Born-Siljestrom Make NCAA Finals

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee's Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom continue to add to the record books, winning in three sets on Saturday and straight sets on Sunday to advance to the national title match at the NCAA Doubles Championships in Athens, Ga.

The Blue Raider tandem will play eighth-ranked Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe of Illinois at 11 a.m. CT Monday. Live video from the match may be found at georgiadogs.com.

Born-Siljestrom won 6-3, 7-6 (5), on Sunday over Virginia's second-ranked Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey to advance to the finals. They are the first Middle Tennessee players to ever reach the finals of the NCAA Championships and made it one step further this season after the duo lost in the semifinals of this tournament in 2006.

"It was pretty exciting. We played on center court and we played very, very well," head coach Dale Short said. "I was surprised how well the guys stepped up and how well they played [Sunday]. They've played with great confidence this week and hopefully we can continue that on Monday. We played some fantastic points in the tiebreaker and that was a big difference in the match."

On Saturday in the quarterfinals, the Middle Tennessee duo lost the first set in a tiebreaker but got three breaks in the final two sets for a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, victory over Florida's third-ranked Jesse Levine and Greg Ouellette.

"Andreas struggled with his serve and it affected the rest of his game, but the guys were never broken in the match [against Levine-Ouellette]," Short said. "We played one of the worst sets of tennis all year in the first set and lost in a tiebreaker. The guys stepped up their play after that and played much better to get a victory over a very good team."

Born-Siljestrom won the 2005 ITA All-American Championships, one of three national championship tournaments each year in collegiate tennis. The tandem has lost in the finals of the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships the last two years, the second leg of the collegiate grand slam. Middle Tennessee has won three national championships in tennis, all at the All-American Championships (two in doubles, one in singles).

Full results and tournament information may be found at http://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8800&ATCLID=751695.