Sunday Recap: Illinois, Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas A&M All Win Big

It was expected to be a dynamite day with 4 matches taking place between top 15 teams but in the end we got 4 lopsided matches with 3 of the 4 wrapped up in under 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Illinois put an end to Ohio State's 97 match regular season Big 10 winning streak with a 4-0 win.  The Illini surprised many by taking the doubles point with wins at 2 and 3 doubles.  Illinois' #2 team of Aron Hiltzik and Ross Guignon got a break to start the match and never looked and rolled to an 8-5 win.  Below is match point which includes a swing and miss by Diaz.

The Illinois' #3 team of Farris Gosea and Aleks Vukic fell behind 3-1 before taking the next 5 games to go up 6-3.  A couple of service hold later and Illinois had the doubles point.



Ohio State made a last minute change to the singles lineup as Ty Tucker removed its #3 Herkko Pollanen which moved everyone from 4 down up a slot with Matt Mendez coming in at #6.  I was told it was a coaches decision by Tucker and it may have had something to do with Pollanen's play in doubles.

Illinois jumped out to early break lead at 1, 2, 3, and 5 singles and really never looked back as Jared Hiltzik, Tim Kopinski, and Aleks Vukic completed the shutout with the singles portion taking just under an hour and twenty minutes.  Play was stopped after the clinch, which isn't typically the norm for the Big 10, but considering how lopsided the match was I think Ohio State wanted to call it a day and get back on the road to head home.

Below are the clinching points in each singles match plus this youtube link has some other highlights that I shot most from my phone - most of the singles is Vukic/Steinbach:

Illinois recap with interviews from Brad Dancer and Ross Guignon and a highlight package they put together via Illinois Sports Dept.

Ohio State recap

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of March 29th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

#3 Illinois 4, #11 Ohio State 0

Mar 29, 2015 at Urbana, Ill. (Atkins Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. #22 Jared Hiltzik (ILL 14.46) def. #32 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU 14.03) 6-2, 6-4

2. #64 Farris Gosea (ILL 14.50) vs. #44 Chris Diaz (OSU 14.01) 6-2, 4-3, unfinished

3. #42 Tim Kopinski (ILL 13.98) def. Hunter Callahan (OSU 13.88) 6-1, 6-3

4. Kevin Metka (OSU 13.79) vs. #52 Aron Hiltzik (ILL 13.94) 7-6 (1), 1-2, unfinished

5. #50 Aleks Vukic (ILL 14.27) def. #83 Ralf Steinbach (OSU 13.84) 6-2, 6-1

6. Matt Mendez (OSU 12.97) vs. Toshiki Matsuya (ILL 13.11) 6-0, 5-2 unfinished

Doubles competition

1. #75 Jared Hiltzik/Tim Kopinski (ILL) vs. #5 Kevin Metka/Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 7-7

2. Aron Hiltzik/Ross Guignon (ILL) def. #55 Hunter Callahan/Chris Diaz (OSU) 8-5

3. Farris Gosea/Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. #74 Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 8-5

Match Notes:

Ohio State 16-7, 4-1; National ranking #11

Illinois 17-3, 5-0; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,1,3)

T-2:20

Who Wins On Sunday in Champaign

Illinois	33 (68%)
Ohio State	15 (31%)

Votes so far: 48 

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#8 Virginia extended its ACC winning streak to 131 matches with a 6-1 win over #4 Duke in a match that was closer than the final score indicated.  The doubles portion wasn't close at all with Virginia crushing Duke on all 3 courts but singles was much tighter with Duke getting 3 1st sets and having a break lead at 1 and 2 before Mitchell Frank and Ryan Shane rallied to take the opening set.  Virginia did a much better job closing out its matches with Frank, Shane, and Collin Altamirano each winning in straight sets. Both J.C. Aragone and Henrik Wiersholm would rally from a set down to win in 3. Duke's lone point came from Raphael Hemmeler who came back from 5-3 down in the 1st to win 10 of the next 11 games and take the match at #3 singles 7-5, 6-1 over Thai-Son Kwiatkowski. 

Virginia recap

"I really want to thank the crowd that gave us a great atmosphere to play in today," said head coach Brian Boland. "It was a great day of tennis and we are happy to get a win over a tremendous Duke team. I am glad that we were able to get to play at Snyder in front of what I consider the best fans in college tennis."

The win extended Virginia's win streak against conference opponents (regular season and tournaments) to 131 consecutive matches, the longest streak in ACC history in any sport.

"We played some tremendous doubles," said Boland. "We continue to get better every day in doubles. The guys have really embraced that part of our program. Luca continues to lead our team in doubles and he and Ryan are playing at a really high level at No. 1."

"I was really impressed with a lot of players today," said Boland. "Mitchell is such a great leader and gave us a lot of energy on the court today. I was pleased with how Ryan stayed composed at the end. He was serving to close out the match, had triple-matchpoint and got broken, but came right back and broke to serve it out again. That isn't easy to do. It was also great to see Henrik get the win at the end as he played an impressive tiebreaker."

