University of North Carolina Athletics
Blumberg Named NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player
May 24, 2017 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. – At the finish of the 2017 NCAA men's tennis team tournament on Tuesday evening, several Tar Heels were honored for standout performances during Carolina's run. UNC wrapped up the season as the NCAA runner-up, reaching the national championship match for the first time in program history. And even though Carolina didn't take the title, falling to Virginia 4-2, Tar Heel freshman William Blumberg was selected at the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
“It speaks volumes about what he did in this tournament in singles and in doubles,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “It's really rare that a player on the runner-up team would receive that award. And for as tremendous of a player as he is, he's even more of an outstanding person. He's just incredible.”
On Tuesday, Blumberg was announced as the ITA National Rookie of the Year. He will compete in the singles and doubles draws in Athens.
The NCAA All-Tournament team, which is selected by position, included three Tar Heels: Blumberg and junior Robert Kelly at No. 1 doubles, Blumberg at No. 2 singles spot, Kelly at No. 3 singles and sophomore Blaine Boyden at No. 6 singles.
Blumberg and Kelly went 5-1 in the tournament, defeating teams ranked No. 1 (Georgia's Jan Zielinski and Robert Loeb), No. 5 (Cal's Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat) and No. 17 (Virginia's Luca Corinteli and Carl Soderlund). Their sole loss was to Wake Forest's fourth-ranked Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim, 7-5.
At No. 2 singles, Blumberg was 5-0 with all five wins against ranked players and only one requiring a third set. After opening with an unfinished match in UNC's first-round win over VCU, he beat South Carolina's Harrison O'Keefe (#71), California's Andre Gorasson (#61), Wake Forest's Borna Goja (#45), Georgia's Wayne Montgomery (#33) and Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (#14). All are juniors or seniors except Goja, a freshman. Kwiatkowski hadn't lost since Blumberg defeated him in Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament play.
At No. 3 singles, Kelly was 4-1 in the tournament, with his only loss to Wake's Mansouri (#13). Against Virginia Kelly beat Soderlund, who has been ranked among the top 400 players in the world this spring.
“What a tournament Robert Kelly has had – I couldn't be prouder of that young man,” Paul said. “He's had an unbelievable season and grown so much. That was a big-time win last night (against Virginia).
At No. 6 singles, Boyden went 3-1 including three-set, match-clinching wins against Wake Forest (quarterfinals) and Georgia (semifinals), two of the most impactful wins in program history.
“He's grown so much this year and he's played like a champion,” Paul said. “He's our hardest worker in the classroom, he's got the best academic performance on the team, and he was admitted to Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition to all of that, he's the first one at practice every single day. What a year he's had.”
The same could be said of the Tar Heels.
2017 NCAA Men's All-Tournament team
No. 1 Doubles: William Blumberg/Robert Kelly – North Carolina
No. 2 Doubles: Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Alexander Ritschard – Virginia
No. 3 Doubles: Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone – Virginia
No. 1 Singles: Mikael Torpegaard – Ohio State
No. 2 Singles: William Blumberg – North Carolina
No. 3 Singles: Robert Kelly – North Carolina
No. 4 Singles: Collin Altamirano – Virginia
No. 5 Singles: J.C. Aragone – Virginia
No. 6 Singles: Blaine Boyden – North Carolina
Tar Heel Notes
• This year marked the first time that two ACC teams had met in the finals. UNC is just the second conference team ever to advance past the quarterfinals, with four-time champion Virginia the other.
• The last time two teams from the same conference met in the NCAA final was 2001, when two Southeastern Conference teams – Georgia and Tennessee – faced off.
