Thursday Recap: Buckeyes Top The Bulls, Columbia Wins at SMU, & Action Gets Underway in San Diego

After a calm Wednesday the pace picked up on Thursday with Ohio State taking on South Florida while the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic got underway with four close matches at two different sites.

No. 4 Ohio State made its outdoors debut in Tampa and despite getting tested the Buckeyes still had enough in the tank to get past No. 16 South Florida 4-3.  Ohio State's Chris Diaz didn't play in doubles (reasons unknown) but the Buckeyes still managed to win at No. 1 and No. 2. Diaz's normal partner, Hugo Di Feo, and Matt Mendez led 5-3 at No. 3 when the point was clinched.

Noles Shock #1 UNC, Razorbacks Upset #7 Texas A&M, Clemson beats #38 Notre Dame

Friday was a day of upsets with the biggest shocker coming in Tallahassee as No. 51 Florida State stunned No. 1 and previously unbeaten North Carolina 4-3.  Florida State was coming off a tough 4-3 loss to Miami last Sunday so the thought of them beating the No. 1 team in the country had to be a long shot at best coming in.

FSU's Aziz Dougaz and Michael Rinaldi were first off the court at No. 2 doubles as they defeated UNC's Brayden Schnur and Jack Murray 6-1. UNC's Andrew Gores and Ronnie Schneider won 6-3 at No. 3 over Jose Gracia and Terrance Whitehurst but FSU took the doubles point when Benjamin Lock and Marco Nunez defeated Brett Clark and Robert Kelly 6-4 at No. 1.

The Madness Has BEGUN!!

The 1st round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament is in the books and while there were plenty of 4-0 blowouts (20) there were several nail-biters with 5 matches finishing with a 4-3 score and 2 of those 5 finishing in a 3rd set tiebreak.  The weather played a big role on Day 1 with several regionals experiencing delays and some having to move indoors.

Quick Summary:

• #1 seeds went 16-0 versus #4 seeds with 15 of 16 being a 4-0 final.  Va Tech/ETSU 4-1 was the exception.
• #2 seeds were 13-3 versus #3 seeds 
• Drake, Pepperdine, and San Diego State were the #3 seeds to crash the party. 
• 20 matches finished with a 4-0 final
• 4 matches finished with a 4-1 final
• 3 matches finished with a 4-2 final
• 5 matches finished with a 4-3 finals (2 were 7-6 in 3rd)  
• Teams winning the doubles point went 24-7
• San Diego State, Pepperdine, Stanford, Minnesota, Columbia, Northwestern, and Drake were the 7 teams to lose the doubles point but yet win the match.  
• Regionals delayed by weather: USC, UCLA, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, Illinois, Oklahoma

NCAA 1st Round Previews: USC & Duke Regionals

USC Regional
Marks Stadium - Los Angeles, CA

[7] USC (22-4) vs. [49-64] Idaho (16-11) - Friday 4pm - The Vandals are in the NCAAs for the 2nd year in a row after beating Northern Arizona 4-2 in the Big Sky Championship. #8 USC got the Pac 12's automatic bid after beating #23 Stanford 4-3 in the Pac 12 Championship.

Doubles Records: USC 15-11, Idaho 15-12

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: USC 86, Idaho 71

Aztec Empire too strong for Bears, Trojans pushed by Toreros, Cowboys lasso in the Runnin' Rebs

The San Diego area was a hotbed of activity on Thursday with close to a dozen college teams in town to participate in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championships.  Several of them decided to take advantage of the warm sunny weather by scheduling a dual match the day before the individual tournament started and the results were pretty close across the board.

The biggest upset came at San Diego State where the 60th ranked Aztecs upset #22 Cal 4-2.   Cal made a shift in the singles lineup and moved Greg Bayane up to 3 from his usual spot at 5/6 and with that Billy Griffith and J.T. Nishimura each played 1 spot lower than normal.  The changes didn't pay off as SDSU swept all 3 spots in addition to taking the all important doubles point.

Down Goes #1, UNC unable to finish, Vandy wins 4-3 again, & a look ahead to Saturday

What a start to the weekend it was with 2 thrillers taking place 100 miles apart as Texas A&M took out the new #1 Oklahoma 4-3 in College Station while Texas's Lloyd Glasspool refused to lay down as Texas knocked off North Carolina 4-3 in Austin.  

We'll start off in College Station where #1 Oklahoma came to town expecting to waltz all over Texas A&M but the Aggies had other plans as they took the all important doubles point and were then able to pick up 3 1st sets and ultimately pulled off the stunner when freshman Arthur Rinderknech came back from a set down to knock off Oklahoma freshman Spencer Papa 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 at the #4 spot. Oklahoma swept the top 3 spots in the lineup and usually if you do that you've got to feel pretty good about your chances but Texas A&M was able to lock down the bottom 3 plus take the doubles point so there you have it - upset city.  

aTm recap
OU recap

#13 Texas A&M 4, #1 Oklahoma 3

George P Mitchell Tennis Center

Singles competition

1. #11 Axel Alvarez (OU) def. #45 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) 6-4, 6-2

2. #26 Andrew Harris (OU) def. #43 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU) 6-4, 6-1

3. #31 Dane Webb (OU) def. #36 Harrison Adams (TAMU) 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 7-5

*4. Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Spencer Papa (OU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1

5. #51 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) def. #63 Alex Ghilea (OU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1

6. Max Lunkin (TAMU) def. Jose Salazar (OU) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. #8 Shane Vinsant/Harrison Adams (TAMU) def. #5 Dane Webb/Axel Alvarez (OU) 6-4

2. Andrew Harris/Alex Ghilea (OU) def. #13 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) 6-3

3. AJ Catanzariti/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Spencer Papa/Florin Bragusi (OU) 7-5

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

*Clinched Match