National Indoors Semifinals

A great start to the day in Chicago as Oklahoma comes back from getting shellacked in doubles to win 4 singles matches and knock off fellow Big 12 member Baylor 4-2. Baylor looked as fired up today as it did yesterday and it showed during the doubles point but once singles got underway that emotion started to fade as Oklahoma really established itself on the top 4 courts. Oklahoma took the opening set on 1, 2, 3, and 4 while Baylor was able to pick up opening sets at 5 and 6.

Tony Lupieri was one of yesterday's heroes for Baylor but he just didn't seem to have the same giddy-up in his step today and Dane Webb really pushed him all over the court in route to a 6-4, 6-0 win at #3 singles.  Axel Alvarez would put Oklahoma ahead 2-1 when he out worked Max Tchoutakian at #2 winning 6-4, 6-4.  Down at #4 singles Oklahoma's Spencer Papa would go up 4-2 in the 3rd set and was serving for 5-2 but Diego Galeano would break back and hold to even it at 4 a piece.  Papa would compose himself and hold serve and then break Galeano to take the match 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.  With Oklahoma now ahead 3-1 the search was on for that 4th point but the last person it looked like it would come from was Alex Ghilea at #5 singles.  Ghilea was getting roughed up by Mate Zsiga trailing 6-4 4-2 and in fact Zsiga served for the match twice up 5-2 and 5-4 but Zsiga's serve started to abandon him as he double faulted twice from 15-15 to face 3 break points in the 5-4 game - he fought off the 1st one but Ghilea lured him in on the 30-40 point with a low slice and Zsiga's return hit the net cord and kicked wide.  That point was in essence the match because Zsiga never recovered nor won another game and ended up going down 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.  Baylor picked up another point when Felipe Rios won in 3 sets on 6 but the outcome was cemented when Ghilea won at 5.

#2 Oklahoma 4, #10 Baylor 2

Doubles:
1. #40 Zsiga/Lupieri (BU) vs. #5 Alvarez/Webb (OU) 4-2
2. Lenz/Galeano (BU) def. Papa/Harris (OU) 6-2
3. Schneider/Felipe Rios (BU) def. Salazar/Ghilea (OU) 6-1

Singles:

1. #26 Andrew Harris (OU) vs. #10 Julian Lenz (BU) 6-1, 4-6, 5-5 DNF

2. #11 Axel Alvarez (OU) def. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) 6-4, 6-4

3. #31 Dane Webb (OU) def. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU) 6-4, 6-0

4. Spencer Papa (OU) def. Diego Galeano (BU) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4

5. #63 Alex Ghilea (OU) def. Mate Zsiga (BU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0

6. Felipe Rios (BU) def. Jose Salazar (OU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2

Match Notes:

Order of Finish - Doubles (3,2)  Singles (3,2,4,6,5)


In the late afternoon match it was Georgia who got off to the fast start and surprised USC by taking the doubles point to grab the early 1-0 lead.  Just one day earlier the Georgia duo of Montgomery/Oosterbaan looked out of sync and had a tough time keeping the ball in play but today was the exact opposite as they controlled play and finished points much quicker and won easily 6-1.  Below is match point at #3 doubles.  

USC's #2 doubles team of Max De Vroome and Eric Johnson looked like they were going to cruise after going up an early double break and led 4-0 but Georgia's Eric Diaz and Nathan Pasha chipped away at the lead with a Pasha hold, a break, and a Diaz hold to get within 4-3.  USC held for 5-3 and then had a match point on the Pasha serve but he fought it off and then USC was broke serving for the match to even it at 5.   While the 5-5 game was in progress Georgia would clinch the point by taking #1 doubles.

The Georgia #1 doubles pairing of Ben Wagland and Austin Smith pulled off a big upset over the ITA #1 ranked doubles team of Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz but it took a little extra effort to close it out.  After 5 straight holds to start the match Georgia would break the Hanfmann serve to go up 4-2 and would then consolidate the break with an Austin Smith hold for 5-2.  Quiroz held for 3-5 then Ben Wagland served for the match and went up 40-15 but USC battled back to get the break for 4-5.  Wagland and Smith refocused and managed to break back to take the court 6-4 which cliched the doubles point and gave Georgia the early 1-0 lead.  

In singles play USC jumped out to early break leads on 2, 4, and 6 singles while Georgia would go up early breaks at 3 and 5.  

USC's Eric Johnson was in total control at #4 after breaking the Nick Wood serve to start the match and in fact he would break the Wood serve 6 straight times before Wood finally held to make it 1-6 1-5.  Every facet of Johnson's game was on while Wood struggled the entire match.  Wood couldn't find the range on his forehand with the majority of his shots either going too long or too short with Johnson jumping all over the short ones. The 6-1 6-1 scoreline was definitely odd considering they just played 2 weeks ago with Johnson winning 7-5 in the 3rd.

