Texas A&M had been on the road for the last week and a half, and had lost its last three, but it managed to come from behind today to beat Illinois 4-2 despite playing without one of its top starters. Texas A&M senior Shane Vinsant missed today’s match against Illinois due to a blister on his foot but the Aggies managed to stay focused in his absence and the team performed much better in singles than it did in doubles. The weather was right around 50 degrees outside but they played it indoors anyway. I was a little surprised at the lighter turnout of around 175 because I’ve been to Atkins in the past for some big matches and have seen well over 500 on hand.
Illinois got off to a quick start in doubles with its #2 team of Aleks Vukic and Aron Hiltzik breaking Max Lunkin to open the match and its #3 team of Julian Childers and Aiden Jiang going up an early break as well. Childers and Jiang would stretch the lead to 5-0 and would end up taking it 6-1 in just 19 minutes. Vukic and Hiltzik went up a double break at #2 and led 3-0 before Texas A&M’s Max Lunkin and Jordi Arconada broke from 15-40 and held to make it 3-2. Vukic held for 4-2 when he hit a net cord ace at 40-30 and then Vukic and Hiltzik broke Arconada to go up 5-2. Aron Hiltzik clinched the doubles point when he hit a service winner on the deciding point – below are some video clips of a few points including match points at #3 (left) and #2 (right).
The match at #1 was abandoned with Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow leading Jared Hiltzik and Brian Page 5-2*. Below are a few clips from that match:
After a slow start in doubles Texas A&M turned up the heat in singles as Arthur Rinderknech, AJ Catanzariti, Jackson Withrow, and Max Lunkin went up early breaks at #1, #3, #5 and #6. Each would take the opening set as did Harrison Adams at #4 so that was five first sets for Texas A&M while Illinois got just the one from Jared Hiltzik at #2.
Jared Hiltzik was the first off the court as he put Illinois up 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jordi Arconada at #2 singles. Hiltzik broke Arconada on the deciding point to start the match and then broke him again to take the opening set 6-3. They stayed on serve in the second set until Hiltzik broke to go up 4-2 and just two games later he’d break again to close it out in a whopping 55 minutes. Below are some highlights starting with Hiltzik’s break on the opening game and it cuts to match point at the end. Of all the matches I got the least footage on this one since Hiltzik was in control most of the way.
Texas A&M’s Jackson Withrow earned the Aggies first point with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Brian Page at #5 singles. Withrow broke from 30-40 to go up 4-2 in the first but Page broke back from 15-40 to make it 4-3. Withrow broke right back and then held to take the opening set 6-3. After four straight holds to start the second set, Withrow broke on the deciding point to go up 3-2. Withrow then held for 4-2, broke from 30-40 for 5-2, and then held from 40-15 to close it out in 1 hour and 3 minutes. The below highlights pick up with Page serving 3-6, 2-4 (30-30) and finish with Withrow hammering home an ace on match point.
Texas A&M’s AJ Catanzariti tied up the match at 2-2 with an impressive 6-1, 7-6(1) win over Aron Hiltzik at #3. Catanzariti only needed 22 minutes to take the opening set but Hiltzik fought back in the second to go up 3-0. Catanzariti would reel off four straight to go up a break at 4-3 but Hiltzik would break back from 30-40 to even it at 4-4. It stayed on serve until the tiebreak and then it was all Catanzariti as he rolled 7-1 to finish off the match in 1 hour and 13 minutes. In the video clip below it has the most of the tiebreak and if your wondering Hiltzik was overruled on the line call at 2-1 to make it 3-1 Catanzariti.
Texas A&M’s Max Lunkin and Asher Hirsch were locked in a tight battle at #6 singles. Lunkin took the first set 6-3 but Hirsch went up 5-3 in the second and was looking for a split. Lunkin held from 40-15 to make it 5-4 and then he broke from 15-40 to even it at 5-5. Lunkin went down 15-40 on his 5-5 service game but fought back to hold for 6-5. Hirsch held from 40-30 to send it a tiebreak but he’d quickly fall behind 3-1. Hirsch evened it up at 3-3 but he’d net a forehand on the next point to give the mini-break back to Lunkin at 4-3. Hirsch would then rattle off the next four to take the tiebreak 7-4. Below are clips from the close of the first set then the finish off the second set (for some reason the scoreboard got cut off the top during the upload)
Harrison Adams put Texas A&M ahead 3-2 with a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-2 win over Julian Childers at #4. The first set was nip and tuck until Adams jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak and took it 7-2. Childers came back and took the second 6-3 but Adams had the steadier hand down the stretch and took the final four games to close it out in 1 hour and 41 minutes. The video clip on the left is match point and the one on the right has Adams holding for 6-5 in the first, Childers holding for 6-6, then a few from the first set tiebreak.
