a good doubles team, and they have an opportunity to do bigthings in the future."
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