Down at 6 USC's Nick Crystal would open up an early 3-1 lead before Paul Oosterbaan would break back to put it on serve at 3-2.  Crystal would then reel off 8 straight games to not only take the opening set 6-2 but also open up a 5-0 lead in the 2nd set.  During that 8 game stretch Oosterbaan struggled with his serve and Crystal kept the big 6'7 Bulldog on the run point after point.  With nothing to lose Oosterbaan finally loosened up and started going for broke while Crystal started to tighten up and was hitting shot after shot into the bottom half of the net. Oosterbaan would win 4 straight to put it back on serve and it looked like we might be headed to a 3rd set which would have been a huge momentum boost for Georgia with several of the other guys in trouble. Unfortunately for Georgia the big Oosterbaan serve that got him 2 straight holds would fade away and Crystal would break at love to take the match 6-2, 6-4 to put USC up 2-1.

Exactly 2 minutes later the USC lead would be extended to 3-1 as Max De Vroome would finish off Ben Wagland 7-5 6-1 at #5 singles.  Wagland jumped out to an early break lead at 2-1 but De Vroome would break back on the next game and would then break Wagland at love to take the opening set 7-5.  The Wagland forehand that was working in the first set disappeared in the 2nd set and De Vroome made quick of him.

With all 3 of the back courts finished off everyone's attention turned to the front 3 courts where USC just needed to win 1 of the final 3 matches while Georgia needed them all.  Georgia's Wayne Montgomery was up a break in the 3rd set at 1 while Nathan Pasha and Jonny Wang were on serve at 3 in a match that went back and forth. On the other remaining court USC's Roberto Quiroz had a 7-6, 4-1 lead before Austin Smith held and then went up 0-30 on the Quiroz serve.  Quiroz got the next 2 points to make it 30 all and then got a fortunate break when his volley hit the tape and trickled over to make it 40-30.  Smith would force the deciding point and would get a look at a 2nd serve but he couldn't get the return back in play as Quiroz's lefty serve pulled Smith well into the doubles alley.   Smith would hold to trim the deficit to 5-3 but Quiroz would promptly hold at love to send USC back to the finals for the 4th year in a row.

In the 2 remaining matches Georgia's Wayne Montgomery had a 4-1 lead in the 3rd at #1 and Nathan Pasha and Jonny Wang were tied at 3-3 at #3.

#1 USC 4, #4 Georgia 1

Doubles:

1. Austin Smith/Ben Wagland (UGA) def. #1 Yannick Hanfmann/Roberto Quiroz (USC), 6-4

2. Eric Diaz/Nathan Pasha (UGA) vs.#38 Max De Vroome/Eric Johnson (USC), 5-5, unf.

3. Wayne Montgomery/Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) def. Nick Crystal/Connor Farren (USC), 6-1

Singles:

1. #17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) vs. #7 Yannick Hanfmann (USC), 6-4, 3-6, 4-1, unf.

2. #24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. #21 Austin Smith (UGA), 7-6(2), 6-3

3. #15 Nathan Pasha (UGA) vs. #20 Jonny Wang (USC), 3-6, 6-2, 3-3, unf.

4. Eric Johnson (USC) def. Nick Wood (UGA), 6-1, 6-1

5. Max De Vroome (USC) def. Ben Wagland (UGA), 7-5, 6-1
6. #49 Nick Crystal (USC) def. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA), 6-2, 6-4

Match Notes:

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

Men's National Team Indoors Semifinal Preview

We almost got the top 4 seeds into the semifinals but the #11 seeded Baylor Bears decided they wanted to crash the party so instead we have #1 USC, #2 Oklahoma, #4 Georgia, and #11 Baylor each playing for a spot in Monday's Championship.

[2] Oklahoma vs. [11] Baylor  - 12pm cst - It'll be a Big 12 battle as Oklahoma (8-0) takes on Baylor (6-1) in what will likely be the 1st of 3 meeting this year. Last year they played each other 3 times and each finished with a 4-3 score with Oklahoma winning twice and Baylor once so I'd say we're heading towards another 4-3 final.  Baylor has been better at doubles going undefeated this year and I think they grab the point to take the early 1-0 lead.  Both Harris and Lenz picked up impressive wins on Saturday with Harris knocking off Ole Miss's Nik Scholtz 7-6, 6-3 while Lenz ripped Virginia's Mitchell Frank 6-2, 6-0.  I'm leaning towards Harris in this one but it really could go either way.  I like Axel Alvarez at 2 and Spencer Papa at 4 for OU while I like Mate Zsiga and Vince Schneider at 5 and 6 for Baylor.  If Tony Lupieri can play as good today as he did against Thai Son Kwiatkowski then Baylor probably wins this one but I think Webb edges him out and Oklahoma moves on to the finals.  Prediction:  Oklahoma 4-3

Probable Singles Lineup

1. #26 Andrew Harris (OU) vs. #10 Julian Lenz (BU)

2. #11 Axel Alvarez (OU) vs. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU)

