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Trojans Rally Past the Bulls, Wake Doubles Up OU, TCU Hammers Illinois,Hoos Up Next

by | Feb 13, 2016 | Blog

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The second half of the day kicked off with USC playing South Florida on the stadium courts while TCU and Illinois duked it out on the back six.

South Florida knew it needed the doubles point to give itself a chance to win and it took the point with a 6-0 rout at #3 and a 6-3 win at #2.

Singles however was a different story as USC really jumped USF especially at the top of the lineup. USC’s Nick Crystal, Max de Vroome, Jake DeVine, Logan Smith, and Thibault Forget took first sets while USF’s only first set came from Peter Bertran at #5. Fortunately for South Florida, the Georgia transfer made quick work of USC’s Laruens Verboven by winning 6-2, 6-1 at #5 singles in a match that took just a hour and fifteen minutes. South Florida was up 2-0 but USC still led on the other five courts.

Max de Vroome gave USC its first point with a 6-1, 6-4 over Dominic Cotrone at #2. de Vroome sprinted out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set before taking it 6-1 then he broke Cotrone to start the second set and really never looked back. The below clip from USC shows de Vroome serving for the match up 40-0:

Logan Smith evened the match at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Justin Roberts at #4. Smith broke Roberts to take the first set 6-4 then went up an early break in the second set and made it hold up.
Below is the clip of Smith serving 6-4, 5-3 (40-30):

Jake DeVine put USC up 3-2 with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Sasha Gozun at #3. DeVine broke Gozun to go up 2-1 in the first but Gozun broke back and held for 3-2. It stayed on serve until DeVine broke Gozun’s 5-5 service game and then he followed that up with a hold to take the set. Gozun served for the second set up 5-3 but DeVine broke and then held to even it at 5-5. DeVine broke again to go up 6-5 but Gozun broke back on the deciding point to send the set to a tiebreak. The pivotal point in the tiebreak came when Gozun double faulted at 3-4 and three points later it’d be all over.

South Florida’s Roberto Cid would tie the match up at 3-3 with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Nick Crystal at #1. Cid got off to a slow start but he took control in the second set and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Crystal got one of the breaks back but Cid still took the set 6-3. Cid broke Crystal to start the third set and then fought off a couple of break points to hold for 2-0. He would add another break down the stretch to close it out.

While Cid was finishing off Crystal, USC’s Thibault Forget was pulling away from USF’s Vadym Kalyuzhnyy at #6. Forget won the first set in a tiebreak but Kalyuzhnyy rolled to a 6-1 second set. Forget went up an early break in the third and then added a second break when he won the deciding point on Kalyuzhnyy’s 2-4 service game. Forget would hold from 40-15 to give USC the win and put the Trojans into the NTI quarterfinals against TCU.

Also wanted to give a shoutout to USC for doing a great job in capturing these match points on Twitter – two thumbs up!!

#6 USC 4, #13 South Florida 3
Feb 12, 2016 at Charlottesville, VA (Boar’s Head Sports Club)
Singles competition
1. #7 Roberto Cid (USF 14.53) def. #33 Nick Crystal (USC 14.05) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. Max de Vroome (USC 13.95) def. #26 Dominic Cotrone (USF 14.44) 6-1, 6-4
3. #104 Jake DeVine (USC 13.56) def. Sasha Gozun (USF 13.71) 7-5, 7-6(4)
4. #43 Logan Smith (USC 13.87) def. Justin Roberts (USF 13.11) 6-4, 6-3
5. Peter Bertran (USF 13.08) def. Laurens Verboven (USC 13.56) 6-2, 6-1
6. Thibault Forget (USC 13.36) def. Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF 13.37) 7-6, 1-6, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Nick Crystal/Laurens Verboven (USC) vs. #40 D Cotrone/J Roberts (USF) *5-4, 40-30 unf.
2. Sasha Gozun/Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF) def. Max de Vroome/Jack Jaede (USC) 6-3
3. Roberto Cid/Ignacio Gonzalez Muniz (USF) def. Rob Bellamy/Jake DeVine (USC) 6-0
Match Notes:
South Florida 3-2; National ranking #13
USC 6-0; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (5,2,4,1,3,6)
ITA National Team Indoor First Round
Post-Match Comments from USF’s recap
“It was really competitive, a lot of energy, a lot of fans. It was good, it was fun. The type of environment that you train for and do all the hard work to be in.” said Coach Matt Hill.
“They’re both seniors (Cid & Gonzalez-Muniz). They’ve been around each other for a long time, and last year was the first time they’ve played together, had a great year. Kind of had a rocky start this year, but got back to the basics they were doing last year and they did a good job of that today against a really good team.” said Coach Hill.
“We knew he (Bertran) was a really good player coming in.” Coach Hill said, “We just had to get him settled down, and help find his style of play and to believe in what he’s doing. It’s going really well for him, so that’s exciting for us.”
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The biggest surprise of the day came in the match between #2 TCU and #12 Illinois. Many thought TCU would ultimately get the win but I don’t think anyone thought TCU would roll through Illinois as easily as they did.

