It was sunny and 65 degrees outside at match time but the 25-30 mile per hour wind gusts kept play indoors. I knew the crowd wouldn’t be as big as Saturday night but I was impressed with the Sunday afternoon turnout of just over 400.
Illinois got off to a quick start at #1 and #2 doubles while TCU jumped out to the early lead at #3. Illinois’s #1 team of Jared Hiltzik and Alex Jesse broke the Cameron Norrie serve to go up 1-0 and then Hiltzik held for 2-0. Hiltzik and Jesse would break the Trevor Johnson serve on the deciding point to go up 3-0 and then a hold from Jesse made it 4-0. Norrie would double fault on the deciding point to make it 5-0 (left clip) then Hiltzik held from 40-15 (right clip) to give the Illini the 6-0 win in just 18 minutes.
TCU’s #3 team of Alex Rybakov and Guillermo Nunez broke Julian Childers to take the early 1-0 lead then Nunez held at love for 2-0. Rybakov and Nunez would make it 3-0 when they broke the Brian Page serve from 30-40 and then Rybakov held to make it 4-0. Childers held for 1-4 and then Nunez quickly held for 5-1. Page held for 2-5 and then Rybakov served it out from 40-30 to give TCU the 6-2 win in 22 minutes.
Illinois’s #2 team of Aron Hiltzik and Aleks Vukic broke Hudson Blake on the deciding point to go up 1-0 and Hiltzik held for 2-0. TCU’s Reese Stalder held for 1-2 and then he and Blake broke the Vukic serve on the deciding point to make it 2-2. Blake held from 40-15 to make it 3-2 but Vukic held from 40-30 to even it at 3-3. Stalder would hit a service winner on the deciding point to make it 4-3 and then they’d break the Hiltzik serve from 30-40 to make it 5-3 – clip on the left shows both points. Blake served it out from 40-30 (right clip) by coming forward and hitting three volleys with the last being a winner. TCU’s 6-3 win, in 28 minutes, sealed the doubles point and put the Horned Frogs up 1-0.
TCU jumped out an early break lead at #3 and #5 while Illinois grabbed an early break lead at #1, #2, and #4 with #6 staying on serve for a little while.
TCU’s Jerry Lopez didn’t waste any time at #5 after breaking Pablo Landa’s opening service game from 15-40 to go up 1-0. Lopez quickly held for 2-0 and then broke on the deciding point to make it 3-0. Clip on the left is the first break and then on the right is the second break.
Landa took one of the breaks back but Lopez broke again from 30-40 to make it 4-1. Lopez held for 5-1 and then Landa held on the deciding point to make it 2-5. Lopez served out the opening set to take it 6-2. After each held serve to start the second set Lopez would break from 30-40 to go up 2-1. Lopez cruised through the next four games and served it out at love to take it it 6-2, 6-1 in just 52 minutes.
For the second day in a row Jared Hiltzik would give Illinois its first point after he defeated Alex Rybakov 6-4, 7-6(1) at #1. Hiltzik broke Rybakov at love to take an early 2-1 lead (left) and then after a Hiltzik hold Rybakov would hold for 2-3 (right).
Hiltzik came back from 30-40 down to hold for 4-2 and then four games later he’d hold again to take the opening set 6-4. Hiltzik would go up an early break in the second set and was plowing through each of his service games. The clip below shows Hiltzik holding for 5-3 and then Rybakov holds for 4-5.
Hiltzik would finally have a poor service game and Rybakov would break him from 15-40 to even it at 5-5 (left). Rybakov held for 6-5 and then Hiltzik held to send it to a tiebreak (right).
The tiebreak was all Hiltzik as he led 5-1 at the changeover and closed it out two points later to win the match in 1 hour and 17 minutes. The clips shows a few points of the tiebreak including match point at the end.
