Many wouldn’t consider a 27-9 season a disappointment but it is if you are accustomed to winning conference championships and making deep runs at the NCAAs. When Ohio State lost 4-3 to Texas A&M in the Round of 16 it marked the first time since 2005 that the Buckeyes hadn’t at least made the NCAA Quarterfinals. Ohio State had won the Big Ten conference tournament 8 of the previous 9 seasons but Illinois shut them out twice in Champaign last season with the second occurrence coming in the Big Ten finals.
Ohio State’s strength last season was the bottom of the lineup with the 4 through 6 spots going 69-16 (.81) while the top half of the lineup was good 49-28 (.64) but came up short too many times against tougher competition. In Ohio State’s 9 losses the top half of the lineup went just 6-18 (.25) including 0-3 in the season ending loss to Texas A&M.
Ohio State has to replace 2 starters, Hunter Callahan and Kevin Metka, that both excelled in singles and doubles with the pair combining to go 41-12 in dual-match singles play and 42-17 in dual-match doubles play.
Ohio State head coach Ty Tucker will have a couple of quality options to fill the open spots with Hugo Di Feo and Martin Joyce the most highly touted. Di Feo, a former top 20 ITF junior with a 14.17 UTR, had to sit out last season due to eligibility issues but the Montreal native had a nice fall that included 6 wins at the ITA All-Americans before falling to Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer in the quarters in a match where Di Feo had match points. Joyce, a top 5 TRN Blue Chip with a 13.72 UTR, was named the National Boys High School Player of the Year and he’s already made an impact in doubles with he and Ralf Steinbach making it to the quarterfinals at the All-Americans and semifinals at the Midwest Regional. I expect Di Feo to play at either #1 or #2 and Joyce at either #5 or #6.
The 3 other newcomers are Kyle Seelig (TRN Blue-Chip/13.25 UTR), Hunter Tubert (TRN 5-star/12.58 UTR), and Alex Kobelt (TRN 3-star/11.40 UTR) with Alex being Peter Kobelt’s younger brother. Tubert was the only 1 of the 3 to see action in the fall and it looks like both Seelig and Kobelt will take redshirt seasons.
Tucker welcomes back 4 starters and 3 depth players with #7 Mikael Torpegaard, #25 Herkko Pollanen, #19 Chris Diaz, and Ralf Steinbach each expected to start again this season.
Mikael Torpegaard had a nice freshman year going 15-10 in dual-match play, while splitting time between #1 and #2, and after a nice summer and fall I’d expect him to have an even better record this year. Chris Diaz, Herkko Pollanen, and Ralf Steinbach combined to go 52-22 last year in dual-match play with Diaz mainly playing at 2, Pollanen at 3, and Steinbach at 5 and 6.
With Di Feo in the mix I’d expect to see Diaz slide down a bit to 3 or 4 while Pollanen will likely stay at #3 after an impressive fall. Diaz struggled at #1 last season but played much better at #2 so if Tucker can get him down to #4 I think he’ll wear most of his opponents out and almost be an automatic win. Steinbach will probably start off the season at #5 with both Martin Joyce and Matt Mendez pressing for the #6 spot. Riley Reist and Charles Shewalter will probably play a match or two at #6 against some lighter out of conference opponents.
Below are each players fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is their ITA ranking as of 1/5.
#10 Hugo Di Feo – (7-2/0-1) – came through qualies and made it the singles quarterfinals at the ITA All-Americans by beating 5 ranked players (#33 Hidalgo, #42 Crystal, #59 Findel-Hawkins, #75 Rocha, #86 Orkin), made the Round of 16 at the National Indoor Intercollegiates
#25 Herkko Pollanen (8-2/5-2) – won the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional in singles by beating 2 ranked players (#5 Monaghan/#29 Diaz), made it to the singles Round of 16 at the National Indoor Intercollegiates, came through qualies and made it to the doubles quarterfinals at the ITA All-Americans (w Torpegaard), won the doubles title at the Finland F3 Futures (w Torpegaard), made the doubles finals at the Finland F1 (w Torpegaard), made the doubles finals at the Pittsburgh USA F20 (w Callahan)
#19 Chris Diaz (7-4/1-2) – made it to the singles final at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional before falling to Pollanen 6-3, 7-5, made it to the singles Round of 16 at the ITA All-Americans after beating #109 Edoardo Tessaro (VT) and #21 Or Ram-Harel (Tulsa)
#63 Ralf Steinbach (4-2/5-2) – made the doubles quarterfinals at the ITA All-Americans (w Joyce) including a win over the ITA #1 doubles team (UGA’s Wagland/Smith), made the doubles semifinals at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional (w Joyce) before falling to Valpo’s team in a 3rd set supertiebreak, made the singles quarterfinals at the Midwest Regional before falling to #5 Quentin Monaghan 6-4 in the 3rd.
