The Gophers doubles pairing of Siim Troost and Vlad Lobak upset No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Tim Sandkaulen and Finn Reynolds of Mississippi, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (4) on Tuesday in the round of 16 in the NCAA doubles tournament in Orlando, Fla.
Troost, a sophomore, and Lobak, a senior, are 12-2 and have four wins against doubles teams that were ranked in the top five in the nation at the time. They are ranked No. 29.
Sandkaulen and Reynolds finish 16-3 after their 10-match winning streak was broken.
Troost and Lobak got 68% of their first serves in and won 68% of the points on their opponents' second serve. They also had a 3-1 edge in aces.
The Gophers fell behind 4-0 in the second set before regrouping and winning three of the next four games. And that momentum carried over into the tiebreaker when they took a 5-2 lead and won it relatively easily.
Troost and Lobak will play Guy Den Oedin and Adrian Oetzbach of Pepperdine, another unseeded team which also advanced by winning a tiebreaker, in Wednesday's quarterfinals.
By being among the final eight teams, Troost of Tallinn, Estonia, and Lobak, of Kiev, Ukraine, achieved All-America status as well. Only two other Gophers duos have done that in program history.
5 in NSIC honored in softball
NSIC Player of the Year Kendall Cornick, an outfielder for Augustana, was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division II All-America first team while teammates Ashley Mickschl, a pitcher (Woodbury High School), was named to the second team, and Mary Pardo, an outfielder (Blaine), and Torri Chute, a DP and utility player (Woodbury), to the third team.
NSIC Pitcher of the Year McKenzie Ward of Minnesota State Mankato joined Cornick on the first team.
Softball honors for MIAC
Four MIAC players were named to NCAA Division III All-America teams by the NFCA. MIAC Pitcher of the Year Julie Graf, a senior at St. Olaf, joined MIAC Player of the Year Angela Huepfel, a junior first baseman at St. Catherine, as first-team selections, while Saint Benedict sophomore Elly Novak, a pitcher, and St. Olaf senior Hannah Matthies, a first baseman, were named to the third team.
Run over in U.S. Am Four-Ball
Frankie Capan and Shuai Ming Wong, lost to the No. 5 seeds, Luke Potter, 17, and Preston Summerhays, 18, on the second extra hole at Chambers Bay in the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. Capan and Wong, both 21, were the 2017 champions in this tournament.
Capan, of North Oaks, won the Minnesota State Amateur last summer and was the 2020 MGA Player of the Year.
Etc.
• Greg May, director of operations for the Gophers men's hockey team the past two seasons, is leaving to become activities and athletic director at St. Thomas Academy, the Mendota Heights school announced.
• St. Catherine's head cross country coach Cami Paulson is resigning after six seasons to relocate in Arizona, where she can be closer to her family. She also was an assistant track & field coach, working with the distance runners.
• Northwestern (St. Paul)'s Owen Boerema and Dave Hieb were named Pitcher and Coach of the Year, respectively, in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. The Eagles were 31-10.
