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Cal Outduels Oregon, Florida Fights Off Mississippi State, Arkansas Upsets Kentucky

by | Apr 15, 2017 | Blog

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Cal came into Friday evenings match against No. 23 Oregon with a perfect 33-0 record all-time against the Ducks but the streak nearly came to an end. Cal picked up the all-important doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but Oregon came back in singles and picked up three quick straight set wins from Akihiro Tanaka, Cormac Clissold, and Ty Gentry to go in front 3-1. Cal came back to tie it up with Andre Goransson and Filip Bergevi each winning in straight sets so the match would be decided in a third set at No. 1 between a pair of Frenchmen. 

Cal senior Florian Lakat (Paris) took the first set 6-4 but Oregon sophomore Thomas Laurent (Montpellier) snagged the second 7-5 after breaking Lakat’s 6-5 service game. After an exchange of holds, Laurent went up 30/40 on Lakat’s 1-2 service game but Lakat hit back-to-back forehand winners to hold for 2-2. Laurent held for 3-2 and then he went up 30/40 on Lakat’s serve but Lakat hit back-to-back service winners to hold for 3-3. Laurent held for 4-3 and then once again he’d go up 30/40 on Lakat’s serve but Lakat hit an ace out wide and then on the deciding point he hit a service winner to hold for 4-4. Laurent had been cruising on his serve all set but Lakat would break him on the no-ad point after hitting a forehand winner that just clipped the sideline right in front of the chair. Laurent actually called the shot out but the chair quickly overruled it so now Lakat was serving for the match up 5-4. Lakat would serve it out from 40/15 to give Cal a tough 4-3 win. 

 

No. 12 California 4, No. 23 Oregon 3
April 14, 2017, in Eugene, Ore (Student Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
1. No. 4 Florian Lakat/Filip Bergevi (Cal) def. Jayson Amos/Ty Gentry (Oregon), 7-5*
2. Cormac Clissold/Thomas Laurent (Oregon) def. No. 58 Andre Goransson/Billy Griffith (Cal), 6-3
3. Bjorn Hoffmann/J.T. Nishimura (Cal) def. Simon Stevens/Armando Soemarno (Oregon), 6-3
Singles competition
1. No. 15 Florian Lakat (Cal) def. No. 26 Thomas Laurent (Oregon), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4^
2. No. 45 Andre Goransson (Cal) def. Simon Stevens (Oregon), 7-5, 6-3
3. Akihiro Tanaka (Oregon) def. No. 88 Billy Griffith (Cal), 6-2, 6-1
4. Filip Bergevi (Cal) def. Jayson Amos (Oregon), 6-4, 6-2
5. Cormac Clissold (Oregon) def. J.T. Nishimura (Cal), 6-4, 6-2
6. Ty Gentry (Oregon) def. Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal), 6-2, 6-0
Match Notes
California (16-6, 3-1 Pac-12); National ranking #12
Oregon (14-7, 2-3 Pac-12), National ranking #23
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,3,5,4,2,1^)

Post-Match Quotes from Cal’s recap
“Our seniors showed a lot of grit today,” Cal head coach Peter Wright said. “We’re going to miss their leadership after the season, but right now their experience is key to our success. Give a lot of credit to Oregon for having one of their best teams ever. We had to battle every step of the way today.

“We have a day off tomorrow and then we take on a very solid Washington team, so the rest will give us some much needed time to heal and prepare.”

 

 

In a matchup between two teams fighting to stay in the top 16 it was No. 16 Florida coming back from 3-0 down to defeat No. 17 Mississippi State 4-3. MSU won a tight doubles point when Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey won 7-6(6) at No. 1 and then the Bulldogs extended the lead to 3-0 after both Nuno Borges and Niclas Braun won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 and No. 4. Florida started its comeback when Chase Perez Blanco won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 and then Elliott Orkin came back from a 5-3 first set deficit to win 10 of the next 12 games to pick up a win at No. 2. 

