I didn’t think Oklahoma and Baylor could top some of their previous meetings but they sure tried their best today. In a match that was delayed multiple times by weather it was #1 Oklahoma doing the unthinkable and beating #2 Baylor for the 4th time this year and for the 2nd time in Waco.
Baylor came out strong in doubles and jumped out to early break leads at 1 and 3 while Oklahoma got the early break lead at 2. While Baylor’s #1 team of Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano would pull away for a quick 6-1 win its #3 team of Vince Schneider and Felipe Rios would lose its early 3-1 lead and would find itself down 4-3. After an exchange of holds Oklahoma’s Jose Salazar and Axel Alvarez would break the Vince Schneider serve from 15-40 to take the match 6-4. Schneider actually double faulted on match point.
Over at #2, OU’s Spencer Papa and Dane Webb jumped out to the early 3-0 lead but Baylor held and broke to put it back on serve at 3-2. OU would break right back and hold for 5-2 then after each held Dane Webb would serve it out at love to take it 6-3 and with that Oklahoma had the early 1-0 lead. Baylor was 23-1 in doubles coming in but OU’s new doubles pairings found a way to get it done.
There would be an hour and a half weather delay after the doubles point but once they got started it was all Oklahoma early on. The Sooners jumped out to early break leads at 1, 3, 5, and 6 but just a few minutes it started to rain and lightning so the players were sent back to the locker room and would have to wait out a 41 minute delay.
After play resumed Axel Alvarez, Andrew Harris, and Florin Bragusi would each take first at 1, 2, and 6. Dane Webb had a double break lead on Max Tchoutakian at #3 but the BU sophomore came all the way back and took the opening set in a tiebreak. Mate Zsiga came back from 5-3 down at #5 to take the 1st set over Dane Webb in a tiebreak and Diego Galeano would take the opening set at #4 over Alex Ghilea. So after the hot start by Oklahoma the rain seemed to cool them off as each team took 3 opening sets.
Oklahoma would quickly open up a 3-0 lead as Axel Alvarez would finish off Julian Lenz at #1 singles in a matchup of #1 vs. #2 and Andrew Harris would finish off Tony Lupieri in straight sets at #2. Max Tchoutakian would avenge a tough loss to Dane Webb in the last meeting by getting a straight set win at #3 and Diego Galeano would pull off an upset of Alex Ghilea at #4 and just like that Baylor was within striking distance.
Oklahoma’s Florin Bragusi had a chance to close the match out but he would drop the second set in a tiebreak to Felipe Rios. As a side note – when Rios went up 7-6 in the tiebreak Fox Sports 2 cut away from the match to take a commercial break so by the time they came back the 3rd set had already started.
Mate Zsiga would even the match at 3 with a 3 set win over Spencer Papa at #5 and when Rios broke Bragusi to go up 3-2 in the 3rd it looked like Baylor was going to pull off the improbable comeback. Rios went up 40-30 in his 3-2 service game but through in a daily double and then Bragusi hammered a nice-angled forehand that Rios couldn’t catch up to and with that we were back on serve. After each held serve Rios would have a break point on Bragusi’s 4-4 service game and would get a look at a second serve but Rios pushed a forehand wide to make it 5-4 OU. Rios would then double fault at 15-all and again at 15-40 to drop the match and give Oklahoma the 4-3 win.
The OU recap has a lot of good details that I’m too tired to rehash so give it a read and also check out Tennis Atlantic’s Twitter for a slew of good video clips during the match. Jeff McMillan did a great job posting clips within seconds after the points took place.
“That was a great match, head coach John Roddick said. “A lot of credit goes to Baylor, because, as you saw, that match goes either way. That was a coin flip situation and you are not going to see better tennis than down there at (court) six. It was a heck of a match, and I was really proud of our guys for just kind of grinding through that one and pulling it out at the end
“He (Bragusi) went down a break but handled it really well,” Roddick said. “It is always a question of how you handle adversity. It didn’t faze him. He got the break back and from that point on he was rock solid. He executed what he wanted to do and did it really well.”
“I just wanted to bring it home,” Bragusi said. “I felt like I had to win that one. I have clinched in the past against Ohio State and Virginia, but this was by far the best I’ve had because it was for a trophy. It’s just crazy.”
“I think he (Alvarez) is showing that he is playing the best tennis in the country right now,” Roddick said. “He is doing it in a manner that sometimes puts out matches in complete control. He is proving that he is the best player in the country.”
