After a calm Wednesday the pace picked up on Thursday with Ohio State taking on South Florida while the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic got underway with four close matches at two different sites.
No. 4 Ohio State made its outdoors debut in Tampa and despite getting tested the Buckeyes still had enough in the tank to get past No. 16 South Florida 4-3. Ohio State’s Chris Diaz didn’t play in doubles (reasons unknown) but the Buckeyes still managed to win at No. 1 and No. 2. Diaz’s normal partner, Hugo Di Feo, and Matt Mendez led 5-3 at No. 3 when the point was clinched.
Ohio State took four opening sets in singles and Martin Joyce quickly finished his match at No. 6 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Everth Dzib. USF sophomore Peter Bertran rolled over Chris Diaz 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 and junior Sasha Gozun cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Ralf Steinbach at No. 3.
Ohio State junior Herkko Pollanen defeated Ignacio Gonzalez Muniz 6-2, 6-3 at No. 5 and then Mikael Torpegaard clinched the match with a 7-6(0), 6-1 win over Roberto Cid at No. 1.
The final match was played out at No. 2 with South Florida’s Dominic Cotrone getting past Hugo Di Feo 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Note: South Florida was playing without two of its usual starters with both Justin Roberts and Vadym Kalyuzhnyy out of the lineup.
San Diego got off to a slow start against No. 49 Harvard by dropping the doubles point but the Toreros managed to turn it around in singles and came away with a 4-1 win.
San Diego won five of six first sets in singles with Filip Vittek, Romain Kalaydjian, Jaan Kononov, and Alexandros Araouzos winning at 3, 4, 5, and 6 with Vittek clinching it at No. 3.
#34 San Diego 4, #49 Harvard 1
Mar 17, 2016 at San Diego, CA (Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center)
“We came out a bit flat in doubles but bounced back nicely in the first hour of singles play.” Head Coach Ryan Keckley said. “It was important for us to capture the momentum early in certain match ups and we did just that.”
“It was impressive to see our lower spots have so much success today.” Keckley said. “We are really starting to hit our stride and we look forward to tomorrow’s match up with a skilled Tulane team.”
No. 8 Texas Tech got all it wanted against No. 75 San Diego State but the Red Raiders held on to win 4-3. Texas Tech won what turned out to be an important doubles point by taking the deciding court at No. 1 in a tiebreak.
Bjorn Thomson (Pic Via Texas Tech)
Tech won four first sets in singles but it’d only be able to finish two of those in straight sets. Tech’s Felipe Soares and Jolan Cailleau won easily at No. 1 and No. 4 but SDSU’s Hendrik Jebens and Cornelius Kolb also won easily at No. 2 and No. 6.
SDSU’s Milen Iankiev tied the match at 3-3 by coming back from a set down to defeat Alex Sendegeya 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3. The final match on court at No. 6 was freshman versus freshman. Texas Tech’s Bjorn Thomson took the first set 6-3 but SDSU’s Sander Gjoels-Andersen got the second 6-4. Thomson got the one break he needed in the third and clinched it 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
#8 Texas Tech 4, #75 San Diego State 3
03/17/16 at San Diego, Calif. (Aztec Tennis Center)
“We weren’t all there today,” Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. “The bottom line is we need to regroup quickly and learn from this performance. San Diego State played us hard and wanted to win. Luckily, we had a few guys come through in the clutch and give us the win.”
“I’m proud of the team, head coach Gene Carswell said. “We battled back in several different situations and to have it come down to a final set against a team that’s top eight in the country, it shows that the team is expecting a lot more out of the season from what we’ve done up to now. Today’s performance shows that our guys are putting in some hard work on the practice courts.
No. 46 Denver took the doubles point over No. 28 Tulane but the Green Waves came back in singles and swept the top four to get a tough 4-3 win.
Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer, Sebastian Rey, and Chi-Shan Jao won in straight sets at 1, 3, and 4 while Denver’s Zach Fryer won in straight sets at 6. Denver’s Yannik James won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 5 over Alex Van Cott but Tulane’s Constantin Schmitz clinched the win at No. 2 with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over Diogo Rocha.
#28 Tulane 4, #46 Denver 3
Mar 17, 2016 at San Diego, Calif. (University of San Diego)
“Denver has a very tough team, just as we expected, and put a lot of heat on us from the beginning, Tulane men’s tennis head coach Mark Booras stated. “Our guys showed a lot of fight and focus under pressure today to pull out a win.
