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ITA Indoors Day 2 Recap: Wake Forest Rallies Past UCLA; North Carolina Tops TCU; Ohio State & Texas Post Shutouts

by | Feb 17, 2019 | Blog

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The semifinals are set in Chicago with the early matches providing plenty of excitement while the later matches were a pair of shutouts. It looked like No. 3 Wake Forest, the defending National Team Indoor Champions, were going to make an early exit but thanks to freshman Melios Efstathiou the Deacs lived to fight another day.

Wake found itself down 1-0 after the doubles point with UCLA picking up wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but the Deacs came back in singles with four opening sets (note: UCLA was without its No. 2 player Keegan Smith who injured his ankle the previous day). UCLA junior Ben Goldberg put the Bruins in front 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 5 but Wake senior Petros Chrysochos became the school’s all-time wins leader in singles (120) with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 2.  Wake evened it at 2-2 after sophomore Yuval Solomon won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6 but UCLA senior Maxime Cressy put the Bruins back ahead after a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 1. Wake sophomore Bar Botzer tied the match at 3-3 with a 6-4, 7-6 win at No. 3 which meant the match would be decided at No. 4.

UCLA freshman Mathew Tsolakyan dropped the opening set 6-3 but then he won 10 of the next 13 games to take a 3-6, 6-3, *4-1 lead against Wake freshman Melios Efstathiou. Tsolakyan had a game point for 5-1 but Efstathiou broke on the deciding point and then reeled off another three games to take a 5-4 lead. Efstathiou had three match points at 15/40 but Tsolakyan came back to hold for 5-5. Efstathiou held on the deciding point for 6-5 and then he broke from 15/40 to close it out 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

#1 Wake Forest 4, #7 UCLA 3
2/16/2019 at Chicago, IL (Midtown Athletic Club)
Singles competition
1. Maxime Cressy (UCLA) def. Borna Gojo (WAKE) 6-4, 7-5
2. #1 Petros Chrysochos (WAKE) def. Govind Nanda (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4
3. #21 Bar Botzer (WAKE) def. Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
4. #49 Melios Efstathiou (WAKE) def. Mathew Tsolakyan (UCLA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
5. Ben Goldberg (UCLA) def. #88 Rrezart Cungu (WAKE) 6-2, 6-3
6. Yuval Solomon (WAKE) def. Eric Hahn (UCLA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Maxime Cressy/Connor Rapp (UCLA) def. Bar Botzer/Petros Chrysochos (WAKE) 6-4
2. #54 Alan Gadjiev/Julian Zlobinsky (WAKE) def. Ben Goldberg/Govind Nanda (UCLA) 6-4
3. Bryce Pereira/Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) def. Siddhant Banthia/Melios Efstathiou (WAKE) 6-3
Match Notes:
UCLA 4-2; National ranking #7
Wake Forest 11-1; National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,2,6,1,3,4)

 

 

In the opening match of the day it was No. 7 seed North Carolina advancing to the semifinals for the third time in the last four years after defeating No. 15 TCU 4-3. UNC cruised through the doubles point with a pair of 6-2 wins at No. 1 and No. 2 and then the teams split first sets in singles. TCU picked up straight set wins from Bertus Kruger and Sander Jong at No. 4 and No. 6 while UNC picked up a straight set win from Ben Sigouin at No. 2. 

UNC senior Bo Boyden broke the tie with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 win at No. 5 but TCU senior Alex Rybakov answered with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 win at No. 1. 

The match at No. 3 between UNC junior Josh Peck and TCU senior Reese Stalder went back and forth with Peck taking the first set 7-5 while Stalder came back from a break down to take the second set in a tiebreak 9-7. The pivotal point in the third set came when Stalder was serving 1-2 (40/40). Stalder thought he hit an ace for the hold however Peck called it out. When Stalder approached the net to question the call Peck made a gesture with his hand that looked like he was overturning the call and Stalder immediately hit the other ball across the net and charged back to the baseline excited that he had the hold for 2-2. However the chair never saw the gesture overturning the call and also saw the ball as out. Peck appeared to say there never was a gesture overturning the call and that he was saying how far the serve missed by so the out call stood and after pleading his case for two plus minutes Stalder was forced to hit a second serve. The second serve ended up in the net for a double fault and Peck had the break for 3-1. Stalder wouldn’t win another game after that with Peck closing it out 6-1. 

 

TCU Head Coach David Roditi
“Today was a tough loss. North Carolina is always good and always well coached. We needed to play much better in doubles and they took it to us. We didn’t have a chance. We rebounded well in singles again and some guys better than others. The highlights today are the performances by Bertus (Kruger), Sander (Jong) and (Alex) Rybakov coming back from being down a set and break against one of best college players in the country. We can handle certain moments better next time. We as a team didn’t handle it correctly, including myself. At this level, the margin is so small so we will continue to tighten things up.”