3. #31 Dane Webb (OU) vs. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU)

4. Spencer Papa (OU) vs. Diego Galeano (BU)

5. #63 Alex Ghilea (OU) vs. Mate Zsiga (BU) 

6. Jose Salazar (OU) vs. Vince Schneider (BU)

Probable Doubles Lineup
1. #5 Alvarez/Webb (OU) vs. #40 Zsiga/Lupieri (BU)
2. Papa/Harris (OU) vs. Lenz/Galeano (BU)
3. Salazar/Ghilea (OU) vs. Schneider/Felipe Rios (BU)

[1] USC vs. [4] Georgia - 3:30pm cst - This will be a rematch from just 2 weeks ago when USC (8-0) went into Athens and shutout Georgia (6-1) by a 4-0 score. 2 of the 6 singles matches will be repeats with Hanfmann beating Montgomery in straight sets and Johnson outlasting Wood 7-5 in the 3rd.  Last time USC jumped on Georgia in doubles going up a break everywhere and putting it in cruise control and I think the Trojans will do the same on Sunday and pick up wins at 1 and 2. I'd have USC as the favorite on 5 of the 6 singles courts so for Georgia to overcome the doubles points would be a mighty tall task.  Georgia's best chance at pulling the upset would be to get wins from Pasha, Wood, and Oosterbaan at 3, 4, and 6 and then hope to pull an upset at 2.   Prediction: USC 4-0

Probable Singles Lineup

1. #7 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) vs. #17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA)

2. #24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) vs. #21 Austin Smith (UGA)

3. #20 Jonny Wang (USC) vs. #15 Nathan Pasha (UGA)

4. Eric Johnson (USC) vs. Nick Wood (UGA)

5. Max De Vroome (USC) vs. Ben Wagland (UGA)

6. #49 Nick Crystal (USC) vs. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA)

Probable Doubles Lineup
1. #1 Hanfmann/Quiroz (USC) vs. Wagland/Smith (UGA)
2. #38 De Vroome/Johnson (USC) vs. Pasha/Diaz (UGA)
3. Crystal/Connor Farren (USC) vs. Oosterbaan/Montgomery (UGA)

I'll be onsite on Sunday so I'll do my best to keep everyone updated - you can follow me on twitter at @College10s2day .  If you have a question during the day send me a tweet and if I can answer it I will. 

National Indoors - Day 2

It was a great day of tennis on Saturday with the final match of the day just as thrilling as the 1st one. Even though Georgia never trailed it felt like it was a come from behind win due to Georgia being so far down on so many courts early one.

Illinois seemingly had the doubles point in the bag when they were up 5-3 in the deciding match at #1 with Ross Guignon serving for it but Georgia got the break on the deciding point and held on to take it in a tiebreak.  In singles action Illinois jumped out to a break lead on all 6 courts and would take 6-1 first sets at 1, 2, and 5 and a 6-2 set at 4.  Georgia's Nathan Pasha would come back from a 3-0 opening set deficit to take the set 7-5 and at 6 Georgia's Paul Oosterbaan would come back from 4-2 down to take the set 6-4.  While both Pasha and Oosterbaan maintained their 2nd sets leads so would both Jared and Aron Hiltzik at 2 and 4. The biggest turn around came at #5 where Georgia's Ben Wagland trailed 6-1 4-2 and was completely out of the match.  Nothing was going Wagland's way, his head and shoulders were down, he was missing shot after shot then he changed up his strategy and chipped/sliced every shot over a 2 to 3 game stretch while also taking all the pace off the ball and Vukic seemed unsure how to respond. Wagland won 4 straight to take the 2nd and then in the final set he starting picking the pace up and moving the ball all over the place off his forehand wing. Wagland had a match point when Vukic served at 5-6 40-40 but a big serve sent it the tiebreak.  At the same time over at #1 singles, Wayne Mongomery and Farris Gosea were starting a tiebreak so both of the remaining matches were in 3rd set tiebreaks at the same time.  Montgomery would jump out to a 5-2 while Wagland went up 4-2 but as Vukic came back to go up 6-5, Montgomery would finish off Gosea 7-3.

#4 Georgia 4, #5 Illinois 2

Doubles competition

1. Ben Wagland/Austin Smith (GA) def. #11 Tim Kopinski/Ross Guignon (ILL) 7-6 (4)

2. Nathan Pasha/Eric Diaz (GA) def. Jared Hiltzik/Farris Gosea (ILL) 6-3

3. Blake Bazarnik/Brian Page (ILL) def. Paul Oosterbaan/Wayne Montgomery (GA) 6-3

Singles competition

1. #17 Wayne Montgomery (GA) def. #41 Farris Gosea (ILL) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3)

2. #23 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. #21 Austin Smith (GA) 6-1, 6-1

3. #15 Nathan Pasha (GA) def. #37 Tim Kopinski (ILL) 7-5, 7-5

4. #69 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. Nick Wood (GA) 6-2, 6-4