Martin Joyce (3-2/5-2) – made the doubles quarterfinals at the ITA All-Americans (w Steinbach) including a win over the ITA #1 doubles team (UGA’s Wagland/Smith), made the doubles semifinals at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional (w Steinbach) before falling to Valpo’s team in a 3rd set supertiebreak, made the Round of 16 in singles at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional, both singles losses in the fall came to ranked players in competitive matches – #46 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) 6-3, 7-6 & #81 Alex Sendegeya (TT) 7-6, 6-4.
Matt Mendez (6-3/4-1) – made the doubles semifinals at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional (w Tubert), made it to the final round of the singles pre-qualie draw at the ITA All-Americans then got into the qualie draw as a lucky loser and beat #88 David Biosca (ETSU) and #111 Ben Wagland (UGA) before falling to #105 Robert Kelly (UNC) 7-5 in the 3rd.
Hunter Tubert (1-3/4-1) – made the doubles semifinals at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional (w Mendez), won opening round singles match at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional
Riley Reist (1-2/0-1) – won a singles consolation match in the pre-qualie draw at the ITA All-Americans
Charles Shewalter (2-2/0-1) – won his opening round match in the pre-qualie draw at the ITA All-American and won his opening round match in the qualie draw at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional
Projected Depth Chart:
1. Mikael Torpegaard
2. Hugo Di Feo
3. Herkko Pollanen
4. Chris Diaz
5. Ralf Steinbach
6. Martin Joyce
7. Matt Mendez
8. Hunter Tubert
9. Riley Reist
10. Charles Shewalter
Likely Redshirts – Kyle Seelig, Alex Kobelt
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 12/21/15 – high in ( )
#929 – Mikael Torpegaard (909)
#1335 – Hugo Di Feo (896)
#2221 – Herkko Pollanen (711)
Universal Tennis Ratings as of 12/21/15:
14.41 – Mikael Torpegaard
14.17 – Hugo Di Feo
13.90 – Chris Diaz
13.85 – Ralf Steinbach
13.72 – Martin Joyce
13.62 – Herkko Pollanen
13.25 – Kyle Seelig
12.87 – Matt Mendez
12.58 – Hunter Tubert
12.26 – Charles Shewalter
12.18 – Riley Reist
11.40 – Alex Kobelt
Universal Tennis Ratings as of 6/3/15
14.13 – Chris Diaz
14.01 – Mikael Torpegaard
13.86 – Ralf Steinbach
13.83 – Hugo Di Feo
13.76 – Martin Joyce
13.57 – Herkko Pollanen
13.08 – Matt Mendez
12.86 – Hunter Tubert
12.74 – Kyle Seelig
12.74 – Riley Reist
12.19 – Charles Shewalter
10.84 – Alex Kobelt
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#16 – Herkko Pollanen
#19 – Hugo Di Feo
#25 – Mikael Torpegaard
#116 – Ralf Steinbach
#775 – Kyle Seelig
#1281 – Martin Joyce
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #4 – Martin Joyce
Blue Chip #17 – Chris Diaz
Blue Chip #17 – Kyle Seelig
Blue Chip #19 – Matt Mendez
5-star #32 – Hunter Tubert
5-star #46 – Riley Reist
4-star #71 – Charles Shewalter
3-star #300 – Alex Kobelt
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – 8 – (Joyce, Seelig, Tubert, Kobelt)
2014 – NR – (Di Feo, Torpegaard, Shewalter)
2013 – NR – (Steinbach, Pollanen, Mendez, Reist)
2012 – NR – (Christ – left after 1 season)
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
Joseph Thomas – Canton, OH – TRN 5-star #59 – UTR 12.35
Jacob Wareti – Columbus, OH – TRN 4-star #131 – UTR 11.64
2016 ROSTER
2014-15 STATS
Returning singles starters: Mikael Torpegaard (1), Chris Diaz (2), Herkko Pollanen (3), Ralf Steinbach (6)
Departing singles depth: None
Departing doubles starters: Metka (1), Callahan (2)
Ohio State’s run at the NCAA tournament came to an abrupt end when Texas A&M beat them 4-3 in the Round of 16. Due to bad weather in Waco this match was played 90 miles up the road at SMU in Dallas in front of a sparse gathering and the difference ended up being the doubles point which was decided in a tiebreak at #2.
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,6,1,5,4,3)
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