“It (being the #1 seed) would be a big deal for us,” Roddick said. “The guys have earned it and they’ve played hard all year. They’ve won some really tough matches that could have gone the other way. You still have to go out and play the tournament though.”
“We didn’t really show out at every spot. In general we have done that this season. This season that has been one of our strengths, and we didn’t today. Against a team at this level that’s going to make it tough for you. It was good for us and great for us. Great experience, we got pushed everywhere, I think we will be better for it. We’ve got to take a few weeks now before the NCAA tournament and get back to work on some fundamentals and clean some things up and I think we will be better.” – Head coach Matt Knoll on the match
TOP QUOTE #2 “We had played them three times before today and we hadn’t beaten (Dane) Webb, and we hadn’t beaten (Alex) Ghilea. We beat two of the guys we hadn’t beaten and I thought that was a step in the right direction. We won a lot of tiebreakers. I think we competed well. Three tiebreakers we contested and we won all three of them, and I think that showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness from our guys. Down the stretch we didn’t play as fundamentally sound as we needed to and we didn’t show out in a couple spots, and that’s kind of the story.” – Knoll on facing Oklahoma in the final
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of April 26th For more details about UTR check out their website. #2 Oklahoma 4, #1 Baylor 3
Apr 26, 2015 at Waco, Texas (Hurd Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #2 Axel Alvarez (OU 14.89) def. #1 Julian Lenz (BU 15.00) 6-1, 6-4
2. #5 Andrew Harris (OU 14.96) def. #33 Tony Lupieri (BU 14.11) 6-4, 6-4
3. #74 Max Tchoutakian (BU 14.35) def. #35 Dane Webb (OU 14.25) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
4. Diego Galeano (BU 13.74) def. #84 Alex Ghilea (OU 14.33) 6-4, 7-5
5. #110 Mate Zsiga (BU 13.95) def. Spencer Papa (OU 13.88) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-2
6. Florin Bragusi (OU 13.65) def. Felipe Rios (BU 14.04) 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,3,4,6)
Big 12 Conference Championship Final
The break between doubles and singles was 1:27 due to inclement weather
There was a 41 minute delay during singles play due to inclement weather
ACC:
Virginia wins the ACC Championship – sound familiar? The Cavaliers won the ACC Championship for the 11th time in the last 12 years and extended their ACC winning streak to 139 matches with a 4-2 win over Wake Forest. Virginia played without one of the best players with Mitchell Frank held out due to a back injury. The match was originally scheduled to start at 10am and was to be broadcast by ESPN3 but unfortunately rain delayed the start over 5 hours and ended up pushing it indoors over at Duke.
Once play got started Virginia would take the doubles point to grab the early lead and would then pick up a pair of straight set wins from Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and JC Aragone at 3 and 5. Wake would answer with wins at 1 and 2 from Noah Rubin and Romain Bogaerts but moments later Alex Ritschard would drop the hammer on Jon Ho at #4 to clinch the Championship. Below are video clips from UVA showing match point and an interview with the tournament MVP JC Aragone.
“Winning the ACC Championship never gets old,” said head coach Brian Boland. “Other than the success my former players have had in life after leaving UVa, the thing I am most proud of is the consistency we have had year after year. It says a lot about the hard work that our players have put into the program and their ability to be ready to play every single day. It is a streak that I never imagined could be possible in a league as challenging as the ACC.
“It was a tough tournament this year,” added Boland. “This league keeps getting better and better. I have a ton of respect for Tony Bresky and what he has done at Wake Forest. He was my assistant for 10 years, so it is tough to see him lose. We won a lot of championships together.”
“That tiebreaker that Ryan had in the first set against Noah (Rubin) was big because it allowed Wake to get back into the match,” said Boland. “I was pleased with how Alex and Mac stayed focused at the end. Alex didn’t let up after winning the first set, which is easy to do after winning a close first set. I am proud of how he played the second set and clinching this title is a big moment in his career.”
“Playing without Mitchell made it tough today because he is a big part of our team,” said Boland. “His back acted up after yesterday’s match and I decided not to put him out there today. That is where the depth we have built up really helps us. Everyone on this team is ready to contribute if we call on them and guys stepped up big today.”
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,5,1,2,4)
ACC Men’s Tennis Championship Finals
Match moved to Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center at Duke University due to rain at Cary Tennis Park.