Arthur Rinderknech would clinch the win for Texas A&M with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 win over Aleks Vukic at #1. Rinderknech needed just 25 minutes to take the first set 6-1 but Vukic fought back and broke Rinderknech at love to take the second set 7-5. Rinderknech broke to go up 3-2 in the third then he’d hold for 4-2. Vukic went up 40-0 on his next service game but Rinderknech came back to break on the deciding point for 5-2. Rinderknech would get broke at love and lose the next two points on the Vukic serve before taking the last four to win it in 1 hour and 55 minutes. The video clips start in the first set then pick up with Vukic serving 2-4 in the third.
Lunkin was a break in the third set at 2-1 when Rinderknech clinched.
I talked to Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton about today’s match:
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#6 Ohio State got all it wanted from #23 Florida but in the end the Buckeyes pulled it out 4-3. Ohio State took the doubles point by picking up a 6-3 win at #1 and a 6-4 win at #2. The win by Mikael Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen came over the ITA #1 team of Diego Hidalgo/Gordon Watson. Below is the handshake from Ohio State’s Twitter
Torpegaard and Pollanen take down the top-ranked doubles team in the country 6-3. pic.twitter.com/CvUppeO0FaOhio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) February 21, 2016
Ralf Steinbach/Martin Joyce clinched the point at #2 when Martin Joyce held serve to give the Buckeyes the 6-4 win over Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin.
And there’s the clinching point from Steinbach and Joyce on court two. 1-0 Buckeyes! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/XLiRUEvtJqOhio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) February 21, 2016
Ohio State came out strong in singles and took four opening sets and looked like it’d run away with this one but Florida fought back and forced a ton of third sets.
Ohio State’s Ralf Steinbach needed just 53 minutes to put Ohio State up 2-0 after he defeated Gordon Watson 6-1, 6-4 at #5 singles. Florida’s Alfredo Perez cut the lead to 2-1 with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Chris Diaz at #4 singles in a match that took 1 hour and 21 minutes. Florida’s Elliott Orkin tied it at 2-2 with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Hugo Di Feo at #2 in 1 hour and 37 minutes. Ohio State freshman Martin Joyce ran his dual-match record to 7-0 with a come from behind 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Florida freshman McClain Kessler at #6 in 1 hour and 49 minutes. Just four minutes later, Florida’s Chase Perez-Blanco would tie it at 3-3 with a come from behind 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Herkko Pollanan at #3.
It all came down to a third set at #1 between Ohio State sophomore Mikael Torpegaard and Florida senior Diego Hidalgo. Torpegaard took the first set 7-6, Hidalgo got the second 6-2, then Torpegaard went up 4-1 in the third and broke again to win 6-2 in 2 hour and 7 minutes.
Victory is sweeter with teammates #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/kPqAskBVqsOhio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) February 21, 2016
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Memphis won in Oxford for the second time in the last three years when it defeated Ole Miss 4-1.
Memphis won 6-3 at #3 doubles while Ole Miss got a 6-3 win at #1 doubles. Ole Miss was serving up 4-0 at #2 doubles but gave one of the breaks back but still led 5-2. Memphis held and then broke from 30-40 to make it 5-4. Memphis held from 40-30 to make it 5-5. Ole Miss held at love for 6-5 then the Rebels had two match points up 30-40. Memphis managed to hold with a service winner on the deciding point to send it a tiebreak. Ole Miss went up an early mini-break at 2-1 but Memphis took the next three to go up 4-2. Memphis’s Ryan Peniston and Felix Rauch would end up taking it 7-3 to give the Tigers the point and early 1-0 lead.
The match was being played at Ole Miss’s three-court indoor facility so after Memphis took the doubles point only the top three singles matches went on court. Memphis got wins from Ryan Peniston and Kai Lemke at #2 and #3 to go up 3-1 before Ole Miss got on the board with a 6-3, 7-6 win by Stefan Lindmark at #1.
Ole Miss needed a sweep of the bottom three but Memphis’s Chris Patzanovsky closed out Ricardo Jorge 6-3, 6-4 at #4 to give Memphis the 4-1 win.
