Saturday was a great day for college tennis with the 2 biggest matches of the day broadcasted on TV with The Longhorn Network showing Texas/Illinois while the Pac 12 Network showed USC/UCLA. The only thing that kind of stunk a bit was the fact that the 2 matches were being played simultaneously so while I did switch back and forth a bit I primarily stayed with the Texas/Illinois match because of how close it was throughout.
When the starting lineups were posted 30 minutes before the start of the Texas/Illinois match I had to do a double take because I didn’t see Farris Gosea’s name anywhere. I was hoping the guys on the Longhorn Network would fill us in on Gosea’s absence but the only thing they mentioned was that Gosea wasn’t there (as in didn’t make the trip to Texas). My best guess is that he was sick and that’s why he didn’t travel – again totally a guess.
The one thing that I’ve noticed over the years, yet often forget, is that when a team is down its #1 the rest of the guys seems to rise to the occasion and perform better than you think they would. I noticed that last night when Vanderbilt played Texas A&M without Gonzales Austin – the Dores didn’t win but they fought hard on every court. Illinois did more than just fight on Saturday, they took care of business in doubles and in the middle and lower half of the lineup and came out of Austin with a win.
The Illini started things off by taking the doubles point for the 9th time on the year as its #1 team of Jared Hiltzik/Tim Kopinski and its #2 team of Blake Bazarnik/Brian Page picked up 7-5 and 6-3 wins. Today was the first time that Jared Hiltzik and Tim Kopinski had teamed up since October and it was the first time that Bazarnik/Page had played higher than #3 in the lineup.
Getting the doubles point had to be a huge relief for Illinois since they knew they’d only have to win 3 singles matches instead of 4 especially with how dominant Texas had been at 1 and 2 singles (26-0).
Lloyd Glasspool would be the first to finish as he defeated Tim Kopinski 6-2, 6-4 at #2 singles but a few mintues later Aleks Vukic would answer for Illinois with a 6-2, 6-2 win at #4 singles over George Goldhoff. Texas’s Soren Hess-Olesen would tie it up at 2 as he ran his dual match record to 14-0 with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jared Hiltzik at #1 singles. Illinois would go back on top 3-2 as Aron Hiltzik closed out Adrien Berkowicz 6-4, 6-1 at #3 singles but getting the 4th point would require a come from behind win at either 5 or 6. Both Toshiki Matsuya and Blake Bazarnik served for the 1st set yet neither was able to close it out and each would drop the opening set by a 7-5 score. Both guys would rally to take the 2nd set and while Matsuya fell behind 3-1 in the 3rd, Bazarnik would take over down the stretch and close out John Mee 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to give Illinois the nice road win in Austin.
The one thing I found interesting is that the original recap that Illinois put out mentioned that the Illini won despite playing without Farris Gosea (see pic below) but then for some reason they removed the mention.
“Page was a big lift for us in doubles, head coach Brad Dancer said. “We’ve been leaning on him to be a difference maker and that was a big rally for us. Going into singles it was a tough match, the first one outdoors for us, and it was little windy. I don’t think we were at our best but we battled. Our guys outside were great. We had a ton of alumni show and the environment that those alumni created was fantastic. We’ve been able to make some of our road matches feel like a home environment.”
“I knew it would be a tough match today. Illinois has a very good team — they compete well,” Head Coach Michael Center said. “We are good too, but we have to make the plays at the right moment to be successful.”
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of March 13th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
#4 Illinois 4, #8 Texas 2
03/14/15 at Austin, TX (Caswell Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #2 Soren Hess-Olesen (UT 15.02) def. #18 Jared Hiltzik (ILL 14.46) 6-1, 6-4
2. #52 Lloyd Glasspool (UT 13.84) def. #32 Tim Kopinski (ILL 14.15) 6-2, 6-4
USC jumped out to the early lead by taking the doubles point for the 9th time in 14 tries and then they followed that up by taking 4 opening sets and would close out 3 of them in straight sets to knock off UCLA 4-1. Even though UCLA won at #2 and was even at #1 and #3 it just never seemed like they had much of a chance because of the way USC was taking it to them at 4, 5, and 6. #5 USC 4, #14 UCLA 1
March 14, 2015 – Marks Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Northwestern won the doubles point but Columbia came out ready for singles and took 5 opening sets. Columbia’s Winston Lin, Mike Vermeer, and Shawn Hadavi would each win in straight sets but the Lions wouldn’t be able to find the elusive 4th point as Northwestern won all 3 remaining matches with each going deep into a 3rd set.
It’s been a good week so far for UNC-Wilmington as the Seahawks have already registered 2 Top 50 and will look to make it 3 on Sunday as they face #20 South Florida in the Championship of the USF Spring Break Tournament. Below is the updated tournament bracket.
UNCW 4, #48 Penn State 3
Singles competition
1. C. Van der Burgh (UNCW 12.90) def. Alex Fennell (PSU 13.25) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
“It’s a testament to the fitness and character of this team,” said Mait DuBois, the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association Coach-of-the-Year. “When we played Penn State last year in the NCAA Tournament, we were within 20 minutes of winning and lost. We were within 20 minutes of losing today and it didn’t look like we had a chance, but the guys hung around and found a way to win.”
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