Final Poll Results:
Unfortunately the ESPN3 broadcast of the ACC Championship never made it on the air due to the rain which kind of baffles me – they knew that rain was likely so you think there would have been a plan in place to move equipment or do something to get it on the air. Below is a picture of the Mountain West Network’s broadcast of the Championship and as you an tell they are playing indoors in a bubble after playing outdoors in Albuquerque all weekend. If the MW Network can pick up and move things on the fly are you telling me the media giant that is the ESPN Network can’t do the same?
Big 10:
For the 2nd time in the last 4 years Illinois has won the Big 10 Championship after the Illini defeated the #2 seed Ohio State 4-0. Illinois picked up the doubles point with wins at 1 and 2 and then jumped on Ohio State in singles by going up break on all 6 courts. Aleks Vukic was first off the court with a 6-1, 6-3 win at #5 over Kevin Metka. The win was Vukic’s 42nd on the year which ties Ryler DeHeart’s singles season win record.
Ohio State was starting to turn several courts around in an attempt to get back in the match but Aron Hiltzik would close the door at #4 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Hunter Callahan to give the Illini the Championship.
“You work so hard for such a long period of time and then for these guys to have this moment in front of the incredible Net Nuts and the fans that came out today,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “It’s a magical experience for them. I’m so happy for the guys.”
Illinois 25-4, 12-1; National ranking #4 Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,2,4)
Mountain West:
Boise State won its fourth consecutive Mountain West Championship by defeating the #7 seed Nevada 4-3. Boise State entered the tournament as a 5 seed with just a 12-15 record but Greg Patton’s team got hot at the right time and upset the host and #1 seed New Mexico in the semifinals after shutting out #69 Fresno State in the quarterfinals.
Nevada took the doubles point with wins at 1 and 3 but Boise State took 4 opening sets at 3, 4, 5, and 6 and would ultimately finish each off in straight sets with Brian Foley clinching the win at #4. All 6 singles matches finished in straight sets which you wouldn’t typically expect in a championship match but hey it is what it is.
Below is a highlight clip from the Mountain West Network which did an OUTSTANDING job covering the conference tournament. They did a full broadcast of every single match on both the men’s and women’s side and they did it well. All the major conferences, which are doing backstrokes in stacks of cash, should pick up the phone and call the MW and ask them how they did it. I mean if the little ole’ Mountain West can put on this kind of coverage why can’t the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 12?
“I feel like we’ve crawled through the desert, climbed the highest mountain, traversed roaring rivers, been hit by a tsunami and all of a sudden we’ve reached the top,” said head coach Greg Patton. “This was one of our goals and we never wavered from it. The way we did it was constant team building, by getting these guys to play fearlessly and positively. We got them to truly trust each other and know their teammates would come through for them and they really learned to care about the journey.”
“I have to be the happiest man in the universe,” Patton said. “We did it. We really did do it. It means so much because nobody thought we could do it except us. This is our time.”
“This is so incredibly special,” said Patton. “This is one of the legacies of our program. We go to the NCAA Tournament and we win conference titles. I have to hand it to these guys. They didn’t ride the highway to this championship. They had to take the back roads.”
“All of a sudden the opportunity was going to start knocking,” said Greg Patton. “It was going to be at the doorstep. We just had to make sure there was someone ready to answer the door. That was Brian.”
“Brian’s first set tiebreaker was critical,” said Greg Patton. “He knew what the score was and that we were fighting for our lives. Sometimes when he gets in a spot like that he cares so much that he can get tight. Instead, he came out in that tiebreak and played some of the best tennis of his life. Brian went to that place in his life and his game where he had extreme confidence and wasn’t afraid.”
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,3,5,2,1,4)
Fourth-straight tournament title for Boise State
Atlantic 10:
George Washington won the A10 for the 2nd consecutive year and for the 4th time in 5 years with a 4-2 win over #2 VCU. Francisco Dias clinched the title at #1 singles with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win over Michal Voscek.
The tournament is held in Mason, Ohio at the site of the ATP Master Series Event which gave the guys at #1 singles an opportunity to play in the stadium court. As you can see it was a “late” arriving crowd on all courts.
“Doubles was special today,” said Head Coach Greg Munoz. “VCU is tough. We played them better than we expected, and we were really happy with the results there. The doubles point proved crucial today.”
“It’s never an individual who wins this, it’s a team effort, and we have some guys who have played some incredible matches this year. We have a lot of freshman that have struggled at times but have had some big wins,” said Coach Munoz. “It was nice to see our upperclassmen come through in singles today. To have the upperclassmen use their experience to help us win in the big moments when they occur is huge. These matches can go either way. We’re just happy to get this one.”
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