The first sign of a potentially lopsided match came when TCU’s Guillermo Nuez and Alex Rybakov won 6-0 at #3 doubles in just 22 minutes. Illinois wouldn’t go down without a fight as the Illini’s #2 team of Aleks Vukic and Aron Hiltzik won 6-3 at #2. The doubles point came down to a tiebreak at #1 and TCU’s Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson managed to snap their 2 match losing streak by taking the tiebreak (score unknown-mystery).

TCU welcomed Trevor Johnson back to its singles lineup at #6 after he missed the last four months with an injury. The Horned Frogs rode the momentum from the doubles point and the return of Johnson by taking all six opening sets. Alex Rybakov, Jerry Lopez, and Trevor Johnson would each win in straight sets at 2, 3, and 6 to give TCU the 4-0 win in one hour and fifty-eight minutes.

Classic comments from Roditi following the match:

#2 TCU 4, #12 Illinois 0
Feb 12, 2016 at Charlottesville, VA (Boar’s Head Sports Club)
Singles competition
1. #6 Cameron Norrie (TCU 14.51) vs. #12 Aleks Vukic (ILL 14.29) 6-4, 1-6, 1-0, unfinished
2. #122 Alex Rybakov (TCU 14.68) def. #10 Jared Hiltzik (ILL 14.18) 6-4, 6-2
3. #38 Guillermo Nuez (TCU 14.17) vs. #69 Aron Hiltzik (ILL 13.66) 7-6, 2-2, unfinished
4. Eduardo Nava (TCU 13.97) vs. Julian Childers (ILL 13.36) 7-6, 1-1, unfinished
5. Jerry Lopez (TCU 13.64) def. Pengxuan Jiang (ILL 12.64) 6-2, 6-2
6. Trevor Johnson (TCU 13.75) def. Asher Hirsch (ILL 12.75) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Cameron Norrie/Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Alex Jesse/Jared Hiltzik (ILL) 7-6
2. Aleks Vukic/Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. Reese Stalder/Hudson Blake (TCU) 6-3
3. Guillermo Nuez/Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Julian Childers/Pengxuan Jiang (ILL) 6-0
Match Notes:
Illinois 4-2; National ranking #12
TCU 4-1; National ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,6,2)
ITA National Team Indoor First Round
Post-Match Quotes from Illinois’s recap
“We got outplayed today by TCU.  Anytime that happens with the crew that we have, you have to look at the coaching staff and our preparation,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “We clearly could have done things differently. While we won’t have a chance to play for a national title, there are still big implications left in this tournament.  It is up to us to have the guys more prepared for tomorrow.”
Post-Match Quotes from TCU’s recap
Head Coach David Roditi
“Our boys learned from our Cal loss and they were ready to battle from the first point in doubles and singles. Illinois is a very good team and they are well coached with a lot of experience indoors. I am very proud of the way our guys came out playing. There was a huge tiebreaker in doubles for the point and there were very good performances by Alex (Rybakov) and Jerry (Lopez) in singles.
“Our highlight of the day was to see Trevor (Johnson) healthy and ready to play doubles and singles for us. That is credit to him, our doctors, our trainer Lauren (Crawford), his trainer at home and our strength and conditioning coach Todd Kensler. We loved the support we got from some local TCU letterman and fans and now we look forward to the quarters versus a tough USC team late tomorrow.
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Wake Forest was one of four teams to make its debut at the National Team Indoors but it ended up being the only one to win its opening round match. Wake beat Oklahoma 5-2 just 12 days ago and this match basically ended up being a carbon copy of that one.

In the last match, Wake took the doubles point by winning at #1 (7-5) and #2 (6-1) and in this match the Demon Deacons also won at #1 (6-1) and #2 (6-3).  #3 doubles went unfinished in both matches with Wake up 5-4 both times.

Wake’s Skander Mansouri, Petros Chrysochos, Romain Bogaerts, and Christian Seraphim took first sets at 1, 2, 4, and 6 while Oklahoma’s Alex Ghilea and Maxime Mora took first sets at 3 and 5.

Seraphim was off the court first with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Andre Biro at #6. Seraphim took the previous meeting 6-4, 6-3.

Petros Chrysochos made it 3-0 Deacs after he dispatched Spencer Papa 6-4, 6-3 at #2. Chrysochos won the last meeting 6-2, 6-2.

Oklahoma’s Alex Ghilea put the Sooners on the board with a 7-6, 7-5 win over Jon Ho at #4 in one of only two matchups that differed from the first encounter. Ghilea lost to Bogarets at #3 in the previous match.

Just moments later Wake’s Romain Bogaerts would clinch the win with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over Florin Bragusi at #4. Bogaerts also clinched the previous meeting by beating Ghilea.

