NCAA Tennis Championships : Anteaters’ Doubles Team Wins Twice, Will Play for Title Today

UC Irvine’s doubles team of Mike Briggs and Trevor Kronemann won two matches Saturday to advance to the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships at the University of Georgia.

Briggs and Kronemann defeated Texas Christian’s Clint Banducci and Eric Lingg, the third-seeded team in the tournament, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, in the morning’s quarterfinals. In the afternoon, they rallied from a 3-1 third-set deficit to beat Stanford’s Alex O’Brien and Jeff Tarango, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.

In today’s final, Briggs and Kronemann (22-7) will meet USC’s Eric Amend and Byron Black, who defeated Irvine’s team of Mark Kaplan and Richard Lubner, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4, in Saturday’s other semifinal match.

Kaplan and Lubner (26-10) defeated Clemson’s Vince Van Gelderen and Todd Watkins, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in the quarterfinals Saturday before losing to the Trojan pair for the third time this season.

“We used the same strategy against them each time,” Amend said. “We started slowly and then played back and made them hit volleys. They didn’t have anywhere to put it.”

A California school has won the doubles title five consecutive years with Trojan teams winning three in four years. Two years ago, USC’s Rick Leach and Scott Melville defeated Irvine’s Julian Barham and Darren Yates in the doubles final.

“UC Irvine has never had a Division I national championship in tennis,” Briggs said. “Hopefully, we’ll be the first. It’s like Coach (Greg Patton) says, ‘You just put on the lamp shades and go to the party.’ ”

Another person who could be celebrating today is Nebraska’s Steven Jung, who four years ago was a lightly recruited junior player from Hacienda Heights in search of a tennis scholarship.

“My parents were about to have four kids in college,” Jung said. “Getting a scholarship was a necessity.”

When the West Coast schools ignored him, Jung picked Nebraska. Now, after what he terms “consistent improvement over four years,” Jung is on the brink of the singles title. The unseeded Jung (34-4) will meet Louisiana State’s Donni Leaycraft (30-7) today.

Both Jung and Leaycraft defeated Georgia players in Saturday’s semifinals, though in entirely different ways. Jung eliminated Stephen Enochs in 70 minutes, 6-3, 6-2, but it took Leaycraft more than 2 1/2 hours to outlast Francisco Montana, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Leaycraft, seeded in a group of players from nine to 16, is the first LSU player to reach a singles final. Jung is the first Big Eight player to accomplish the feat.

But Jung is no stranger to championship tennis. His older sister, Pam, was a two-time All-American at Pepperdine and currently plays on the pro tour. Another sister, Debbie, competed at Cal Poly Pomona. In 1985, the Jungs were named tennis family of the year by the United States Tennis Assn.

“My dad taught us all,” said Jung, who graduated two weeks ago with a degree in finance. “He wanted a sport that would bind us together. He didn’t think it would come to this.”

Jung, an unheralded junior, isn’t bitter about having to go to the Midwest to find a scholarship.

“I understand why some of the California schools didn’t recruit me,” Jung said. “Nebraska took a risk with me. I appreciate it.”

Jung failed to win a set in two previous NCAA appearances, but he blossomed this season, winning a tournament in Milwaukee last January.