University of Oregon sophomore Alex Rovello continued his strong summer tennis campaign at the 113th Nike Tennis Championships of Oregon in Beaverton last weekend.
Rovello, a 5’9″ product of Cleveland High School in Portland, won the open singles flight with ease, as he made quick work of the draw with six straight victories.
Oregon’s No. 1 singles player this year won all 12 sets he played in the tournament. After a bye in the opening round as the tournaments No. 6 seed, he beat Justin Ochsner (6-2, 6-4) in the round of 64, defeated John Brewer (6-1, 6-1) in the next round and eliminated Reid Delaubenfels (6-1, 6-2) in the round of 16.
Rovello, the 2011 Intercollegiate Tennis Associations Northwest Region Freshman of the Year, clinched a semifinal berth with an upset over top-seeded former Texas A&M standout Brett Joelson (6-2, 7-6).
After that, Rovello downed former Washington Husky Daniel Chu in another straight-set win (6-2, 7-6) before taking home the title with another victory over a former Husky, Andy Gerst (6-4, 6-4).
Plum set for World Junior Championships
Fellow University of Oregon sophomore Lauren Plum will be wrapping up her final week of preparation with the USA Volleyball Junior National Team for the upcoming 2011 FIVB Women’s Junior World Championships.
The team is in the middle of an 11-day training camp at St. Mary’s College in the Bay Area that started July 10 and wraps up on Thursday. The U.S. team is made up of 14 top players aged 20 and under, and will compete for the Worlds title in Peru from July 21-30.
Plum, a Poway, Calif., native is one of six newcomers on the squad, while six others played on the team last year that won the NORCECA Women’s Junior Continental Championship in Tijuana, Mexico.
She is joined on the team by a handful of Pac-12 opponents, including Arizona outside hitter Madison Kingdom, USC libero Natalie Hagglund, UCLA outside hitter Kelly Reeves, and Stanford middle blocker Carly Wopat.
During the collegiate season, Plum was an All-Pacific-10 Conference Freshman Team choice after she led all freshmen nationally in assists and ranked 12th overall with 11.75 per set. That mark was the fifth best all-time for and Oregon player, and her 1,246 assists overall was seventh most all-time for the Ducks.
Kesselring fifth at U23 competition
Oregon middle distance specialist Anne Kesselring narrowly missed out on a personal best mark as she finished fifth in the women’s 800 meters final this weekend at the European U23 Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Kesselring, a sophomore from Nurnberg, Germany, finished the race in 2:02.97, which came up just slower than her personal best mark of 2:02.15, which she set in winning the 2011 NCAA Championships.
Kesselring was defeated by Russia’s Yelena Arzhakova, who clocked a 1:59.41.
Looking ahead for Kesselring’s summer schedule, she will compete in the German senior national championships July 23-24 in Kassel, and will likely run the 1,500m, an event she was the German runner-up in a year ago at the same competition.
Elsewhere in European action, Oregon senior-to-be Matthew Centrowitz‘s entry was accepted in the men’s 1,500m for the Diamond League meet, called Herculis, which will be held July 22 at Stade Louis II in Monaco. Former Oregon standout Andrew Wheating is also among the entries.
Also later this week, a handful of current and future Ducks will compete at the 2011 Pan American Junior Championships, which begin Friday and conclude Sunday in Miramar, Fla.
Oregon freshman Phyllis Francis will compete in the women’s 400m and 4x400m relay, while fellow freshman Parker Stinson will be in the men’s 10,000m. Duck signees on the Team USA roster include Jenna Prandini in the women’s long jump and 100m, Allison Woodward in the women’s 3,000m and Greg Skipper in the men’s hammer throw.