5. Ben Wagland (GA) vs. #46 Aleks Vukic (ILL) 1-6, 6-4, 6-6 (5-6) DNF 

6. Paul Oosterbaan (GA) def. Blake Bazarnik (ILL) 6-4, 6-4

Match Notes:

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


Baylor came to play on Day 2 of the National Indoors and the Bears upset #3 Virginia in a 4-3 thriller.  Baylor took the doubles point winning at 2 and 3 and then picked up 4 first sets and actually looked like they were going to run away with it before Virginia started slowly turning the tide. Julian Lenz would put Baylor up 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 rout over Mitchell Frank at #1 but Collin Altamirano would get Virginia on the board with a rout of his own winning 6-1, 6-2 at #4 singles over Diego Galeano.  Virginia would tie it at 2-2 when JC Aragone closed out Vince Schneider in straight sets winning 6-3, 6-4 at 6 and then at #2 Ryan Shane would come back from dropping the 1st set to roll over Max Tchoutakian 6-1, 6-1 in the 2nd and 3rd.

Baylor's Tony Lupieri had what appeared to be a command 6-4, 4-1 double break lead over Thai Son Kwiatkowski at #3 but Kwiatkowski would rally back and go ahead 6-5 in the 2nd.  Lupieri would hold to get it to the tiebreak and would then win an epic 12-10 tiebreak to tie the overall match at 3-3. Kwiatkowski would have sets points up 7-6 and 8-7 in the tiebreak with the 8-7 point coming on his serve but Lupieri would hit a forehand winner down the line and not trail again.  (For point-by-point details on the tiebreak check out my twitter feed @College10s2day which had a running commentary)

In the remaining match Baylor's Mate Zsiga was up 4-3 in the 3rd and receiving Ritschard's serve at 15-40 before Ritschard would double fault the break.  Zsiga would then serve out the match after falling behind 15-30 and Baylor had the monumental upset over perennial powerhouse Virginia.

Below is a clip of match point though I forgot to move the phone toward the net as Zsiga came forward on the final point (Ritschard put it in the net)

#10 Baylor 4, #3 Virginia 3

Doubles competition

1. #37 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (UVA) vs. #40 Mate Zsiga/Tony Lupieri (BU) 6-6 (5-3) DNF

2. Julian Lenz/Diego Galeano (BU) def. #41 Mac Styslinger/Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) 7-6 (7-2)

3. Vince Schneider/Felipe Rios (BU) def. Mitchell Frank/Collin Altamirano (UVA) 6-3

Singles competition

1. #10 Julian Lenz (BU) def. Mitchell Frank (UVA) 6-2, 6-0

2. #4 Ryan Shane (UVA) def. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

3. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU) def. #1 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) 6-4, 7-6 (10)

4. Collin Altamirano (UVA) def. Diego Galeano (BU) 6-1, 6-2

5. Mate Zsiga (BU) def. Alexander Ritschard (UVA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

6. J.C. Aragone (UVA) def. Vince Schneider (BU) 6-3, 6-4

Match Notes:

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

#2 Oklahoma 4, #7 North Carolina 1

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 (7-5), 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)

#1 USC 4, #8 Ohio State 1

Doubles competition

1. #1 Yannick Hanfmann/Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. #7 Ralf Steinbach/Kevin Metka (OSU) 6-4

2. #38 Max De Vroome/Eric Johnson (USC) def. #36 Hunter Callahan/Chris Diaz (OSU) 6-2

3. Nick Crystal/Connor Farren (USC) vs. Mikael Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 5-4 DNF

Singles competition

1. #7 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU) 7-6(4), 6-1

2. #24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. #30 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) 6-1, 7-5

3. Herkko Pollanen (OSU) def. #20 Jonny Wang (USC) 6-3, 6-2

4. Eric Johnson (USC) def. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 7-5, 6-4

5. #110 Hunter Callahan (OSU) vs. Max De Vroome (USC) 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 DNF

6. Kevin Metka (OSU) vs. #49 Nick Crystal (USC) 7-6(5) 2-3 DNF

Match Notes:

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

Men's National Team Indoors Quarterfinal Preview

Day 1 of the National Indoors saw a slew of competitive matches but if you were a fan at home trying to follow the streaming video or the live scoreboard you were probably ready to pull your hair out. 

I'm not sure what the problem is with the NTIs but this is the 2nd year in a row that the "Live" scoring has been "Taped Delayed" scoring with it commonly delayed by multiple games.  You see guys go from winning the 1st set to 20 minutes later having the score switched to show the other player winning the set, you had the scoreboard operator wipe out the completed set scores early in the day and just put a 1 by whoever won the set like we're at Wimbledon, you had scores stay stuck for 15-20 minutes on certain courts then update to show the set that never started is already over, and the list goes on and on.  

