The draws are out and the lineups are set for the 2016 ITA Men’s National Team Indoor Championships with play getting started on Friday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. Play gets started each day at 9am eastern and finishes each night around 9 to 10pm.
I’m going to preview each round of 16 match using the master lineups that each team submitted and I’ll make my predictions as well. With this being an indoor event I’ll also take into account which teams are comfortable playing indoors while others only play indoors a handful of times each season.
There will be live scoring on all 12 courts but only point-by-point scoring on courts 7-12. The same goes for streaming video in that it will only be available on courts 7-12 too.
Doubles Record: Virginia 5-0, San Diego 3-1
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
1. #27 Ryan Shane (UVA 14.68) vs. #20 Uros Petronijevic (USD 14.07)
2. #2 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA 14.68) vs. #24 Jordan Angus (USD 13.97)
3. Collin Altamirano (UVA 14.25) vs. Filip Vittek (USD 13.55)
4. #78 Mac Styslinger (UVA 13.91) vs. #120 Romain Kalaydjian (USD 13.26)
5. JC Aragone (UVA 13.86) vs. Josh Page (USD 13.00)
6. Henrik Wiersholm (UVA 14.36) vs. #98 Jaan Kononov (USD 13.63)
O: Luca Corinteli (UVA 13.52)/Alex Azaouzos (USD 12.32)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
1. #42 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (UVA) vs. #18 Jordan Angus/Filip Vittek (USD)
Virginia warmed up for the NTIs by taking it to UCLA and I think they’ll probably make fairly quick work of San Diego. I like Virginia in doubles and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Collin Altamirano, and Henrik Wiersholm in singles. Prediction: Virginia 4-0
[8] Oklahoma (3-2) vs. [9] Wake Forest (8-1) – 6:30pm est – Oklahoma split matches last weekend winning at Alabama 5-2 before falling to North Carolina 4-3. Wake Forest is coming off a pair of 7-0 wins after beating South Carolina at home and Tennessee on the road. Oklahoma welcomed back Andrew Harris (knee tendinitis) to its doubles lineup but it’s yet to be seen if he’ll be ready to play singles. John Roddick has Harris listed at #4 on the depth chart but I’d be a little surprised to see him play. Wake Forest rolled over Oklahoma just two weeks ago in Norman so it’ll be interesting to see if the outcome is any different this time. Four of the six singles matches are shaping up to be rematches though if Harris plays only two would be rematches.
Overall Record: Oklahoma 3-2, Wake Forest 8-1
Indoors Record: Oklahoma 3-2, Wake Forest 8-1
Doubles Record: Oklahoma 3-2, Wake Forest 7-2
Result from 2 Weeks Ago
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
O: Andrew Harris (OU 14.79)/Keivon Tabrizi (WF 13.12)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
1. #37 Andrew Harris/Alex Ghilea (OU) vs. Christian Seraphim/Skander Mansouri (WF)
2. #57 Axel Alvarez/Spencer Papa (OU) vs. Petros Chrysochos/Jon Ho (WF)
3. Austin Siegel/Andre Biro (OU) vs. Romain Bogaerts/Dennis Uspensky (WF)
The return of Andrew Harris helped Oklahoma get the doubles point against North Carolina and I think OU takes it over Wake too. I think Axel Alvarez will atone for his loss to Skander Mansouri and I look for Maxime Mora to repeat his win over Dennis Uspensky however I like Wake Forest everywhere else. The one court that could swing the match the other way is #3 – if Alex Ghilea can beat Jon Ho then OU might able to pull it out. If Andrew Harris is able to play at #4 I think he probably still loses to Bogaerts while Bragusi would beat Uspensky and Seraphim would beat Mora. Prediction: Wake Forest 4-3
[4] USC (5-0) vs. [13] South Florida (3-1) – 3:30pm est – USC is coming off a pair of 6-1 wins over Loyola Marymount and Grand Canyon though 7 of the 12 singles matches went three sets while South Florida blanked Minnesota 7-0 before losing to #2 Texas A&M 4-3. This will be USC’s first indoor match of the season while South Florida played indoors at Minnesota.