Cameron Norrie would extend TCU’s lead to 3-1 after he defeated Aleks Vukic 6-4, 7-5 at #2. Vukic broke Norrie to go up 2-1 in the first and then held for 3-1. Norrie would hold and then break Vukic on the deciding point to make it 3-3. The break actually came on an overrule on the far side and Vukic argued with the chair for a good minute but to no avail. After three straight holds Norrie broke Vukic to take the set 6-4. Vukic broke Norrie on the deciding point to go up 1-0 in the second but Norrie broke back on the deciding point to make it 1-1. A few games later Norrie would come back from 30-40 down to hold for 3-2 and then Vukic did the same thing to hold for 3-3. It would stay on serve until Norrie broke Vukic from 15-40 to close it out in 1 hour and 27 minutes. Guillermo Nunez was serving for the match at the same time so that’s why I wasn’t able to get a better shot of this match point.
Less than two minutes later Guillermo Nunez would clinch the win for TCU with a 7-6(6), 6-3 win over Aron Hiltzik at #3. Nunez went up 2-1 in the first after breaking Hiltzik on the deciding point but Hiltzik would break back on the deciding point to even it at 2-2 (left clip). A few games later Nunez would break back on the deciding point to go up 4-3 (right).
Nunez was serving up 5-4, 40-15 but Hiltzik came back to break and even it at 5-5 (left). Hiltzik held for 6-5 and then Nunez held to send it to a tiebreak (right).
Nunez went up 4-0 in the tiebreak but Hiltzik fought back to even it at 6-6. Hiltzik would double fault to put Nunez up 7-6 and then Nunez closed out the tiebreak on the next point. Below are clips from multiple points throughout the tiebreak – as you can hear the people beside me weren’t pleased with the call on the double fault.
Nunez drew first blood in the second set when he broke Hiltzik from 30-40 on a big forehand to go up 3-1.
Nunez then held from 40-15 to go up 4-1 before Hiltzik held for 2-4 and then Nunez held at love for 5-2 (both holds on clip on left). Hiltzik then held and went up 0-40 on the Nunez serve but the TCU sophomore would take the next four to close it out and clinch the Horned Frogs win. The clip on the right picks it up with Nunez serving at 15-40.
They played the remaining matches out with Illinois freshman Asher Hirsch picking up a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Trevor Johnson at #6 (left) while TCU freshman Eduardo Nava defeated Julian Childers 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 at #4 (right). Note: Nava trailed 2-5 in the first set and won five straight to take the set 7-5.
TCU is back on the road next weekend for matches at South Florida and Central Florida while Illinois is off for two weeks before playing at Northwestern.
Another win for @RoditiTCUTennis & #TCUTennis with a special appearance by @College10s2day in today’s video #GoFrogshttps://t.co/MbEn3Zhp9xTCU Men’s Tennis (@TCUMensTennis) February 28, 2016
“We didn’t take care of things where we needed to,” head coach Brad Dancer said. “If you do that against a good team, you’re going to lose. I give TCU a lot of credit because Atkins isn’t an easy place to play.”
In the big stunner of the day #51 Arkansas went into Norman and upset #10 Oklahoma 5-2. Arkansas took the doubles point with wins at #1 and #3 and then they added four first sets at #1, #2, #4 and #5.
Arkansas redshirt freshman Adam Sanjurjo made it 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Maxime Mora at #5 but OU would tie it up at 2-2 with straight sets wins from Alex Ghilea and Andre Biro at #3 and #6.
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| Giammarco Micolani (pic via Arkasas) |
Mike Redilicki would put Arkansas ahead 3-2 when he beat Axel Alvarez in straight sets and Giammarco Micolani would clinch it with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Florin Bragusi at #4. Jose Salazar, who transferred from Oklahoma, won the final match of the day for Arkansas as he defeated Spencer Papa 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
I’d say you have to go back a good decade to find a win as big as this one for the Hogs. Arkansas last made the NCAA tournament in 2006 and these are its conference wins totals over the last 8 years – 3, 0, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, and 0. This program has come a long, long way since Andy Jackson took over the helm on June 11, 2013.
Arkansas has another big match coming up on Friday when it opens SEC play in Lexington against #18 Kentucky. OU returns to the court today when it hosts #17 Memphis at 2pm central.
“Arkansas played a great match,” head coach John Roddick said. “They are a really good team and they deserve credit. We have to refocus, come back tomorrow and play much better against Memphis.”
