Stanford wins the Big Slam, Ohio State makes it 200 straight, Wake toogood, Ivy League no joke + My Sunday Preview

I knew it'd be hard for today's matches to follow up those from Friday but while a few of them came up short in the drama department the one that didn't was the "Big Slam" in Berkeley as Stanford pulled out a classic 4-3 win over rival Cal.  

Cal jumped out to the early lead by taking the doubles point with a 7-5 win at #3 doubles in the clinching match.  Stanford welcomed freshman David Hsu back into the singles lineup at 5 which shifted Nolan Paige to 6 while Cal made a switch at 5 and 6 and moved Greg Bayane up from 6 to 5 and dropped Wikberg from 5 to 6.  After dropping the doubles point the momentum shifted back to Stanford in singles as the Cardinal took 4 opening sets and managed to finish 3 of them off in straights as Tom Fawcett, John Morrissey, and "Rollin" Nolan Paige won at 1, 3, 6 to give Stanford a 3-1 lead.  Cal would answer back with wins from Filip Bergevi and Greg Bayane at 2 and 5 to tie it up at 3.  

All focus was centered on #4 singles where Cal freshman J.T. Nishimura had opened up a 5-2 lead in the 3rd set over Stanford junior Maciek Romanowicz and Nishimura was serving for the match. Nishimura fell behind 15-40 in his service game and after getting it back to the deciding point (40-40), which was also a match point, he would put a shot into the net to give Romanowicz the break. Romanowicz went up 40-15 on his 3-5 service game but then Nishimura hit a two-handed forehand winner to make it 40-30 and followed that up with a backhand winner past a drawn in Romanowicz to bring up the deciding point (40-40).  Nishimura chose the ad-court to receive the serve on what would be his final match point and Romanowicz landed his 1st serve out wide and as the outstretched arm of Nishimura deflected it back in play Romanowicz closed in toward the net and hit a volley into the open court for the hold.  Nishimura would now serve for the match for a 2nd time up 5-4 and he would quickly get broke at love as Romanowicz continued to play aggressively while Nishimura tightened up and had difficulty keeping the ball in play.  Romanowicz would then hold at 40-15 to go up 6-5 and would then race out to an 0-40 lead on the Nishimura serve. After a Romanowicz error made it 15-40 Nishimura wouldn't be able to keep the next one in play and with that Stanford had stunned its rival 4-3.


Cal recap

#39 Stanford 4, #14 Cal 3
Feb 21, 2015 at Berkeley, CA. (Hellman Tennis Complex)
Doubles:
1. No. 30 Bayane/Melton (Cal) def Morrissey/Stineman (Stanford) 6-3 2. Fawcett/Romanowicz (Stanford) def. #32 Goransson/Wikberg (Cal) 6-2
3. Bergevi/Engsted (Cal) def. Paige/Wilczynski (Stanford) 7-5
Singles
1. #28 Tom Fawcett (ST 14.12) def. #42 Andre Goransson (Cal 13.70) 6-2, 6-4
2. #114 Filip Bergevi (Cal 13.66) def. David Wilczynski (ST 13.72) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. John Morrissey (ST 14.07) def. Billy Griffith (Cal 13.68) 6-4, 6-1
4. Maciek Romanowicz (ST 13.28) def. J.T. Nishimura (Cal 13.86) 5-7, 7-5, 7-5
5. Greg Bayane (Cal 13.48) def. David Hsu (ST 13.98) 6-2, 6-7(7), 6-2
6. Nolan Paige (ST 13.37) def. Oskar Wikberg (Cal 13.30) 6-2, 6-3
Match Stats
Order of Finish:  Doubles (2,1,3)  Singles (6,3,1,2,5,4)

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of the current date so Tom Fawcett has a 14.12 UTR as of today 2/21. For more details about UTR check out their website

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In Columbus, the 184 people in attendance didn't realize they were witnessing the Buckeyes historic 200th consecutive home win with most having thought they hit that number against South Florida 2 weeks ago but as I reported it was actually 199 so today was 200.  The doubles point was the only real drama in this one with Ohio State taking the deciding match at #3 in a tiebreak.  In singles the Buckeyes took 4 1st sets and finished them all in straights and would also pick up a 3 set win from Ralf Steinbach at 5. Notre Dame's lone point would come at #1 singles as Quentin Monaghan cruised past Chris Diaz. 