Mississippi State’s Giovanni Oradini and Trevor Foshey forced third sets at No. 5 and No. 6 but Florida’s Johannes Ingildsen and McClain Kessler would each go up breaks early in the third set. Oradini got it back on serve at 2-2 but Ingildsen would break and hold for 4-2 and then he’d hold two more times to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Foshey got broke to start the third set but he broke back in the next game and would eventually lead 3-2. Kessler held for 3-3, broke for 4-3, held for 5-3, and then he broke on the no-ad point to close it out 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

 

 

No. 16 Florida 4, No. 17 Mississippi State 3
April 14, 2017 – Gainesville, Fla. – Ring Tennis Complex
Doubles competition
1. No. 27 Niclas Braun/Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. No. 6 Johannes Ingildsen/Alfredo Perez (UF) 7-6(6)
2. Mate Cutura/Vaughn Hunter (MSU) def. Maxx Lipman/Elliot Orkin (UF) 6-4
3. Josh Wardell/Chase Blanco (UF) def. Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MSU) 7-6(7)
Singles competition
1. No. 4 Nuno Borges (MSU) def. No. 9 Alfredo Perez (UF) 6-2, 6-2
2. No. 77 Elliot Orkin (UF) def. Mate Cutura (MSU) 7-5, 6-2
3. Chase Blanco (UF) def. No. 123 Strahinja Rakic (MSU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Niclas Braun (MSU) def. Max Lipman (UF) 6-2, 6-2
5. Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. Giovanni Oradini (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
6. McClain Kessler (UF) def. Trevor Foshey (MSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Match Notes
Florida (15-8, 8-3 SEC); National ranking #16
Mississippi State (17-6, 8-3 SEC); National ranking #17
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,4,3,2,5,6)

Post-Match Quotes from head coach Bryan Shelton via Florida recap

On what a win like this means to the team…“What a great performance from our team with the fight that they showed and their resilience. We certainly didn’t play our best tennis tonight, but it really wasn’t about that. It was more about just showing our true character, and I think that was displayed tonight in the way we came back from the 3-0 deficit.”

“Mississippi State is a tough group and they fight really hard, and they certainly were going after us like they had nothing to lose tonight. And our guys were able to withstand the challenge. I’m just really proud of our team.”

On McClain Kessler’s clinching singles point…“It was a pretty special night for McClain, who’s kind of our emotional leader. A guy that just really bleeds orange and blue, for him to be in that situation tonight was pretty fitting. He’s been out for several weeks now, so for him to have his first match back at home since his injury and to be the clincher tonight is just great to see.”

“That’s why we recruited him, we knew he had some special abilities and we knew he was a gamer. And he certainly was a gamer tonight, because when it really mattered the most he really elevated his game. And I think that’s what great players do.”

Post-Match Quotes from Miss State’s recap
“Tip your hat to Florida, they battled back and competed really well today,” head coach Matt Roberts said. “We played a great doubles point today and we’ve shown a lot of confidence in our doubles play lately. We had a lot of momentum early, but deviated from the game plan too much and allowed Florida back in the match.”

“The seniors stepped up big again for us,” Roberts said. “Those guys have put in a lot of effort this season and you can see it paying off in doubles play. They’re playing great right now and are feeling very confident.”

 

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It’s been an up and down year for Arkansas but tonight they were up and would upset No. 24 Kentucky 4-3. Kentucky looked like it was going to take the doubles point when it won at No. 3 and led 5-2 at No. 2 but Arkansas’s Adam Sanjurjo and Johan den Toom came back to tie it at 5-5 and would go on to win in a tiebreak 7-4. 

Arkansas took four first sets in singles but Johan den Toom was the only one to finish in straight sets with a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 5. Kentucky picked up straight set wins from William Bushamuka and Enzo Wallart at No. 1 and No. 4 while Arkansas’s Oscar Mesquida won 6-0 in the third at No. 3. Kentucky’s Alex Dominguez tied the match at 3-3 by taking the third set 6-0 at No. 6 so it’d the third set at No. 2 would decide the match. 

