Friday was an entertaining start to the weekend and I expect that Saturday should more of the same. Let’s take a look at the highlighted matches on Saturday.
The number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of the current date so Notre Dame’s Quentin Monaghan has a 14.28 UTR as of today 2/21. For more details about UTR check out theirwebsite.
#17 Notre Dame (6-1) at #9 Ohio State (10-3) – 12pm est – Live Scoring & Streaming – Ohio State goes for #200 in a row at home (according to my records) though it won’t be easy as Notre Dame usually gives Ohio State a tough match just about every year. Ohio State has won 10 straight in the series and leads the all-time series 28-27. A year ago in South Bend, Notre Dame jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see Ohio State win 4 straight singles matches with the final 2 both being 7-6 in the 3rd. If the projected lineups below hold up there will be just 1 rematch from last year with that being the match at 1 where Diaz knocked off Monaghan 7-6, 6-4. Ohio State is 11-2 in doubles while Notre Dame is 6-1. The Irish must take the doubles point to have a realistic chance at stopping the streak but I think Ohio State gets the point and picks up wins from the bottom 3 of Steinbach, Callahan, and Metka to pull it out. Prediction: Ohio State 4-1
Projected Lineup:
1. #29 Quentin Mongahan (ND 14.28) vs. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU 13.80)
2. #92 Josh Hagar (ND 13.74) vs. #30 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU 13.95)
3. Eddy Covalschi (ND 13.13) vs. Herkko Pollanen (OSU 13.58)
4. Eric Schnurrenberger (ND 13.45) vs. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU 13.91)
5. Billy Pecor (ND 12.98) vs. #110 Hunter Callahan (OSU 13.90)
6. Nicolas Montoya (ND 12.48) vs. Kevin Metka (OSU 13.80)
#32 Oklahoma State (8-2) at #19 Wake Forest (5-2) – 12pm est – Live Scoring & Video – Oklahoma State is coming off a 4-3 win over Tulsa on Thursday while Wake has been idle for almost 2 weeks. Last year Wake went to Stillwater and won 4-1 against a better Oklahoma State team but both teams have a lot of new faces in the lineup this year so this one could be very interesting. Wake shouldn’t have much trouble up top with both Rubin and Bogaerts expected to roll but the matches at 3-6 could all be tight 3 setters. Wake is 5-2 in doubles while OK State is 6-4. I like Gerch, Meraut, and Ferrigno at 3, 4, and 6 for OK State. That leaves the doubles point and #5 singles as the swing points and I think Wake takes them both. Prediction: Wake Forest 4-3
Projected Lineup
1. #88 Jakob Sude (OSU 13.54) vs. #55 Noah Rubin (WF 14.79)
2. #87 Arjun Kadhe (OSU 13.57) vs. #14 Romain Bogaerts (WF 14.34)
3. Lucas Gerch (OSU 13.82) vs. #57 Jon Ho (WF 13.49)
4. Tristan Meraut (OSU 13.26) vs. Skander Mansouri (WF 13.07)
5. Jurence Mendoza (OSU 13.62) vs. Christian Seraphim (WF 13.40)
6. Nicolai Ferrigno (OSU 13.38) vs. Keivon Tabrizi (WF 12.92)
#34 Minnesota (7-2) at #25 Harvard (7-2) – 1pm est – Harvard Twitter & Video – Harvard comes in riding a 3 match winning streak after winning the ECAC Championships last weekend which included wins over Dartmouth, Princeton, and Yale while Minnesota comes off a hard fought 4-3 loss to Vanderbilt yesterday. Both of Harvard’s losses (Cal & Northwestern) have come on the road and both were close so the Crimson will be happy to get Minnesota at home. Harvard went into the Twin Cities last year and came away with a 4-3 win so these teams will be fairly familiar with each other. Both Harvard and Minnesota are 8-1 in doubles. Nguyen and Toledo met earlier this year at the ITA National Indoors with Nguyen winning in straight sets and in the match last year Nguyen won in straights as well. I like Harvard at 1, 2, 3, and 6 while I like Minnesota at 4, 5, and doubles. Prediction: Harvard 4-3
Projected Lineup
1. #25 Leandro Toledo (MN 14.01) vs. #91 Denis Nguyen (HV 13.99)
2. Jack Hamburg (MN 13.15) vs. #80 Sebastian Beltrame (HV 13.21)
3. Ruben Weber (MN 13.14) vs. Nicky Hu (HV 13.78)
4. Matic Spec (MN 13.60) vs. Alex Steinroeder (HV 13.37)
5. Felix Corwin (MN 13.56) vs. Kenny Tao (HV 13.11)
6. Mathieu Froment (MN 13.04) vs. Shaun Chaudhuri (HV 13.26)
#39 Stanford (4-2) at #14 Cal (7-2) – 1pm est – Video & Cal Twitter – Cal is happy to be back in California after a trip to Chicago last weekend gave them their first 2 losses while Stanford will be playing its first competitive match since the Kickoff Weekend. Cal hasn’t exactly excelled in doubles going just 5-4 while Stanford is 5-1 however Stanford has faced just 2 top 50 opponents while Cal has faced 5 top 30 opponents. Stanford came into the year with a lot of promise with a robust freshman class that brought in Tom Fawcett, David Wilczynski, and David Hsu but while Fawcett and Wilczynski have exceeded expectations many of the returning guys haven’t played at the level they did a year ago. If Romanowicz and Paige were playing like they were capable of this would be Stanford’s match to lose but I just can’t take them seriously until they rise up and win a match like this. I’ll take Bergevi, Nishimura, Bayane, and Engsted at 2, 4, 5, and 6 for Cal while I like Fawcett and Morrissey at 1 and 3 for Stanford. Prediction: Cal 4-3
Projected Lineup
1. #28 Tom Fawcett (ST 14.12) vs. #42 Andre Goransson (Cal 13.70)
2. David Wilczynski (ST 13.72) vs. #114 Filip Bergevi (Cal 13.66)
3. John Morrissey (ST 14.07) vs. Billy Griffith (Cal 13.68)
4. Maciek Romanowicz (ST 13.28) vs. JT Nishimura (Cal 13.86)
5. Nolan Paige (ST 13.36) vs. Greg Bayane (Cal 13.48)
6. Robert Stineman (ST 13.12) vs. Mads Engsted (Cal 13.41)
For other live scoring links check out my live scoring page.
Tagged with: Big Match Previews, Cal, Harvard, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Wake Forest
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