Ohio State recap
Notre Dame recap

#9 Ohio State 6, #17 Notre Dame 1

Singles competition

1. #29 Quentin Monaghan (ND 14.28) def. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU 13.80) 6-1, 6-3

2. #30 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU 13.95) def. #92 Josh Hagar (ND 13.74) 6-2, 6-3

3. Herkko Pollanen (OSU 13.58) def. Eddy Covalschi (ND 13.13) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5)

4. #110 Hunter Callahan (OSU 13.90) def. Eric Schnurrenberger (ND 13.45) 6-2, 6-2

5. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU 13.91) def. Billy Pecor (ND 12.98) 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)

6. Kevin Metka (OSU 13.80) def. Nicolas Montoya (ND 12.48) 6-4, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. #7 Ralf Steinbach/Kevin Metka (OSU) def. #4 Alex Lawson/Billy Pecor (ND) 6-3

2. #17 Eddy Covalschi/Josh Hagar (ND) def. Herkko Pollanen/Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) 6-3

3. #36 Chris Diaz/Hunter Callahan (OSU) def. Quentin Monaghan/Eric Schnurrenberger (ND) 7-6(5)  

Match Notes:

Notre Dame 6-2; National ranking #17

Ohio State 11-3; National ranking #9

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,2,6,1,3,5)

Official: Marcus Lee T-2:43 A-184

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In Winston Salem, Wake Forest picked up the doubles point by winning at 1 and 2 then picked up 3 hard fought straight set wins at 1, 2, and 4 with 3 of the 6 sets going to a tiebreak.  Oklahoma State won at 5 and 6 then after the match had been clinched won a 10 point tiebreak in lieu of a 3rd set at #3 singles.  

Wake recap
OK State recap

#19 Wake Forest 4, #32 Oklahoma State 3

Feb 21, 2015 at Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)

Singles competition

1. #55 Noah Rubin (WF 14.79) def. #88 Jakob Sude (OKST 13.54) 6-3, 7-6 (3)

2. #14 Romain Bogaerts (WF 14.34) def. #87 Arjun Kadhe (OKST 13.57) 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7)

3. Lucas Gerch (OKST 13.82) def. Skander Mansouri (WF 13.07) 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (10), 1-0 (10-2)

4. #57 Jon Ho (WF 13.49) def. Lukas Finzelberg (OKST 13.82) 7-5, 6-3

5. Tristan Meraut (OKST 13.26) def. Christian Seraphim (WF 13.40) 6-3, 6-4

6. Nicolai Ferrigno (OKST 13.38) def. Keivon Tabrizi (WF 12.92) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. #50 Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WF) def. #10 Jakob Sude/Arjun Kadhe (OKST) 6-1

2. Romain Bogaerts/Keivon Tabrizi (WF) def. Tristan Meraut/Jurence Mendoza (OKST) 6-4

3. Nicolai Ferrigno/Lucas Gerch (OKST) def. Sam Bloom/Anthony Delcore (WF) 6-3

Match Notes

Oklahoma State 8-3, 0-0 Big 12; National ranking #32

Wake Forest 7-2, 0-0 ACC; National ranking #19

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (5,4,1,6,2,3)

T-2:49 A-234

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Saturday was a big day for the Ivy League as Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell all knocked off Power 5 schools. 

In Cambridge, Harvard justified its top 25 ranking by knocking off Minnesota 5-2.  Minnesota won a tight doubles point that came down to a tiebreaker at #2 but once singles got going so did the Crimson as they took 5 1st sets and ended up closing out 3 of those in straight sets while also picking up a pair of 3-set wins at 3 and 4.  