National Indoors - Day 1

Virginia started things off by taking a tight doubles point over TCU with the decider coming down to a tiebreak at #2 but once singles got underway the top of the Cavs lineup came through with each winning in straight sets.  The 3 remaining courts were all still up for grabs at the time of the clinch. Virginia's Collin Altamirano played doubles but did not play at #4 singles as originally slotted which moved everyone else up a spot.

With the win Virginia moves on to Saturday's quarterfinals against #11 Baylor.


Friday Results:

#3 Virginia 4, #17 TCU 0

Doubles:

1. #24 Stein/Chappell (TCU) def. #37 Corinteli/Shane (UVa) 7-5

2. #41 Kwiatkowski/Styslinger (UVa) def. Nunez/Norrie (TCU) 7-6(2)

3. Altamirano/Frank (UVa) def. Blake/Johnson (TCU) 6-4

Order of Finish: 3,1,2

Singles:

1. Mitchell Frank (UVa) def. #18 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-3, 6-4

2. #4 Ryan Shane (UVa) def. #48 Nick Chappell (TCU) 7-6(1), 6-3

3. #1 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVa) def. Arnau Dachs (TCU) 6-1, 6-3

4. Alexander Ritschard (UVa) vs. Will Stein (TCU) 6-1, 6-7, 0-1 DNF

5. J.C. Aragone (UVa) vs. #85 Facundo Lugones (TCU) 6-4, 4-6 DNF

6. #112 Guillermo Nunez (TCU) vs. #61 Mac Styslinger (UVa) 6-3, 6-6 DNF

Order of Finish: 3,1,2

Montana State Billings to Drop Men's & Women's Tennis

Saw this earlier today (story came out on Tuesday) - Division II Montana State Billings will be dropping both its men's and women's programs effective at the end of this year.  

Here is the full release that the school put out with the below excerpts pertaining to the tennis program.

Men's National Team Indoors Round of 16 Preview

16 of the best teams in the country head to Chicago this weekend for the ITA Men's National Team Indoor Championship and I'm going to help break it down round by round.  There has been at least one Round of 16 upset each year since 2005 and I don't see that 10-year trend changing this year.  Play gets started on Friday morning so let's go ahead and dive right in.  

Men's National Team Indoors

The draw was released just a little while ago and this is what we've got starting on Friday.  The master lineups are listed below as well.

[3] Virginia vs. [14] TCU- 9am cst
[6] Duke vs. [11] Baylor - 9am cst

[7] North Carolina vs. [10] UCLA - 12pm cst
[2] Oklahoma vs. [15] Ole Miss - 12pm cst

[1] USC vs. [16] Penn State - 3:30pm cst
[8] Ohio State vs. [9] Texas - 3:30pm cst
[5] Illinois vs. [12] California - 6:30pm cst
[4] Georgia vs. [13] Columbia - 6:30pm cst

No Ad Is No Go for the NCAAs

I saw earlier on ZooTennis that the NCAA Championship Cabinet decided not to approve no-ad scoring for the NCAAs so come mid May in Waco regular scoring will be used for both the team championships as well as singles and doubles.  

Here are the documents that contain the full results from the survey that was done by all the coaches and student athletes pertaining to format changes along with the ITA's Division I Operating Committee's proposal to the NCAA D1 Tennis Committee.  

Ohio State Makes It 200 In A Row At Home - Or Did They?

This past weekend Ohio State ran its record breaking home winning streak to 200 when they defeated South Florida so after the win I wanted to look back and see who they had beaten during the streak. At first I thought there was probably already a list out there somewhere due to how impressive the streak is but when I looked around I came up empty.  So I said ok I'll just go to Ohio State's website and go through the schedules for each year and do a little cut and paste and then sort them by opponent and whatnot.  So that's what I did starting with the Purdue win on April 6th, 2003 and by the time I reached the South Florida win from this past Sunday I was ready to sort them out but I figured before I sorted them I wanted to make sure I had all 200 listed.  I had the spreadsheet count them and to my surprise it didn't return 200 entries but only 199 so that's when I started going back through each season to see what I missed but after looking them all over I still kept coming up with 199 and not 200 (chart is further down this page).

Tar Heels Win It All (Full Women's NTI Recaps), Rebels beat Troy, Possible Men's NTI Pairings

The North Carolina Tar Heels women's team made it 2 titles in the last 3 years as they defeated a tough Georgia team 4-1 in this afternoon's ITA Women's National Team Indoor Championship.

North Carolina jumped up on Georgia early in doubles and really cruised on both courts 2 and 3 taking each 6-2.  North Carolina carried the momentum from doubles over to singles and took 1st sets at 1, 2, 3, and 4 while Georgia grabbed the opening set at 5 and 6.

It looked like it was going to be a Tar Heel rout but Georgia started slowly pecking away at the UNC leads on courts 1, 3, and 4 by going up early breaks in the 2nd set.  The only court where North Carolina never went down a break was on court 2 with Hayley Carter in control virtually the entire match in a route to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ellen Perez.  The only opening for Perez came when she broke Carter to get it back on serve at 5-4 in the 2nd but Carter promptly broke back to give UNC point #2.