Arkansas senior Jose Salazar took the first set 7-6(4) but Kentucky senior Beck Pennington forced a third set after taking the second 6-4. Salazar pulled away in the third set winning it 6-2 to give Arkansas its 14th win of the season. 

 

 

#50 Arkansas 4, #24 Kentucky 3
Apr 14, 2017 at Fayetteville, Ark. (Billingsley Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #19 Will Bushamuka (UK) def. #11 Mike Redlicki (AR) 7-5, 6-2
2. #29 Jose Salazar (AR) def. #49 Beck Pennington (UK) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2
3. Oscar Mesquida (AR) def. Nils Ellefsen (UK) 6-2, 3-6, 6-0
4. Enzo Wallart (UK) def. Adam Sanjurjo (AR) 6-4, 6-4
5. Johan den Toom (AR) def. Trey Yates (UK) 6-3, 7-5
6. Alex Dominguez (UK) def. Juan Marino (AR) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. #7 Mike Redlicki/Jose Salazar (AR) def. #32 Beck Pennington/Enzo Wallart (UK) 6-3
2. Adam Sanjurjo/Johan den Toom (AR) def. Will Bushamuka/Nils Ellefsen (UK) 7-6 (7-4)
3. Gus Benson/Trey Yates (UK) def. Oscar Mesquida/Juan Marino (AR) 7-5
Match Notes:
Kentucky 14-6 (5-6 SEC); National ranking #24
Arkansas 14-11 (5-6 SEC); National ranking #50
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,5,3,4,6,2)

 

Other Friday Scores:

  • #1 Wake Forest def. #33 Florida State 5-2 – Seraphim clinched at 4-1 however FSU’s Dougaz and Poullain defeated Chrysochos and Mansouri at 1 & 3
  • #2 Ohio State def. #31 Minnesota 6-1 – Buckeyes won 10 of 13 sets in singles with UM’s win coming from Corwin at No. 2
  • #5 Oklahoma State def. Tulsa 4-0 – OSU won 8 of 9 sets in singles
  • #6 USC def. Arizona – Trojans won 9 of 10 sets in singles – highlights & Riley Smith interview
  • #7 UCLA def. Utah 4-2 – UCLA’s Gage Brymer clinched with a straight set win at No. 1 
  • #13 North Carolina def. Boston College 7-0 – UNC won all 12 sets in singles 
  • #15 Stanford won at #37 Washington 4-0 – Cardinal won the dubs decider in a TB 12-10 then won 8 of 10 sets in singles
  • #21 Northwestern won at Michigan State 7-0 – NU won 12 of 13 sets in singles
  • #22 South Carolina def. Auburn 6-1 – SC dropped the doubles point then won 12 of 13 sets in singles
  • #29 Wisconsin won at Penn State 7-0 – UW won all 12 sets in singles
  • #32 Ole Miss def. #40 Vanderbilt 7-0 – Rebs won 12 of 14 sets in singles
  • #35 Georgia State won at Furman 4-3 – GSU came back from 3-1 down to win the final three matches with Sebastian Acuna winning the final match on in straight sets
  • #38 Rice def. Louisiana Lafayette 4-0 – Owls won 8 of 9 sets in singles
  • #39 Louisville won at Clemson 7-0 – Cards won 12 of 14 sets in singles
  • Pacific def. #43 Portland 4-3 – Pacific’s Tadiwa Chinamo won the decider 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 
  • #46 Duke def. #41 Notre Dame 4-3 – Duke dropped the doubles point but got 4 quick wins in singles with Catalin Mateas, Nick Stachowiak, TJ Pura, and Ryan Dickerson only dropping a combined 10 games total. 
  • NC State def. Miami FL 5-2
  • Purdue def. Iowa 5-2
  • Indiana def. Nebraska 7-0
  • Pepperdine def. BYU 5-2