Wake Forest was coming off a stunning 4-3 loss to #25 Texas but they turned it around on Sunday in a bit way. The Demon Deacons took the doubles point with 6-4 wins at #1 and #2 then they jumped on #6 Texas Tech in singles by taking five of six opening sets. Skander Mansouri, Petros Chrysochos, and Dennis Uspensky each rolled in straight sets at #1, #2, and #5 to give Wake the 4-0 shutout win just a hair over two hours.
Texas Tech is off for the next two weeks before hosting Indiana on March 14th while Wake opens ACC play on Friday with a visit from Georgia Tech followed by Sunday matches against NC State and Tennessee Tech.
#5 Wake Forest 4, #6 Texas Tech 0
“This wasn’t our best day in terms of play, competing and energy level,” Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi said. “When you play a team like Wake Forest, you can’t expect to be able to fight back from a bad start. Basically, we didn’t show up to start the match. We had some hope during a few of the second sets in singles but couldn’t get the job done. Hopefully, this is an experience we will learn from. We have a few weeks to improve and get ready for a tough round of matches.”
Northwestern picked up a nice ranked road win on Sunday when it blanked #32 Harvard in Cambridge. Northwestern took the doubles point with wins at #2 and #3 then won all six singles matches by winning 12 of 14 sets. NU’s 12-1 start equals the previous mark that was set all the way back in the 1988-89 season.
Northwestern will be off for the next two weeks before hosting Illinois and Detroit on March 12th while Harvard is off for almost three weeks before heading to San Diego for the Mission Valley Spring Classic with other participants including San Diego, San Diego State, Denver, Memphis, Princeton, Texas Tech, and Tulane.
#15 Northwestern 7, #32 Harvard 0
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Ohio State and Notre Dame usually play competitive matches every season and Sunday’s match in South Bend was no different. Ohio State dropped the doubles point for the third time this the year when Notre Dame’s Grayson Broadus and Quentin Monaghan won 6-2 win at #2 and Josh Hagar and Eric Schnurrenberger won 6-3 win at #3.
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| Martin Joyce (Pic via tennisworldusa.org) |
Ohio State rebounded in singles by taking five of six first sets. Mikael Torpegaard was off the court quickly with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Quentin Monaghan at #1 and Herkko Pollanen followed suit with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Eric Schnurrenberger at #5.
Notre Dame’s Alex Lawson tied the match at 2-2 after coming back from a first set bagel to defeat Chris Diaz 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 at #3.
Ohio State redshirt freshman Hugo Di Feo made it 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Eddy Covalschi at #2. The win by Di Feo snapped a two-match losing streak after he won his first six.
Ohio State freshman Martin Joyce ran his dual-match record to a perfect 8-0 by clinching the team win with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 win over Grayson Broadus at #6. Ohio State’s Ralf Steinbach won the final match 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 over Eric Schnurrenberger.
The Buckeyes will return to the court next Sunday for a nationally televised match at Oklahoma while Notre Dame opens up conference play on Thursday at Boston College.
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Tulsa took the doubles point by winning both #1 and #3 in tiebreaks but Michigan turned up the heat in singles and took four opening sets. Alex Knight, Runhao Hua, and Kevin Wong would each finish in straight sets at #2, #5, and #6 while Carter Lin clinched the match at #3 with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 win over Juan Matias Gonzalez.
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 6-2-5-3
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A rough week for #25 NC State got worse on Sunday as the Wolfpack dropped its third match in a row with a 4-1 loss to #55 Old Dominion. ODU hadn’t beat NC State since 2007 though with this win the Monarchs have won five of the last nine in the series.
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| Zvonimir Podvinski (@ ODU Sports) |
ODU’s Michael Weindl and Jacob Nicolussi won 6-2 at #2 doubles while NC State’s Simon Norenius and Michael Ogden won 6-4 at #3. The doubles point came down to a tiebreak at #1 with ODU’s Adam Moundir and Aziz Kijametovic taking it 7-6(5)
The Monarchs took four opening sets in singles with Javier Jover Maestre, Zvonimir Podvinski, and Jacob Nicolussi each winning in straight sets at #4, #5, and #6 with Podvinski providing the clincher.