Whitney Kay would put UNC up 3-0 by closing out Silvia Garcia 6-4, 6-3 at #4 singles in a match that see-sawed back and forth despite the score looking somewhat lopsided.  After Kay went up an early break in the 1st, Garcia got it back on serve and it stayed that way until Kay broke to take the opening set 6-4. Garcia would go up an early break in the 2nd and served up 2-1 but Kay quickly got it back on serve and would then break again to go up 5-3 and then Kay served it out.

Buckeye 200, Deacs Win, Wolfpack Depth, Frogs Rule, Northwestern Comes Back

Ohio State just doesn't lose at home and they proved it again on Sunday winning for an unbelievable 200th time in a row as they handily beat a Top 25 South Florida team 4-0.  The streak began all the way back on April 6th, 2003 with a win over Purdue and has grown and grown as the years have gone by.  During the week I'm going to compile a list of everyone that Ohio State has beaten at home in the last 12 years so look for that no later than Wednesday.  Here is a good article that Colette Lewis wrote on the streak back in 2013.

In my opinion the biggest surprise for Ohio State this year has been the play of Chris Diaz at #1. Last year the Columbus native struggled in the middle of the lineup and went just 11-15 in dual match play but this year he has more than held his own Roberto Cid, Shane Vinsant, Or-Ram Harel, and Lukas Ollert.

Hokie Hokie Hi, Dunk City Upsets the U, Cowboy Up, Ivy Power

Saturday didn't have any Top 10 showdowns but there were several solid matches between ranked teams.  The biggest upset of the day, in terms of ranking, came in Blacksburg as #37 Virginia Tech took it to #22 Penn State 4-1. The Hokies took 10 of 11 sets in singles after dropping the doubles point.  Penn State has now lost 2 of its last 3 and is looking at a tough road next weekend when they head to Chicago for the National Indoors against the best of the best with its opening match against #1 USC.


VT Recap
PSU Recap

#37 Virginia Tech 4, #22 Penn State 1

Singles

1. #35 Amerigo Contini (VT) def. Leonard Stakhovsky (PSU) 7-5, 6-3

2. #61 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT) def. Alex Fennell (PSU) 6-2, 6-2

3. Joao Monteiro (VT) vs. Matt Barry (PSU) 6-3, 5-5, unfinished

4. Hunter Koontz (VT) def. Roman Trkulja (PSU) 6-2, 6-2

5. Aws Laaribi (PSU) vs. Edoardo Tessaro (VT) 2-6, 7-6, unfinished

6. #94 Florian Nicoud (VT) def. Nika Dolidze (PSU) 6-2, 6-4

Order of Finish: 4, 2, 6, 1

Doubles

1. Andreas Bjerrehus/Amerigo Contini (VT) def. Matt Barry/Alex Fennell (PSU) 6-2

2. Leonard Stakhovsky/Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Jai Corbett/Joao Monteiro (VT) 7-6 (7-5)

3. Michael Reilly/Roman Trkulja (PSU) def. Hunter Koontz/Florian Nicoud (VT) 7-5

Order of Finish: 1, 2

Gators pull one out, Bulldogs bring the bite, Duke too tough, Big 12 rolls

The weekend is here and it was a fantastic Friday of tennis with the match of the day taking place in front of a national ESPN3 audience as Florida went into Tallahassee and pulled out a 4-2 win.

Florida State picked up the doubles point by winning at 1 and 3 but Florida came out swinging in singles taking 4 1st sets.  After FSU extended the lead to 2-0 with a Cristian Gonzalez Mendez win at 5, Florida started finishing off courts 1 by 1 with Gordon Watson winning at 4 then Chase Perez-Blanco at 6.  With the score tied at 2-2, each of the remaining matches went to a 3rd set and after Elliott Orkin closed out Michael Rinaldi at #3 to give Florida its first lead at 3-2 it appeared that Maxx Lipman would be the one to seal the victory.  Lipman was serving up 4-2 in the 3rd but Benjamin Lock got the break, then held, then broke again and served for the match up 5-4 40-15. Lock hit a serve out wide in the deuce court that Lipman returned from outside the doubles alley and with the ball floating back towards the singles line Lock decided to let it go thinking it would fall out. The ball ended up landing right on the middle of the line and 2 points later Lipman had it back on serve. With that match into a 3rd set tiebreak over at #2 singles Florida's Diego Hidalgo was serving for the match up 6-5 40-0.  FSU's Marco Nunez fought off 1 match point but on the next point he sliced a shot down the line and followed it in to the net and then watched as Hidalgo hit a forehand cross court to win it for Florida.  Gators 4 Seminoles 2 FINAL

Look ahead to Friday - GT/UGA, FSU/FLA, TN/DUKE, and more

After a slow week things kick back into high gear tomorrow with the start of the Women's National Team Indoors and with a fairly full slate on the men's side.