Overall Record: USC 5-0, South Florida 3-1
Indoors Record: USC 0-0, South Florida 1-0
Doubles Record: USC 4-1, South Florida 2-2
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
2. Max de Vroome (USC 13.95) vs. #26 Dominic Cotrone (USF 14.44)
3. #104 Jake DeVine (USC 13.56) vs. Sasha Gozun (USF 13.71)
4. #43 Logan Smith (USC 13.87) vs. Justin Roberts (USF 13.11)
5. Laurens Verboven (USC 13.56) vs. Peter Bertran (USF 13.08)
6. Thiabault Forget (USC 13.36) vs. Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz (USF 13.46)
O: Jack Jaede (USC 13.52)/Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF 13.37)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
1. Nick Crystal/Laurens Verboven (USC) vs. #40 Justin Roberts/Dominic Cotrone (USF)
2. Max de Vroome/Jack Jaede (USC) vs. Sasha Gozun/Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF)
3. Rob Bellamy/Jake DeVine (USC) vs. Roberto Cid/Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz (USF)
Last year USF made its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Round of 16 and came up just short against Baylor. This year USF is making its first-ever National Indoor Round of 16 appearance and I think they are going to get over the hump and get a win. I like the Bulls in doubles and look for Roberto Cid, Dominic Cotrone, and Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz to win at #1, #2, and #6. I also like Sasha Gozun at #3 for USF while I like Logan Smith and Laurens Verboven at #4 and #5 for USC. If USC were to win its best path would be the doubles point and #3, #4, and #5 singles. Prediction: South Florida 4-2
These teams actually met less than a month ago in a hidden-dual format at the Three Oaks Shootout in Fort Myers with each winning 6 matches. The only guaranteed rematch will come at #3 between Guillermo Nunez and Aron Hiltzik though Stalder and Hirsch could meet again #6 too. Alex Rybakov and Jared Hiltzik met back in August in the first round of the Champaign Futures with Rybakov winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.
4. Eduardo Nava/Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. Pengxuan Jiang/Pablo Landa (ILL): 6-2
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
6. Trevor Johnson (TCU 13.75) vs. Toshiki Matsuya (ILL 13.14)
I think the doubles point will be huge in this one because neither team wants to start off in a 1-0 hole knowing it needs to win 4 singles matches. Both teams are evenly stacked up top, TCU is going to be stronger at #4 and #5, and #6 will be a tough one to call with Trevor Johnson’s status probably unknown until match time. I’m going to take Aleks Vukic at #1 and Jared Hiltzik #2 for the Illini and Eduardo Nava and Jerry Lopez at #4 and #5 for TCU. Both Guillermo Nunez and Aron Hiltzik have dropped 2 of their last 3 so that’s a tough call but I’m leaning towards Nunez. If Trevor Johnson plays at #6 I think he’ll win but if he doesn’t I’d go with Illinois at that spot. So we’re potentially looking at a match with the doubles point deciding the winner. Prediction: TCU 4-3
Overall Record: Ohio State 8-0, Baylor 5-2
Indoors Record: Ohio State 8-0, Baylor 4-2
Doubles Record: Ohio State 8-0, Baylor 4-3
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
O: Matt Mendez (OSU 13.44)/Vince Schneider (BU 13.86)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
Baylor’s only chance to keep this one close is if Vince Schneider is available to play. If Schneider doesn’t play I think we’re looking at another Buckeye shutout with Ohio State taking doubles and Hugo Di Feo, Herkko Pollanen, and Ralf Steinbach winning in singles. I like Julian Lenz and Max Tchoutakian at #1 and #2 but I think the other matches will finish too quickly for Baylor to get on the board. If Schneider were to play I’d still like Ohio State in doubles and at #3, #4, and #5. Prediction: Ohio State 4-0
[3] North Carolina (6-0) vs. [14] Texas Tech (10-0) – 9am est – North Carolina is coming off a big 4-3 win over Oklahoma while Texas Tech hasn’t faced a serious test since beating Florida three weeks ago on the final day of the Kick-Off Weekend. North Carolina has played all six of its matches indoors while Texas Tech will only be playing indoors for the third time this season.