Duke recap

#8 Virginia 6, #4 Duke 1

Mar 29, 2015 at Charlottesville, VA (Snyder Tennis Center) 

Doubles:

1. #8 Shane/Corinteli (UVa) def. #12 Alvarez/Hemmeler (Duke) 8-3

2. #54 Styslinger/Kwiatkowski (UVa) vs. Levine/Tahir (Duke) 7-2 DNF

3. Altamirano/Frank (UVa) def. Mengel/Semenzato (Duke) 8-1

Order of Finish: 3,1

Singles:

1. #29 Mitchell Frank (UVa 14.89) def. #11 Nicolas Alvarez (Duke 14.41) 7-5, 6-3

2. #6 Ryan Shane (UVa 14.54) def. #41 Jason Tahir (Duke 13.84) 7-6(3), 7-5

3. #101 Raphael Hemmeler (Duke 14.14) def. #10 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVa 14.76) 7-5, 6-1

4. #55 Collin Altamirano (UVa 14.75) def. Bruno Semenzato (Duke 13.94) 6-1, 6-4

5. J.C. Aragone (UVa 13.94) def. Josh Levine (Duke 12.71) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2

6. Henrik Wiersholm (UVa 13.55) def. TJ Pura (Duke 13.55) 6-7(2), 6-3, 10-2

Order of Finish: 4,3,5,2,1,6

T-3:20 - clinched in 2:52

Who Wins on Sunday in Charlottesville

Virginia	47 (90%)
Duke	5 (9%)

Votes so far: 52

Who Ends Virginia's ACC Record 127 Match Conference Winning Streak

Duke	8 (10%)
Virginia Tech	3 (3%)
North Carolina	5 (6%)
Wake Forest	9 (11%)
Not Happening in 2015	54 (68%)

Votes so far: 79
Poll closed

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Oklahoma just keeps on winning as the #1 Sooners rolled over arch rival Texas 4-1.   The doubles point came down to a tiebreak at 2 but OU's Andrew Harris and Alex Ghilea would pull it out 7-3 to give Oklahoma the 1-0 lead.  Oklahoma would take the opening set on 5 of 6 courts and would get straight set wins from Andrew Harris, Axel Alvarez, and Spencer Papa at 1, 2, and 5.  Texas got its lone point at #3 singles when Adrien Berkowicz knocked off Dane Webb 6-4, 6-3.

Oklahoma recap

“I think it is special,” head coach John Roddick said. “We always seem to get our biggest crowd of the year, and we had another big one today. I think it means a lot to our lettermen and some of the other guys who took a pounding from them for years. I know they enjoy that and our guys enjoy playing in front of that many people.”

“That was huge to get doubles,” Roddick said. “We have been getting better each match. On three we had three or four break points that could have evened that one up. When it is that short you have to give yourself a chance and I liked what I saw. We played great at one again. Our doubles has come miles from four or five weeks ago.”

“In the end there was a lot of energy,” sophomore Andrew Harris said. “It pumped us all up. We know once we win the doubles point we are very very hard to beat. That gave us confidence.”

“Axel went out and took care of business,” Roddick said. “He played the way he needed to play to make the guy feel like he didn’t have a chance.”

“I was just really excited,” Harris said. “I knew leading up to this match it would be a great opportunity. You don’t get to play No. 1 in the country very often. I just really focused and took every chance I got. I was really focused and it showed. “

“Andrew beating the no. 1 player in the country—that’s how he can play when he really focuses and doesn’t give any free points away,” Roddick said. “That was a great effort.”

“Spencer closed it out well,” Roddick said. “He dealt with a little bit of adversity, but he handled it really well. He was able to close it out. The first three chances we had to close matches out, we did it. That’s what we want to do.”

Video

Texas recap

#1 Oklahoma 4, #7 Texas 1

03/29/15 at Norman, OK (Headington Family Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. #13 Andrew Harris (OU 14.74) def. #1 Soren Hess-Olesen (UT 15.14) 6-1, 6-3

2. #2 Axel Alvarez Llamas (OU 14.59) def. #34 Lloyd Glasspool (UT 13.95) 6-1, 6-2

3. #72 Adrien Berkowicz (UT 13.81) def. #23 Dane Webb (OU 14.31) 6-4, 6-3

4. #65 Alex Ghilea (OU 14.15) vs. George Goldhoff (UT 13.65) 7-5, 5-2, unfinished

5. Spencer Papa (OU 13.83) def. Nick Naumann (UT 13.78) 6-4, 7-5

6. Florin Bragusi (OU 13.51) vs. Clement Homs (UT 13.36) 6-2, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished

Doubles competition

1. #6 Axel Alvarez Llamas/Dane Webb (OU) def. #41 Lloyd Glasspool/Soren Hess-Olesen (UT) 6-3