Georgia at Georgia Tech (5pm est) - The Bulldogs have won 27 of the last 28 in the series but Georgia Tech looks better this year than they have in a while. These teams just met 2 weeks ago at the MLK Invitational in Atlanta with Georgia Tech taking 4 of 7 singles matches and 2 of 3 in doubles in the hidden dual format.  Georgia's Wayne Montgomery didn't participate in the weekend event so with him back in the lineup and possibly playing at #1 I think the Bulldogs will find a way to get to 4 points first however I think Georgia Tech will make it interesting and puts some pressure on Georgia especially at the 5 and 6 spots.  

Projected Line-Up

1.  Wayne Montgomery (UGA) vs. Nathan Rakitt (GT)

2.  Nathan Pasha (UGA) vs. Chris Eubanks (GT)

3.  Austin Smith (UGA) vs. Eduardo Segura (GT)

4.  Nick Wood (UGA) vs. Michael Kay (GT)

5.  Ben Wagland (UGA) vs. Carlos Benito (GT)

6.  Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) vs. Cole Fiegel (GT)

Florida State at Florida (5pm est) - The Gators have won 55 of 75 in the series and 7 in a row going back to 2007.  I could easily see each team picking up 3 points in singles so if that happens whoever takes the doubles point could win a tight one.  I'm leaning toward Florida at 1, 2, and 4 singles and FSU at 3, 5, and 6. I'll go with Florida in a squeaker.   

Projected Line-Up

1.  Benjamin Lock (FSU) vs. Maxx Lipman (FLA)

2.  Marco Nunez (FSU) vs. Elliott Orkin (FLA)

3.  Michael Rinaldi (FSU) vs. Gordon Watson (FLA)

4.  Cristian Gonzalez Mendez (FSU) vs. Diego Hidalgo (FLA)

5.  Jose Gracia (FSU) vs. Oliver Landert (FLA)

6.  Terrell Whitehurst (FSU) vs. Chase Perez-Blanco (FLA)

Tennessee at Duke (6pm est) - Tennessee has won 13 of 21 in this series with 2 of those wins coming last year with the latter coming in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.  Tennessee comes into this one on a 2 match losing streak after losing a heartbreaker to Columbia and then dropping one to Oklahoma State while Duke comes in undefeated and coming off back-to-back road wins last weekend over Illinois and Northwestern.  Tennessee is starting 4 freshmen while Duke starts 3 seniors and 2 juniors so I think Duke's experience comes through in this one and they get it done at home in a 4-1/4-2 type of score.

Projected Line-Up
1.  Mikelis Libietis (TN) vs. Jason Tahir (DU)
2.  Hunter Reese (TN) vs. Nicolas Alvarez (DU)
3.  Igor Smelyanski (TN) vs. Raphael Hemmeler (DU)
4.  Luis Valero (TN) vs. Bruno Semenzato (DU)
5.  Jack Schipanski (TN) vs. Chris Mengel (DU)
6.  Jess Jones (TN) vs. Josh Levine (DU)

South Florida at Oklahoma (6:30pm est) - South Florida came into this season with some high expectations but they've hit a rough patch and lost 2 of its last 3 while Oklahoma has won easily each time out.  I don't see Oklahoma letting up and they'll win going away.

Projected Line-Up
1.  Roberto Cid (USF) vs. Andrew Harris (OU)
2.  Ignacio Gonzalez (USF) vs. Axel Alvarez (OU)
3.  Oliver Pramming (USF) vs. Dane Webb (OU)
4.  Sasha Gozun (USF) vs. Spencer Papa (OU)
5.  Justin Roberts (USF) vs. Jose Salazar (OU)
6.  Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF) vs. Alex Ghilea (OU)


To follow each of these matches click on the live scoring links below and as you can see you'll have tennis coverage going on from 9am to probably 10 or 11pm in Charlottesville at the NTIs so get those browsers set up to have multiple courts streaming at the same time.  

As a reminder there is a tab at the top that will always have the most updated live scoring links.

Women's National Team Indoors - Charlottesville, VA

Live Scoring Link 1
Live Scoring Link 2
Live Video Link for courts with *
ITA Event Page
Master Lineups

[6] Alabama vs. Miami - 9am est.
*[3] North Carolina vs. Oklahoma State - 9am est.
*[4] Duke vs. TCU - 12pm est.
[5] California vs. Vanderbilt - 12pm est.
*[1] UCLA vs. Kentucky - 3:30pm est.
[8] Georgia vs. Michigan - 3:30pm est.
[2] Florida vs. Clemson - 6:30pm est.
*[7] Virginia vs. USC - 6:30pm est.