The other matches were abandoned with Memphis up a set at #6 while #5 was on serve in the first.
“Memphis got away with the doubles point that we had complete control over. You have to keep playing until the last point, and they did a better job at that. We weren’t able to stop the momentum, but credit to Memphis, they did a great job and deserved to win.
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San Diego head coach Ryan Keckley recapped the weekend split with South Carolina and South Florida.
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What was expected to be a close match turned into a rout as #47 Kentucky rolled into South Bend and gave #31 Notre Dame a good ole’ fashioned beat down. Kentucky won the doubles point with wins at #2 and #3 (with some new pairings) and then took all six first sets in singles. Ryotaro Matsumura, Nils Ellefsen, and Trey Yates each won with Ellefsen providing the clincher at #3.
Notre Dame did bounce back later on Sunday with a 4-0 win over Western Michigan in a match that had four singles matches go three-sets.
Kentucky has done a great job this year with getting post-match quotes from its coaching staff so make sure you give those a read for some more insight.
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#66 Iowa ran its record to 5-2 with a come from behind 4-3 win over Wichita State. Wichita State took the doubles point with tiebreak wins at #1 and #2 and then went up 3-1 after Tin Ostojic and Haru Inoue only dropped a total of 3 games in straight set wins at #1 and #5. As hard as it is to believe, Inoue’s 6-0, 6-1 win the third match to finish with Iowa’s Lefteris Theodorou squeezing in a 6-1, 6-2 win at #2. Iowa would also get a straight set win from Josh Silverstein at #3 and then both Jonas Larsen and Jake Jakoby would win in three-sets with Larsen clinching the match at #4.
Wichita State has played 13 matches this season with 7 of them finishing with a 4-3 score. Unfortunately for the Shockers they are just 2-5 in those matches.
“For Jonas to clinch the match in the third set for us shows the big strides he’s made as a player since he’s arrived on campus in August,” said UI head coach Ross Wilson.
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#20 Northwestern ran its record to 10-1 with a tight 4-3 win over #32 Vanderbilt. Vandy took the doubles point by winning the deciding match at #1 in a tiebreak but Northwestern rallied in singles by taking first sets at the top four spots. Konrad Zieba, Sam Shropshire, and Fedor Baev put NU up 3-1 but Vandy tied it up at 3-3 with straight sets win from Kris Yee and Alex Ross at #5 and #6.
The match came down to a third set at #3 between NU junior Strong Kirchheimer and Vandy sophomore Baker Newman. Kirchheimer took the first set 6-2, Newman the second 7-5, and then Kirchheimer finished it 6-3 in the third.
#27 Tulane bounced back from a tough loss to Mississippi State by defeating #35 Drake 4-1. Tulane won the doubles point by taking the deciding match in a tiebreak and then the Green Waves picked up singles wins from Dominik Koepfer, Constantin Schmitz, and Chi-Shan Jao while Drake got a win from Vinny Gillespie.
The remaining matches were abandoned with Tulane closing in on a win at #4 while it looked like #5 was headed for a split.
#27 Tulane 4, #35 Drake 1
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#48 Washington won a tight doubles point over #52 Pepperdine and then got singles wins from Jake Douglas, Enzo Sommer, and Piers Foley while Pepperdine got a win from Lautaro Pane. Below is the clincher by Douglas:
allison russell (@Allison90674035) February 22, 2016
Post-Match Quotes from Washington’s recap
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#16 Columbia really roughed up Minnesota on Sunday beating the Gophers for the second time in the last month. Columbia won all seven singles matches in straight sets and didn’t give up more than four games in any set.
Minnesota’s Felix Corwin started off the year at #1 but after breaking his wrist he’s obviously struggled to gain any traction.
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#26 Texas went on the road and beat #49 Rice 4-0. The doubles point was decided by a tiebreak at #2 and then Texas picked up straight set wins from Harrison Scott and Rodrigo Banzer at #2 and #4 while Julian Zlobinsky clinched the win in three-sets at #6.
Each of the remaining matches had to gone to a third set when play was halted due to the clinch.
Emory won the Division 3 National Team Indoor Championship with a 7-2 win over Chicago which was the Eagles 6th NTI Championship in the 16 years of the event.
For more details on the match read the ITA’s recap along with a report from D3 Tennis.
#5 Emory University 7, #6 University of Chicago 2
Emory is the no. 3 seed Chicago is the no. 4 seed
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