“We played a pretty flat doubles point to go down 1-0, Booras explained. “We challenged them in our short break between doubles and singles to snap out of it and not let it affect them the wrong way emotionally and to come out sprinting in singles. They responded to the challenge to get a great start and maintained control and stuck with their game plans to close them out.
In a battle of the Tigers it was Princeton pulling away from Memphis 4-2. Princeton took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and then Princeton grabbed four first sets in singles.
Memphis only took two first sets in singles but both Andrew Watson and Ryan Peniston finished in straight sets at No. 1 and No. 2 to put Memphis ahead 2-1. Princeton’s Kial Kaiser won in straight sets at No. 6 and then Thomas Colautti put Princeton ahead 3-2 with a straight sets win at No. 3.
Princeton’s Joshua Yablon and Luke Gamble both went ahead 5-0 in the third and in a race to the finish line it’d be Yablon that would get the clincher at No. 4.
#36 Princeton 4, #26 Memphis 2
Mar 17, 2016 at San Diego, Calif (Aztec Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #86 Andrew Watson (MEM) def. Diego Vives (PT) 6-3, 6-2
2. #61 Ryan Peniston (MEM) def. Alexander Day (PT) 6-3, 6-1
3. Thomas Colautti (PT) def. Kai Lemke (MEM) 6-2, 6-4
Coach Billy Pate on the match: “This was another great win for us, particularly as we haven’t been as sharp in the previous three matches we played outdoors before today. Memphis is a very strong team and has had a lot of success this year. As it is much of the time, the doubles was pivotal and it allowed us some breathing room as the match wore on. Though we won four first sets in singles, Memphis made a push by going up 2-1 as they were exceptionally strong at the top two positions. I was pleased with the way we kept our poise and finished with confidence. It will be a great opportunity for us tomorrow and we look forward to getting back out and building on today’s match.”
No. 39 Columbia picked up its second road win in the last three days with a 4-3 win in Dallas over No. 44 SMU.
It looked like Columbia would start off in a 1-0 hole when SMU won at No. 1 doubles and led 5-0 at No. 3 doubles. However CU’s No. 3 team of Miguel Alda and Christopher Grant won the next seven games to take it 7-5 and clinch the doubles point for the Lions.
Each team took three opening sets in singles and four of the six matches would finish in straight sets. Michal Rolski put Columbia up 2-0 with a routine 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 over Yates Johnson. SMU’s Samm Butler countered with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 3 and his teammate Ronald Slobodchikov won 6-2, 7-5 over Richard Pham at No. 5.
Eric Rubin (Pic Via Columbia)
Columbia freshman Victor Pham put the Lions back ahead 3-2 with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Nate Lammons at No. 2 and senior Eric Rubin would clinch it with a 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-3 win over Markus Kerner at No. 4.
The final match was played out with SMU’s Hunter Johnson winning 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 over Shawn Hadavi.
Columbia finishes up its road trip on Saturday afternoon at No. 3 TCU while SMU welcomes in Dartmouth, Marquette, and Texas Permian Basin this weekend.
3. Samm Butler (SMU) def. Vermeer, Mike (COLU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Rubin, Eric (COLU) def. Markus Kerner (SMU) 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-3
5. Ronald Slobodchikov (SMU) def. Pham, Richard (COLU) 6-2, 7-5
6. Rolski, Michal (COLU) def. Yates Johnson (SMU) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles Competition
1. #28 Hunter Johnson/Yates Johnson (SMU) def. Hadavi, Shawn/Pham, Richard (COLU) 6-2
2. #32 Rolski, Michal/Vermeer, Mike (COLU) def. #22 N Lammons/Arkadijs Slobodkins (SMU) 6-3
3. Alda, Miguel/Grant, Christopher (COLU) def. Markus Kerner/Samm Butler (SMU) 7-5
Match Notes:
Columbia 10-4; National ranking #39
SMU 13-5; National ranking #44
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,3,5,2,4,1)
T-3:12 A-98
“Terrific match that could not have been closer. #1 and #4 singles were in first set breakers at the same time as the first set at #2 was 5-all. SMU is a great team and we got a little lucky to get the doubles point. That being said, happy for our #3 dubs guys. They lost two match points that ultimately decided the Michigan match. Then they come back tonight from three match points down, which turned out to be the difference,” said Columbia associate head coach Howard Endelman.
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