Harvard recap
Minnesota recap

#25 Harvard 5, #34 Minnesota 2

Singles:
1. #91 Denis Nguyen (HV 13.99) def. #25 Leandro Toledo (MN 14.01) 6-2, 6-4
2. Ruben Weber (MN 13.14) def. #80 Sebastian Beltrame (HV 13.21) 6-3, 7-6(5)
3. Nicky Hu (HV 13.78) def. Jack Hamburg (MN 13.15) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(8)
4. Alex Steinroeder (HV 13.37) def. Matic Spec (MN 13.60) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
5. Kenny Tao (HV 13.11) def. Felix Corwin (MN 13.56) 7-5, 7-6(6)
6. Brian Yeung (HV 13.19) def. Mathieu Froment (MN 13.04) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles:
1. Nguyen/Yeung (HV) def. Froment/Hamburg (MN) 7-5
2. Corwin/Toledo (MN) def. Beltrame/Hu (HV) 7-6(7)
3. Spec/Frueh (MN) def. Steinroeder/Solomon (HV) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,6,2,4,5,3)

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In Montgomery, Princeton advanced to the finals of the Blue Gray classic with a 4-0 rout over Clemson.  Princeton took the doubles point by winning at 1 and 3 then they took 5 1st sets with Zack McCourt, Joshua Yablon, and Luke Gamble quickly closing out their opponents at 1, 3, and 6 to complete the shutout.  This was Princeton's 2nd big win in as many days after they beat #30 Mississippi State 4-3 on Friday.  The Tigers will face #24 South Florida in Sunday's championship match at 1pm eastern.  

Princeton recap
Clemson recap

#50 Princeton 4, #35 Clemson 0

Doubles

1. Zack McCourt/Thomas Colautti (PU) def. Hunter Harrington/Luke Johnson (CU) 6-4

2. Hampton Drake/Christian Harris (CU) led Alexander Day/Luke Gamble (PU) 4-3

3. Diego Vives/Joshua Yablon (PU) def. Austin Ansari/Alejandro Augusto (CU) 6-2

Singles

1. No. 117 Zack McCourt (PU 13.55) def. No. 90 Hunter Harrington (CU 13.64) 6-3, 6-4

2. Alejandro Augusto (CU 13.23) led Thomas Colautti (PU 13.02) 7-6, 1-1, DNF

3. Joshua Yablon (PU 13.36) def. Hampton Drake (CU 12.79) 6-4, 7-5

4. Alexander Day (PU 13.15) led Austin Ansari (CU 12.89) 6-3, 1-6, 5-1, DNF

5. Kial Kaiser (PU 12.29) led Daffra Sanon (CU 12.96) 6-2, 6-5, DNF

6. Luke Gamble (PU 12.84) def. Luke Johnson (CU 12.74) 6-4, 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,6,3)

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In Ithaca, Cornell improved to 4-4 with a 4-3 upset over #27 Penn State in a match played with regular scoring. Penn State won the doubles point by winning at 1 and 3 doubles but then Cornell won 5 of 6 first sets and were able to close out 4, 5, and 6 in straight sets to go up 3-1.  Penn State would turn it around and pick up 3-set wins at 1 and 2 to tie it up at 3 but Penn State's #3 Matt Barry would be unable to close out his match in straight sets dropping the 2nd set in a tiebreak after taking the first.  Cornell's Bernardo Casares Rosa would close the door in the 3rd set and take it 6-2 in the 3rd to clinch the win for the Big Red.  What started out as such a promising season for Penn State has quickly gone down the drain.

Penn State recap

#64 Cornell 4, #27 Penn State 3

Doubles:

1. Laaribi/Stakhovsky (PSU) def. Casares Rosa/Vrabel (COR), 8-7(2).

2. Barry/Fennell (PSU) vs. Fleck/Sinclari (COR), 4-7, unfinished.

3. Reilly/Trkulja (PSU) def. Nguyen/Vinti (COR), 8-6.

Order of Finish: 3,1

Singles:

1. #81 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU 13.57) def. Stefan Vinti (COR 13.09) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

2. Alex Fennell (PSU 13.19) def. Sam Fleck (COR 12.87) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

3. Bernardo Casares Rosa (COR 13.14) def. Matt Barry (PSU 13.47) 3-6,7-6,6-2

4. Colin Sinclair (COR 12.81) def. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU 12.76) 6-4, 6-4.

5. Chris Vrabel (COR 12.65) def. Roman Trkulja (PSU 12.91) 6-3, 7-5.

6. Dylan Brown (COR 11.86) def. Nika Dolidze (PSU 12.43) 6-2, 7-5.

Match Notes:

Penn State 3-6; National ranking #27

Cornell 4-4; National ranking #64

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (5,4,6,1,2,3)

T-3:58

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Sunday Preview:


#23 Vanderbilt (8-2) at #25 Harvard (8-2)- 12pm est - Harvard Twitter & Video - Both teams have beaten Minnesota over the last 2 days with Vandy squeaking out a 4-3 win on Friday while Harvard throttled the Gophers pretty good on Saturday by a 5-2.  Vandy is 7-2 in doubles while Harvard is 8-2 so it should be a pretty exciting start to the the match.  I could see Harvard winning the match despite dropping the doubles point but I don't see Vanderbilt finding 4 points without the doubles point.  Vandy has now played in 6 matches that have finished 4-3 while Harvard has played in 5 that were either 4-2 or 4-3 so both teams are used to the pressure.  I like Vandy in doubles and Austin and Valent in singles but I like Beltrame, Hu, Tao, and Yeung for the Crimson.  Prediction: Harvard 4-3

Projected Lineup
1. #8 Gonzales Austin (VU 14.40) vs. #91 Denis Nguyen (HV 13.99)
2. Rhys Johnson (VU 13.34) vs. #80 Sebastian Beltrame (HV 13.21)
3. Kris Yee (VU 13.73) vs. Nicky Hu (HV 13.78)
4. Danny Valent (VU 13.74) vs. Alex Steinroeder (HV 13.37)
5. Baker Newman (VU 13.00) vs. Kenny Tao (HV 13.11)
6. Suresh Eswaran (VU 12.87) vs. Brian Yeung (HV 13.19)



#8 North Carolina (9-4) at #1 Oklahoma (10-1) - 1pm est - Live Scoring - Both of these teams will look to rebound after suffering tough losses on road with UNC coming off a gut wrenching 4-3 loss to #10 Texas that saw Ronnie Schneider get broke 4 times while serving for the match while Oklahoma suffered its 1st loss of the season when it's bottom 3 let them down. These teams met last Saturday during the NTIs with Oklahoma winning 4-1 (box score below) so North Carolina will need to do something really special to avoid the same fate.  In my opinion the only spots in play for UNC are at 1, 4, and 6 because I have a hard time seeing Ronnie Schneider rebounding from Friday's loss against a guy as good as Axel Alvarez especially since Alvarez rocked Ronnie pretty good last week, Dane Webb has had Brett Clark's number, and Steiro has won a combined 4 games in his last 2 matches.  With Esben Hess-Olesen sidelined North Carolina doesn't really have any other viable options if they sit Steiro so they'll probably ride him out and hope for the best.  I wouldn't be totally shocked if John Roddick decided to make a change at #6 singles because Jose Salazar has now dropped 3 straight so maybe we'll see Florin Bragusi. I like Harris, Alvarez, Webb, and Ghilea for OU and Murray and Kelly for UNC.  Prediction:  Oklahoma 4-3

Projected Lineup:
1. #6 Brayden Schnur (UNC 14.54) vs. #26 Andrew Harris (OU 14.69) 
2. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC 13.91) vs. #11 Axel Alvarez (OU 14.48)  
3. Brett Clark (UNC 13.75) vs. #31 Dane Webb (OU 14.17) 
4. #104 Jack Murray (UNC 13.83) vs. Spencer Papa (OU 13.91) 
5. Oystein Steiro (UNC 13.66) vs. #63 Alex Ghilea (OU 14.11) 
6. #75 Robert Kelly (UNC 13.54) vs. Jose Salazar (OU 13.72) 

#2 Oklahoma 4, #7 North Carolina 1 - 2015 NTI Quarterfinals

Doubles competition

1. Axel Alvarez/Dane Webb (OKLA) def. Brayden Schnur/Oystein Steiro (UNC) 6-1

2. Brett Clark/Robert Kelly (UNC) def. Spencer Papa/Andrew Harris (OKLA) 6-4

3. Jack Murray/Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. Jose Salazar/Alex Ghilea (OKLA) 6-3

Singles competition

1. #26 Andrew Harris (OKLA) def. #6 Brayden Schnur (UNC) 7-6(5), 6-3

2. #11 Axel Alvarez (OKLA) def. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) 6-1, 6-4