2. Andrew Harris/Alex Ghilea (OU) def. Adrien Berkowicz/George Goldhoff (UT) 7-6 (7-3)

3. Nick Naumann/Michael Riechmann (UT) def. Florin Bragusi/Spencer Papa (OU) 6-3

Match Notes

Texas 15-3, 1-1; National ranking #7; Regional ranking #2

Oklahoma 19-1, 2-0; National ranking #1

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

T-2:18

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Texas A&M recap

“Obviously we got off to a good start winning the doubles point against Ole Miss,” Texas A&M men’s tennis head coach Steve Denton said. “I thought our guys dealt with some difficult blustery conditions, the guys competed very well against Ole Miss. I was pleased with the effort, especially after having to change our doubles lineup, they made a difference for us. Our doubles teams really made a difference for us and we needed the wins in both matches today.”

“Jordi is really starting to play some ball, he worked really hard the first month learning how to play college tennis,” Denton said. “He waited his turn and is really coming on lately. He played a really good match against [William] Kallberg, a senior that played two for them most of last season. For Jordi to win the first set that convincingly, then come back and play a really good tiebreaker in the second set was really good for us.”

“Our younger players came through for us pretty well,” Denton added. “With Jordi and AJ both winning tie-breakers in the second set, that really helped us secure that team victory. The man of the match was probably Max Lunkin, he did a really great job in doubles with Shane [Vinsant]. He was the best player on the court and was able to clinch the match for us. I’m really proud of him because he has been working really hard in practice.”

Ole Miss recap

"They guys tried hard, but we just could not seem to catch a break today," head coach Toby Hansson said. "The margins are small and today there were not on our side. Hats off to Texas A&M, they deserved the win."

#9 Texas A&M 4, #13 Ole Miss 0

March 29, 2015 at College Station, TX (George P Mitchell Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. #59 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU 14.23) vs. #15 Nik Scholtz (OM 14.18) 6-3, 5-3, unf

2. #84 Stefan Lindmark (OM 14.19) vs. #67 Shane Vinsant (TAMU 14.16) 7-5, 4-3, unf

3. Gustav Hansson (OM 13.76) vs. Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU 14.11) 6-4, 5-5, unf

4. #79 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU 14.27) def. Zvonimir Babic (OM 12.86) 6-1, 7-6 (3)

5. Jordi Arconada (TAMU 13.36) def. William Kallberg (OM 13.35) 6-3, 7-6 (1)

6. Max Lunkin (TAMU 12.99) def. Vinod Gowda (OM 12.85) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. #32 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) def. Nik Scholtz/Zvonimir Babic (OM) 6-2

2. Max Lunkin/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) def. Gustav Hansson/Stefan Lindmark (OM) 6-2

3. William Kallberg/Grey Hamilton (OM) def. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) 6-3

Match Notes

Ole Miss 13-6, 5-3; National ranking #13

Texas A&M 13-3, 8-1; National ranking #9

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

T-2:06

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Virginia Tech held off a late rally by North Carolina as Andreas Bjerrehus won the final 3 games at #1 singles to propel Virginia Tech to the 4-3 win.  Both teams were missing starters with UNC's #1 Brayden Schnur out for the 7th match in a row while Virginia Tech was missing its #1/#2 Amerigo Contini and #5/#6 Florian Nicoud.

Virginia Tech recap

“This was a great win for our team,” said head coach Jim Thompson. “North Carolina beat us earlier in the season in a close match, so it was good to see the guys come out here today and turn it around in another close match. This is another one of those wins that will help to build our confidence going into a stretch of road matches.”

North Carolina recap

#16 Virginia Tech 4, #14 North Carolina 3

3/29/2015 at Blacksburg, Va. (Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. #45 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT 13.78) def. #24 Ronnie Schneider (UNC 14.22) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3

2. #69 Brett Clark (UNC 13.75) def. #109 Joao Monteiro (VT 13.79) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

3. Jack Murray (UNC 13.96) def. Hunter Koontz (VT 13.65) 1-6, 6-4, 6-1

4. Edoardo Tessaro (VT 13.21) def. #99 Robert Kelly (UNC 13.60) 6-4, 7-5

5. Jai Corbett (VT 12.79) def. Oystein Steiro (UNC 13.44) 6-3, 6-3

6. Aaron Gomez (VT 12.98) def. Stuart DePaolo (UNC 12.51) 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4)

Doubles competition

1. #64 Andreas Bjerrehus/Hunter Koontz (VT) vs. #27 Esben Hess-Olesen/Oystein Steiro (UNC) 7-3, unf

2. Brett Clark/Robert Kelly (UNC) def. Joao Monteiro/Edoardo Tessaro (VT) 8-4

3. Jack Murray/Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. Jai Corbett/Florian Nicoud (VT) 8-3

Match Notes:

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

Who is the biggest threat to the USC men in the Pac 12

UCLA	43 (69%)
Stanford	9 (14%)
Cal	10 (16%)

Votes so far: 62