The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
ITA All-American Championships
Gard Captures Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships
10/10/2004 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 10, 2004
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Top seed Catalin Gard of the Ole Miss men's tennis team, captured the 2004 Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships Sunday with a three-set win over the No. 2 seed, Sam Warburg of Stanford. With the win, Gard, the nation's No. 1 ranked player, took home his first national singles title.
Gard, the 2004 SEC Player of the Year, won the first set 7-5, but Warburg, last year's Pac-10 Player of the Year, won five straight games to take the second 6-2 and was up a break at 2-0 in the third. Gard broke back in the fourth game to make it 2-2, then broke again in the eighth to make it 5-3 before serving out the match.
"It feels great to win and to be able to maintain the No. 1 position," Gard said. "Hopefully I'll be able to continue to play well at (next month's ITA) National Indoors."
"We are very proud of Cat for winning his first national title," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "It took a strong effort to win six very difficult matches and come out on top. Cat played an excellent first set. In the second set Cat didn't serve as well, but in the third set he picked up his return and his serve. Cat just outfought Warburg in the final set, coming up with some huge shots on break points."
Gard is the first No. 1 seed to win the Icy Hot singles title since 1992 (this was the first time since `91 that the top two seeds reached the final). Gard, a senior from from Galati, Romania, lost just one set in six victories this week.
Gard (6-0) is the second Rebel to win a national collegiate singles title, joining Mohamed Ridaoui, who claimed the `91 ITA National Clay Court Championships.
On his way to the final, Gard defeated Nejc Smole of Denver, 31st-ranked Derk Spice of Wake Forest, 17th-ranked Conor Niland of California, eighth-ranked Pedro Rico of Pepperdine and 43rd-ranked Pierrick Ysern of San Diego. He posted his second win over Niland in two years and avenged a first round loss to Rico in the NCAA Championships last year.
With six wins this weekend, Gard improved his career record to an impressive 82-24 (.770 winning percentage).
The All-American is the first of three national tournaments held during the collegiate tennis season. The second tournament is the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships Nov. 4-7 at the University of Michigan, followed by the season-ending NCAA Championships in May.
Over 300 competitors began a week ago with the prequalifying tournament. Winners of that tournament then advanced into the qualifying tournament, which fed into the main draw. All told, 46 of the top 50 players in the preseason national rankings participated in the main draw, including every single player in the top 10.
ICY HOT/ITA ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Singles Final
Catalin Gard (OM) def. Sam Warburg (STAN) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