*Live streaming video only available on main courts

Men's Matches:
Murray State at Indiana - 9am est - Live Scoring
UAB at Auburn - 12pm est - Live Scoring
Northern Arizona at Arizona - 12pm est - Live Scoring
Middle Tennessee State at Vanderbilt - 3pm est - Live Scoring
Wake Forest at South Carolina - 4pm est - Live Scoring
Florida at Florida State - 5pm est - Live Scoring & ESPN3
Georgia at Georgia Tech - 5pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming
Boise State at Northwestern - 5:30pm est - Live Scoring
Tennessee at Duke - 6pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming & Tennessee Blog 
UAB at Auburn - 6pm est - Live Scoring
Oregon at Indiana - 6pm est - Live Scoring
South Florida at Oklahoma - 6:30pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming 
New Mexico at TCU - 6:30pm est - Live Scoring
Kentucky at Illinois - 7pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming
Washington at Texas - 7pm est - Live Scoring
Baylor at Tulsa - 7pm est - Live Scoring & Streaming
Marquette at Iowa - 7pm est - Live Scoring
Cal vs. San Francisco (Bay Club SF) - 12:30am est/9:30pm pst - Cal Twitter

College Tennis Coming To A TV Screen Near You

The University of Oklahoma announced today that 5 of its spring duals will air online at SoonerSports.TV as well Fox Sports Oklahoma.  This is great news for those that have been waiting to see more college tennis action broadcasted in a format other just the basic live stream that some schools provide.   For the full release from OU click here.

2015 OKLAHOMA MEN’S TENNIS TELEVISION SCHEDULE

Sunday, Feb. 8 vs. Alabama at 12:00 p.m. aired on FS Oklahoma Feb. 9 at 5 p.m.
Tuesday, March 10 vs. No. 3 Virginia at 4:00 p.m.
Friday, March 27 vs. No. 18 TCU at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 29 vs. No. 9 Texas at 1:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 19 vs. No. 24 Oklahoma State at 1:00 p.m.

*All matches will be streamed online via SoonerSports.tv and televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma. 

Signing Day is Here - Well Not For Tennis But You Get The Idea

Wednesday February 4th is National Signing Day for College Football so with many tennis fans also fans of other sports I thought I'd put out the below spreadsheet for all to see.

Recruiting and recruiting rankings are always a captivating subject because everyone wants to sign the Blue Chip can't miss person because the assumption is if the person is that highly ranked there's no way they're not going to perform at the next level.  On the flip-side if a person is a 4-star then while it's recognized that they're a good player most would think they can't compete with the big boys. But ultimately it's up to the individual on whether or not they are successful. Some guys peak in juniors while other bloom late so it's always interesting to see what the make up is of a roster of a program in one of the major conferences.

USC Atop Both The ITA & Coaches Polls

Both the ITA and D1 Men's Coaches released their polls today and both have the same teams 1 through 4 with USC, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Georgia but after that there are a few differences. See the image below to see the side-by-side comparison.

Here are the links to the respective releases for each poll and the College Tennis Online release has a good bit of detailed info about each team in the Top 10.

Top 10 Women's Battle & A Look Ahead to Tuesday's Rankings

With the Illinois/Notre Dame match getting postponed due to bad weather the only action on the courts today was on the women's side in Charlottesville where #10 Virginia hosted #9 Georgia. 

Virginia happily welcomed back its top 2 players (Elbaba, Collins) who had been out ill with the flu but Georgia came out strong and swept all 3 doubles courts to grab the early 1-0 lead.  Each team claimed 3 1st sets but while Virginia was able to close out each of its 3 in straight sets, Georgia was getting more pushback.  With Virginia leading 3-1, Georgia's Lauren Herring was up 7-5, 5-2 on Julia Elbaba at #1, UGA's Ellen Perez led Danielle Collins 4-1 in the 3rd at #2, and the match at #6 singles had just split sets and was going to a 3rd set.  So it appeared that the match would come down to that 3rd set at #6 however the defending NCAA singles champion, Danielle Collins, had a different idea and she took 4 straight games over Perez and actually served for it up 5-4.  After Perez broke to get it back on serve at 5 all, Collins would break right back and would then serve it out 40-30 to put the Hoos back in the winner's circle and bump their record up to 4-1; Georgia would fall to 3-2.

USC, Texas A&M, and Penn Steal The Day

The 4 team 4 match Pac 12/SEC Challenge came to a conclusion today in Athens and it was USC being crowned the unofficial champs by virtue of being the only team to finish the weekend undefeated.  The Trojans got off to a quick start by going up early breaks on all 3 doubles courts and while Georgia was able to get it back on serve at #3 doubles USC wouldn't let up at 1 or 2 and finished those 2 rather quickly to grab the 1-0 lead.  USC came out strong in singles as well taking 3 of 4 1st sets (4 indoor courts being utilized) and while Georgia would battle back they just couldn't keep up with the USC power.  Yannick Hanfmann, Roberto Quiroz, and Eric Johnson would give USC the 3 points it needed with wins at 1, 2, and 4 and as the weekend finished up USC would go 2-0, Georgia 1-1, Florida 1-1, and UCLA 0-2 (see below for FLA/UCLA box score)