Note: I believe Podvinski’s brother is Tomislav (Tommy) who plays at Baylor – both are from Zagreb, Croatia though maybe Podvinski is like Smith over there.
Old Dominion went 8-0 during the month of February while NC State went 7-5. ODU plays at Elon and Charlotte next weekend while NC State goes to Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
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Columbia finished its Tennessee road trip undefeated after it held on to beat #45 Vanderbilt 4-3. The match was played indoors at Vandy’s five-court facility so the deciding match at #6 singles didn’t go on court until the first singles match finished up.
Columbia took the doubles point with wins at #1 and #3 but Vanderbilt would take first sets on four of the five courts. Mike Vermeer earned the one first set for Columbia at #3 and then he finished off Rhys Johnson 6-1, 6-3 to make it 2-0.
Vanderbilt racked up straight set wins from Daniel Valent, Cameron Klinger, and Baker Newman at #1, #2, and #4 to put the Commodores up 3-2.
Columbia junior Richard Pham jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set by winning all five games on deciding points but Kris Yee came back to win seven straight games, five on the deciding point, to take the opening set 7-5. Pham would take the second set 6-4 then pull away in the third to close out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win to even the overall match at 3-3.
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| Timothy Wang (@ Ethan Wu/Columbia Spectator) |
The final match on court was at #6 as Columbia freshman Timmy Wang was taking on Vanderbilt freshman Alex Ross. Wang rolled to a 6-1 first set then led 5-2 in the second before Ross broke and held to make it 5-4. Wang went down 15-30 but won the next 3 points to close it out the 6-1, 6-4 win.
Columbia next plays in two weeks when it goes to Ann Arbor to face Michigan while Vanderbilt plays at #1 North Carolina on Friday
#23 Columbia 4, #45 Vanderbilt 3
Feb 28, 2016 at Nashville, TN (Currey Tennis Center)
Doubles competition
I still like doubles first because it gets the crowd into the match – if it were played last and the team match had already been decided there wouldn't be anyone left to watch. Now I agree if the team match was tied at 3-3 and it came down to the doubles point that would be high drama and even more exciting than it already is when played first – problem is only about 18-22% of matches finish with a 4-3 score and probably half of those finished with that score because they played singles out.<br /><br />I think the best solution to getting rid of the unfinished singles matches is to play them out which more teams have been doing this season. Some are still stopping on the clinch virtually every time (Ohio St) but many keep going like in the TCU/Illinois match yesterday.
I do think no ad is making it more unpredictable. It's amazing how many games come down to the deciding point and there have been a lot more upsets this season so far than in season's past. Just look at last weekend – Texas def. Wake, Arkansas def. Oklahoma, Illinois def. Virginia. I think this year is wide open which should make for an interesting NCAA tournament.
Agree with you. The whole point of changing this was to increase fans and tv coverage so athletic directors would not cut tennis. I want to see stats at the end of the year that show an increase in attendance. I feel like the changes will be negligible.
Dear Bobby, if they are going to play this format would it not make more sense to play doubles after?<br />Instead of a quick 15/20 minute warm up for singles. Imagine how exciting doubles would be at 3 all. Like a shoot out in soccer. Overtime in football. It would be insanely fun to watch!<br />Colleges would still have to focus on doubles as most of there important matches would come down to that. Also the singles rankings would become more accurate as you would have a significant rise in finished matches. What are your thoughts?
ABSOLUTELY. If ITA really wants to shorten matches go the whole way and flip a coin rather than play doubles. Doubles point is so important and six games no ad is a coin flip anyway.<br />Yes, matches are shorter but I've yet to see one televised or see increased fan turnout at matches. So why did ITA change scoring??
The longer the format, the more it will favor the better player/team. An example: Novak Djokavic's record in 2015. 3 out of 5 set record 27-1. His 2 out of 3 set record 55-5. The more you shorten tennis, the better the chance for the lesser players to get hot. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Very entertaining results.
Is no ad making the season so unpredictable? In the last five years, USC and UVA seemed to be so much better, and you could always count on them winning when it mattered. I thought UVA had it locked up this year, but teams that appeared to have no chance at being contenders are winning over "better" teams. It seems up for grabs this year. What do you think?