Kaplan, Kronemann Give UC Irvine Its 1st Tennis All-Americans

Mark Kaplan and Trevor Kronemann of UC Irvine both advanced to the round of 16 in singles play at the NCAA Division I championships Wednesday at Athens, Ga.

Both automatically become Division I All-Americans, the first in Irvine’s history.

Kaplan defeated Peter Palandjian of Harvard, 7-5, 7-5, in the first round and Matt Litsky of Columbia, 6-3, 6-1, in the second round. Kaplan plays Felix Barrientos of LSU in the third round today.

Kronemann defeated Shawn Taylor of Florida, 7-6, 6-1, in the first round and Mike Wolfe of Kansas, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round. He plays Shelby Cannon of Tennessee today.

Julian Barham and Darrin Yates of Irvine defeated Brian Page and Matt Frooman of Clemson, 7-6, 7-6, in the opening round of doubles. Kronemann and Kaplan lost to Vince Van Geldren and Kent Kinneare of Clemson, 6-4, 7-5.