Overall Record: North Carolina 6-0, Texas Tech 10-0
Indoors Record: North Carolina 6-0, Texas Tech 2-0
Doubles Record: North Carolina 5-1, Texas Tech 5-2
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
O: Anu Kodali (UNC 13.21)/Augusto Stodart (TT 12.73)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
3. Ronnie Schneider/Blaine Boyden (UNC) vs. Jolan Cailleau/Connor Curry (TT)
This will the Red Raiders first-ever trip to the National Team Indoors and while I think they could probably beat about half the field I’m not so sure they can get past North Carolina. I like Bjorn Thomson at #6 and think Jolan Cailleau has a good chance at #4 but I like the Tar Heels in doubles and then look for Ronnie Schneider, Brett Clark, and Robert Kelly to push Carolina through to the quarterfinals. I also like Brayden Schnur at #1 but his match probably won’t make it to the finish line. Prediction: North Carolina 4-1
[7] UCLA (5-1) vs. [10] Georgia (3-1) – 12pm est – These teams met just two weeks ago in Los Angeles with UCLA rolling to a 6-1 win but that match was outdoors in UCLA’s backyard while this one will be indoors on the East Coast. UCLA is coming off a rough 6-1 loss to Virginia on Tuesday night while Georgia won handily 6-1 over a less than full strength Georgia Tech. UCLA will be at full strength while it’s yet to be seen if Georgia will have the services of Walker Duncan who missed the last two matches with a foot injury. Duncan is slotted at the #3 spot in the master lineups but he was in a boot just two weeks ago so we’ll see if he can go. After missing all of January with a wrist injury, Nick Wood played his first dual-match against Georgia Tech’s #8 and won going away so I’d be surprised if he didn’t play at #6 if he’s feeling good. The only rematch from the previous encounter will be at #4 between Karue Sell and Jan Zielinski though if Duncan can’t play Zielinski would move up to #3.
Here was an interesting quote from Billy Martin via the Daily Bruin about the match with Virginia and the court conditions – “I think we were very shocked at the whole pace of the match, Martin said. “It’s an aggressive tennis. We were trying to set up points and rallies that you can do outside on the slower courts and slower conditions but indoors it just wasn’t going to work.
#12 UCLA 6, #6 Georgia 1
Overall Record: UCLA 5-1, Georgia 3-1
Indoors Record: UCLA 0-1, Georgia 3-0
Doubles Record: UCLA 5-1, Georgia 2-2
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
O: Austin Rapp (UCLA 13.42)/Nick Wood (UGA 13.64)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
I’m looking for these teams to split the top two courts with Mackenzie McDonald the likely winner at #1 while I see Austin Smith getting it done at #2. I like Martin Redlicki at #3 over either Walker Duncan or Jan Zielinski while I like Zielinski or Paul Oosterbaan over Karue Sell at #4. I’d take Oosterbaan over Staggs at #5 but think Staggs would get past Reinberg. I’d like DiGiulio at #6 over Reinberg but if Wood plays at #6 I’d take him. So as you can see a lot depends on the matchups – I think UCLA takes two of the top three regardless of pairings but I could see Georgia sweeping the bottom three if it’s Zielinski, Oosterbaan, and Wood. Prediction: Georgia 4-2
Overall Record: Texas A&M 9-0, Columbia 4-0
Indoors Record: Texas A&M 1-0, Columbia 4-0
Doubles Record: Texas A&M 9-0, Columbia 3-1
Projected Singles Lineup w UTR in ( ):
5. AJ Catanzariti (TAMU 13.44) vs. Richard Pham (CU 13.13)
Projected Doubles Lineup:
Quarterfinals:
Virginia over Wake Forest
TCU over South Florida
Ohio State over North Carolina
Georgia over Texas A&M
Semfinals
Virginia over TCU
Ohio State over Georgia
Finals:
Virginia over Ohio State
Tough for any team to lose 4 big guns and rebound the very next year, but they are building strong.
That's a good way to put it. They need someone to break out. Maybe Crystal's the guy.
Looks like no upsets today.
It appears that USC has 9 or 10 3-5 seeds on their team. Great depth but minimal firepower.
Virginia hosts frequently so it was surprising. UCLA's result against UVA influenced my pick some because I thought they had a shot and weren't ever in it. Georgia getting some guys back and pushing Oosterbaan down a spot and pushing Wagland out of the lineup were big moves too.
I was surprised Bobby by your prediction for the ucla-georgia match. Maybe because of that quote by Billy Martin, which was amazing. Do you really think he was surprised by the pace of the indoor courts? How long has he been coming to these things?
I can't make it this year so I'll have to follow at home – it's a shame they can't have it run from Thurs-Sun because it's tough to make it to a Monday final.
You are going Bob?