3. #31 Dane Webb (OKLA) vs. Brett Clark (UNC) 6-4, 3-6, 3-0, unfinished

4. Spencer Papa (OKLA) def. Oystein Steiro (UNC) 6-4, 6-2

5. #63 Alex Ghilea (OKLA) def. #104 Jack Murray (UNC) 7-5, 6-1

6. Jose Salazar (OKLA) vs. #75 Robert Kelly (UNC) 0-6, 6-3, 4-5, unfinished

Match Notes:

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (2,4,5,1)


#12 UCLA (6-4) at #5 Baylor (7-2) - 1pm est - Live Scoring & Video & Blog - This will be a matchup between one team on the rise and the other on the fall.  Baylor had a great weekend in Chicago in beating both Virginia and Duke before seemingly letting Oklahoma off the hook in the semifinals while UCLA continues to struggle to put away the close matches with the Bruins dropping all 4 this year where they've yielded at least 2 points (a pair of 4-3 and 4-2 losses).  Last year Baylor went into LA and stunned UCLA 4-2 so the Bruins will do their best to try and return the favor however I just don't see the horses in the barn to make that happen.  UCLA just hasn't the consistency it's used to with Mkrtchian, Brymer, Sell, and Rapp a combined 13-12 in dual match play while both McDonald and Redlicki have been the bright spots with those guys a combined 14-1.  UCLA is 8-2 in doubles while Baylor is 9-0 so it wouldn't be surprising to see all 3 courts go to a tiebreak which is what happened last year.  Baylor's only weak spot this year has been at #4 where its guys are a combined 2-4 with Galeano 0-3.  UCLA's best chance at the upset is to take the doubles point and to get wins from McDonald, Redlicki, and Sell with each of those matches near toss-ups.  UCLA will keep it close but Baylor pulls through with Tschoutakian, Lupieri, Galeano, and Zsiga winning. Prediction: Baylor 5-2

Projected Lineup:
1. #2 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA 14.84) vs. #10 Julian Lenz (BU 14.77)
2. #44 Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA 13.52) vs. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU 14.22)
3. Martin Redlicki (UCLA 14.23) vs. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU 14.30)
4. Gage Brymer (UCLA 13.83) vs. Diego Galeano (BU 13.78)
5. Karue Sell (14.16) vs. Vince Schneider (BU 13.35)
6. Austin Rapp (12.89) vs. Mate Zsiga (BU 13.84)


#43 Tulsa (8-6) at #13 Texas A&M (3-1) - 1pm est - Live Scoring - Tulsa always plays a tough schedule and things won't get any easier as they head to College Station to take an Aggie team coming off an upset over #1 Oklahoma.  Tulsa is coming off a 4-3 loss to Oklahoma State and they seem to still be trying to find that right mix within the lineup as the newcomers, Jose Gonzalez and Mitchell Pritchard, continue to jump around.  Tulsa was also without its #4 Matthew Kirby (12.88) during the Oklahoma State match so we'll see if he's back in there.  Last year Texas A&M rolled to a 6-1 win at Tulsa with all 6 singles matches finishing in straight sets and this year's match will probably be about the same.  Prediction:  Texas A&M 6-1

Projected Lineup:
1. Or-Ram Harel (Tulsa 13.23) vs. #45 Shane Vinsant (aTm 14.35)
2. Alejandro Espejo (Tulsa 13.80) vs. #43 Jeremy Efferding (aTm 14.09)
3. Jose Gonzalez (Tulsa 13.49) vs. #36 Harrison Adams (aTm 13.97)
4. Carlos Bautista (Tulsa 12.63) vs. Arthur Rinderknech (aTm 13.87)
5. Mitchell Pritchard (Tulsa 12.55) vs. #51 AJ Catanzariti (aTm 13.96)
6. Dylan McCloskey (Tulsa 12.58) vs. Max Lunkin (aTm 12.57)



Follow these matches and others through the links on my Live Scoring Page