The other matches were abandoned with Maxime Mora and Dennis Uspensky knotted at 4-4 in the third at #5 and Skander Mansouri leading Axel Alvarez 7-6, 6-6 at #1. The box score said it was 6-5 Alvarez but the Wake blog had it in the tiebreak with Alvarez leading 4-2.

I got a few comments after the match from Wake Forest head coach Tony Bresky:
“Good win tonight. Thought our doubles was really strong, we’ve worked on it a lot and it’s starting to show. We got off to some really good starts in singles as well. It was important to close out a couple of those matches to keep our momentum going. It’s always hard to beat a great team twice and I was happy to see how our guys handled the challenge”

#10 Wake Forest 4, #5 Oklahoma 1
Feb 12, 2016 at Charlottesville, VA (Boar’s Head Sports Club)
Singles competition
1. #28 Skander Mansouri (WF 14.29) vs. #60 Axel Alvarez Llamas (OU 14.52) 7-6, 6-6*, unf
2. #125 Petros Chrysochos (WF 14.02) def. Spencer Papa (OU 13.98) 6-4, 6-3
3. #85 Alex Ghilea (OU 14.09) def. #79 Jon Ho (WF 14.07) 7-6, 7-5
4. Romain Bogaerts (WF 14.01) def. Florin Bragusi (OU 13.85) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
5. Maxime Mora (OU 13.56) vs. Dennis Uspensky (WF 13.47) 7-5, 2-6, 4-4, unf
6. Christian Seraphim (WF 13.55) def. Andre Biro (OU 13.74) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WF) def. Andrew Harris/Alex Ghilea (OU) 6-1
2. Jon Ho/Petros Chrysochos (WF) def. Spencer Papa/Axel Alvarez Llamas (OU) 6-3
3. Romain Bogaerts/Dennis Uspensky (WF) vs. Austin Siegel/Andre Biro (OU) 5-4, unf.
Match Notes:
Wake Forest 8-1; National ranking #10
Oklahoma 3-3; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (6,2,3,4)
ITA National Team Indoor First Round
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The tournament host and #1 seed, Virginia, won a tough doubles point over San Diego then put the hammer down and drove away with a 4-0 win in match that took one hour and fifty-three minutes.

Virginia’s Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli won 6-2 at #1 but San Diego put itself in good shape on the other two courts. USD’s #2 team of Uros Petronijevic/Josh Page served for the match at #2 and had a pair of match points but couldn’t convert and off they went to a tiebreak. USD’s #3 team of Romain Kalaydjian/Jaan Kononov had three break points on Collin Altamirano’s 5-5 service game but Altamirano managed to hold and then he and JC Aragone broke to win the match 7-5.

Any chance San Diego had of staying in the match went out the window with the doubles point. Virginia took all six opening sets with San Diego’s best chance coming at #4 when Romain Kalaydjian served for the set up 6-5. However Virginia’s Mac Styslinger would break and then run away in the tiebreak.

Collin Altamirano, Henrik Wiersholm, and Ryan Shane were the three that finished with Shane providing the clincher at #1.

The other matches were abandoned with Virginia just two games away from winning at #2 and #5 while Styslinger and Kalaydjian were still early in the second.

#1 Virginia 4, #16 San Diego 0
Feb 12, 2016 at Charlottesville, VA (Boar’s Head Sports Club)
Singles competition
1. #27 Ryan Shane (VA 14.68) def. #20 Uros Petronijevic (USD 14.07) 7-5, 6-1
2. #2 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA 14.68) vs. #24 Jordan Angus (USD 13.97) 6-4, 4-1, unf
3. Collin Altamirano (VA 14.25) def. Filip Vittek (USD 13.55) 6-1, 6-2
4. #78 Mac Styslinger (VA 13.91) vs. #120 Romain Kalaydjian (USD 13.26) 7-6(3), *1-2, unf
5. J.C. Aragone (VA 13.86) vs. Joshua Page (USD 13.00) 7-5, 4-1, unfinished
6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA 14.36) def. #98 Jaan Kononov (USD 13.63) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #42 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (VA) def. #18 Jordan Angus/Filip Vittek (USD) 6-2
2. #4 Mac Styslinger/Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) vs. U Petronijevic/J Page (USD) 6-6, (5-4*) unf.
3. J.C. Aragone/Collin Altamirano (VA) def. Romain Kalaydjian/Jaan Kononov (USD) 7-5
Match Notes:
San Diego 4-2; National ranking #16
Virginia 6-0; National ranking #1

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,6,1)

ITA National Team Indoor First Round
Post-Match Quotes from Virginia’s recap
“I thought San Diego was an outstanding team and played a great match, said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “I thought we started out in doubles a little slow, but then we started to play a little bit better. It was good to get the doubles point, because it was really close. The momentum turned when we swept the first sets in singles. I was really impressed with the way the guys competed. I don’t think we played as well as we can, but we competed well.