#8 North Carolina 4, #15 TCU 3
Feb 16, 2019 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)
Singles competition
1. #8 Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. #52 William Blumberg (UNC) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
2. Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) def. #75 Alastair Gray (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
3. #36 Josh Peck (UNC) def. Reese Stalder (TCU) 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 6-1
4. #83 Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. #77 Brian Cernoch (UNC) 6-4, 6-4
5. Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Luc Fomba (TCU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
6. Sander Jong (TCU) def. #84 Mac Kiger (UNC) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Brian Cernoch/Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) def. Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU) 6-2
2. William Blumberg/Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. #48 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU) 6-2
3. Mac Kiger/Simon Soendergaard (UNC) vs. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU) 5-3, unfinished
Match Notes:
TCU 5-3; National ranking #15
North Carolina 7-1; National ranking #8
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,2,4,5,1,3)

 

 

The top seeded Ohio State Buckeyes moved into the semifinals with a 4-0 win over No. 8 seed Virginia. The Cavs had their chances in doubles and won 6-1 at No. 2 while also having a break lead at No. 1. However Ohio State’s JJ Wolf and Martin Joyce would take the decider 6-4 after Joyce hit a second serve ace on the deciding point to close it out. 

Virginia had set leads at No. 3 and No. 5 while nearing a split at No. 2 but Ohio State got the three wins it needed from JJ Wolf, Martin Joyce, and Hunter Tubert at No. 1, No. 4, and No. 6 with Wolf getting the clinch. 

#2 Ohio State 4, #13 Virginia 0
Feb 16, 2019 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)
Singles competition
1. #2 JJ Wolf (OSU) def. #119 Carl Soderlund (UVA) 6-3, 6-4
2. #62 John McNally (OSU) vs. Henrik Wiersholm (UVA) 7-6 (7-3), 1-4, unfinished
3. #12 Kyle Seelig (OSU) vs. Brandon Nakashima (UVA) 4-6, 3-4, unfinished
4. Martin Joyce (OSU) def. #68 Gianni Ross (UVA) 6-4, 6-3
5. #86 Alex Kobelt (OSU) vs. #72 Ryan Goetz (UVA) 6-7 (4-7), 3-4, unfinished
6. Hunter Tubert (OSU) def. Aswin Lizen (UVA) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. JJ Wolf/Martin Joyce (OSU) def. Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (UVA) 6-4
2. Henrik Wiersholm/Brandon Nakashima (UVA) def. Alex Kobelt/James Trotter (OSU) 6-1
3. John McNally/Hunter Tubert (OSU) def. Gianni Ross/Ryan Goetz (UVA) 6-2
Match Notes:
Virginia 8-2; National ranking #13
Ohio State 11-0; National ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,6,1)
ITA Indoor National Team Championship
T-2:03

 

 

Texas will meet Ohio State in the semifinals after the Longhorns shutout No. 13 seed USC 4-0. Texas took the doubles point after 7-5 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then they added straight set wins from Yuya Ito, Harrison Scott, and Colin Markes at No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5 with Ito getting the clinch.

No. 6 Texas 4, No. 5 USC 0
Feb 16, 2019 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)
Singles Order of Finish (4,5,2)
1. No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) vs. No. 56 Brandon Holt (USC), 6-4, 3-6, unf.
2. No. 14 Yuya Ito (UT) def. No. 4 Daniel Cukierman (USC), 6-2, 7-5
3. No. 91 Leonardo Telles (UT) vs. Jack Jaede (USC), 6-4, 5-4, unf.
4. Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 31 Laurens Verboven (USC), 6-1, 6-1
5. Colin Markes (UT) def. Riley Smith (USC), 6-3, 6-4
6. Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Mor Bulis (USC), 6-3, 2-6, unf.
Doubles Order of Finish (1,3,2)
1. Brandon Holt/Riley Smith (USC) def. No. 13 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard, 6-2
2. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT) def. Laurens Verboven/Jack Jaede, 7-5
3. Chih Chi Huang/Yuya Ito (UT) def. No. 21 Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith, 7-5

 

 

Consolation Match Results

#10 Baylor def. #2 Mississippi State 4-1
#14 Columbia def. #11 Notre Dame 4-2
#9 Stanford def. #16 Tulane 4-0
#4 Florida def. #12 Illinois 4-1

 

Sunday Schedule

Semifinals:
#3 Wake Forest vs. #7 North Carolina (1 pm)
#1 Ohio State vs. #5 Texas (4:30 pm)
 
Consolation 
#2 Mississippi State vs. #11 Notre Dame (10 am)
#10 Baylor vs. #14 Columbia (10 am)
#6 UCLA vs. #15 TCU (1 pm)
#8 Virginia vs. #13 USC (4:30 pm)
#12 Illinois vs. #16 Tulane (7:30 pm)
#4 Florida vs. #9 Stanford (7:30 pm) 

 

***All quotes are from the respective school’s recaps