University of Minnesota junior men's tennis player D.J. Geatz (Minneapolis, Minn.) has earned one of 64 bids for the 2006 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championships. Geatz will make his first career appearance in the national singles tournament. He is one of five players from the Big Ten to earn a berth in the 2006 Singles Championships. Geatz was the first alternate in the initial announcement of the selections, but was inserted into the bracket after a competitor dropped out of the tournament with an injury.
The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 24-29 at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., following the conclusion of the team championship (May 20-23).
Geatz, a 2006 All-Big Ten selection, is currently ranked 59th in the nation in singles. The son of Head Coach David Geatz, D.J. has played all but three of his matches at No. 1 singles. A native of Minneapolis, Geatz began the season with a quarterfinal appearance at the 2005 Big Ten Singles Championship before storming out of the gates in the dual season to vault up the national rankings. Unranked in singles to start the year, Geatz rose to as high as No. 49 after posting a 7-6 record vs. ranked opponents with wins over then- Nos. 32, 44, 47, 50, 55, 110 and 125. For the season, Geatz owns a 20-15 singles record and an 8-13 record in doubles dual matches.
Last season, Minnesota’s Avery Ticer lost in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Singles Championships in College Station, Texas. Ticer, then ranked 31st in the nation, lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to No. 16 Franticek Babej of South Alabama. Ticer was making his first career appearance in the national singles tournament. Minnesota has placed a singles player in each of the last six NCAA Singles Championships.
The bracket for the 2006 NCAA Singles Championships will be announced on Tuesday, May 23. The top 16 seeds for the 2006 NCAA Singles Championships and the competitors from the Big Ten are listed below.
Seeds 1-8
1. Benjamin Kohlloeffel - UCLA
2. John Isner - Georgia
3. Luigi D’Agord - Miami
4. Lars Poerschke - Baylor
5. Ludovic Walter - Duke
6. Conor Niland - California
7. Arnau Brugues - Tulsa
8. Travis Helgeson - Texas
Seeds 9-16, listed alphabetically by last name
Matt Bruch - Stanford
Daniel Byrnes - Oklahoma State
Ryler DeHeart - Illinois
Somdev Devvarman - Virginia
Scott Doerner - Pepperdine
Arnaud Lecloerec - Virginia Commonwealth
Raian Luchici - North Carolina
Jerry Makowski - Texas A&M
Big Ten Competitors
Kevin Anderson - Illinois
Ryler DeHeart - Illinois
D.J. Geatz - Minnesota
Bryan Koniecko - Ohio State
Matko Maravic - Michigan
