Wichita State came out fired up in doubles and would grab its first lead when Sergio de Vilchez and Eddie Stoica broke Calum MacGeoch to go up 3-1 at No. 3. Wichita State’s No. 2 team of Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue would take their first lead when they broke Ben Lott to go up 4-2. Then seconds later Wichita State would go up a break at No. 1 when Jocelyn Devilliers and Tin Ostojic broke Bayo Philips to go up 3-2.
WSU’s Haru Inoue would hold for 5-2 and then he and Miroslav Herzan would break Ben Stride to win it 6-2.
Final on 2 – @GoShockersMTEN wins 6-2 pic.twitter.com/bcW2RBrdqVBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
Drake’s Calum MacGeoch and Vinny Gillespie trailed 4-1 at No. 3 but they’d win three straight games (Gillespie hold, de Vilchez break, MacGeoch hold) to even it at 4-4.
Over at No. 1, WSU’s Jocelyn Devilliers and Tin Ostojic had opened up a 5-3 so it looked like the doubles point would be over in a matter of minutes. Drake hung tough and after Bayo Philips held for 4-5 he and Ben Wood would break Tin Ostojic from 30-40 to even it at 5-5. Wichita State broke the Ben Wood serve at love to go up 6-5 and then Jocelyn Devilliers served it comfortably to win it 7-5.
That’s all for doubles – @GoShockersMTEN wins it 7-5 on 1 and takes the 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/puMe6xHCSGBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
The match at No. 3 was abandoned just as the tiebreak was getting started.
Wichita State took the doubles point in the match last year too so you figured while they had to be feeling good they probably weren’t overconfident.
Wichita State’s Tin Ostojic, Haru Inoue, and Eddie Stoica went up early breaks at 1, 4, and 5 while Drake’s Vinny Gillespie, Calum MacGeoch, and Ben Stride went up breaks at 2, 3 and 6. All of those guys took the opening set except for Gillespie who ended up dropping the set to Miroslav Herzan in a tiebreak at No. 2.
Haru Inoue put the Shockers up 2-0 after he closed out Bayo Philips in straight sets at No. 4. Inoue broke Philips to go up 3-2 in the first but Philips would break back on the deciding point to even it at 3-3. Inoue broke right back and then held for 5-3 and would ultimately take the set 6-4. Inoue broke Philips early in the second set then broke him again and would serve it out for a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Delayed reaction by the crowd but @GoShockersMTEN now leads 2-0 – Haru Inoue wins 6-4, 6-2 on 4 pic.twitter.com/95vr6BNKL5Bobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
Eddie Stoica would extend the lead to 3-0 with a straight set win over Tom Hands at No 5. Stoica broke Hands to go up 2-1 in the first set but Hands would break back and hold to go up 3-2. Stoica then held and broke to go 4-3 but Hands would break back and hold for 5-4. Stoica would then hold, break, and hold to take the set 7-5. Stoica opened up a 4-1 lead in the second set but Hands would get one of the breaks back to pull within 4-2. Stoica would break back and then serve it out at love to win it 7-5, 6-2.
Now 3-0 @GoShockersMTEN after Eddie Stoica serves it out at love to win 7-5, 6-2 pic.twitter.com/R6P5wJTducBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
It was looking really good for Wichita State because they were just a point away from the title plus they had a set lead at No. 2 and had just got a split at No. 6. However in a matter of minutes the momentum would completely swing towards Drake.
Drake’s Calum MacGeoch would put the Bulldogs first point on the board with a straight set win over Jocelyn Devilliers at No. 3. MacGeoch broke Devilliers to go up 4-2 in the first and would serve it out a few games later to take the opening set 6-3. MacGeoch went up an early break in the second set but Devilliers would break back to even it at 3-3. The set would go to a tiebreak and Devilliers looked like he was going to force a third set after going up 6-4. MacGeoch forced a Devilliers forehand error to make it 6-5 and then he evened it at 6-6 after winning a rapid fire point at the net. MacGeoch went up 7-6 after a Devilliers forehand error and then he closed it out on his serve with a backhand winner to take it 6-3, 7-6(6).
Match on 3 – @Drake_MTEN‘s Calum MacGeoch wins 6-3, 7-6(6) pic.twitter.com/h4pPlxMIGHBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
Roughly four minutes later Drake’s Ben Lott would make it 3-2 after he came from behind to defeat Tin Ostojic at No. 1. Ostojic broke Lott to start the match and ended up taking the opening set 6-0. Ostojic went up 4-2 in the second and was up 0-30 on Lott’s serve but Lott took the next four points to hold for 4-3. Lott would break at love to even it at 4-4 and then hold for 5-4. It ended up going to a tiebreak and Lott jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. Ostojic won both points on his serve and then another on Lott’s serve to make it 5-3 but Lott would take the final two to close out the tiebreak 7-3. The third set was all Lott as he jumped out to a quick double break lead at 4-0 and would serve it out from 40-15 to take it 0-6, 7-6(3), 6-2.
Match on 1 – @Drake_MTEN cuts the deficit to 3-2 with Ben Lott winning 6-2 in the third pic.twitter.com/gANPQ7stHwBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
Despite trailing 3-2, Drake had all the momentum because Vinny Gillespie had broken Miroslav Herzan to take the second set 7-5 and Ben Stride had taken a 3-1 lead in the third set at No. 6. Gillespie would hold, break, and hold to start the third set so he now led 3-0 plus Ben Stride had just broken Sergio de Vilchez again to go up 4-1.
There was a strong crowd of around 100 on hand and most of them were watching the match at No. 2 but as soon as became apparent that the decider would be at No. 6 everybody started coming over. All of a sudden Stride started making a lot of errors, most from his backhand, while de Vilchez calmly stayed the course. Sergio took one break back when he broke from 30-40 on this point below which ended with an overhead winner.
Sergio de Vilchez breaks from 30-40 – will serve down 2-4 in the third. pic.twitter.com/nVvA9W8RkSBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
De Vilchez then held on the deciding point to pull within 3-4 (still one break down). On the deciding point Stride blocked the return back, de Vilchez hit a laser in the corner, Stride was barely able to get it back over, and then de Vilchez finished the point at the net. Stride quickly went up 30-15 on his 4-3 service game but at 30-all he missed a volley at the net to go down 30-40.
Bobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
The 30-40 point had a lengthy rally but it ended with de Vilchez coming forward and forcing a Stride forehand error to get the break for 4-4.
There’s the break on 6 – de Vilchez to serve 4-4 pic.twitter.com/jWERL57YRjBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
Meanwhile over at No. 2, Drake’s Vinny Gillespie served for the match up 5-1 in the third but Miroslav Herzan would break and then hold for 5-3. Gillespie would serve it out on his second attempt to win it 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3 so it was now officially 3-3.
Back at No. 6, de Vilchez had seen a 40-15 lead evaporate so he was no looking at a huge deciding point. The guys went back and forth for about 25 seconds but the point ended with Stride chipping a backhand well long so unbelievably de Vilchez had turned a 1-4 deficit into a 5-4 lead. It was also ironic that this was the second year in a row that the deciding match involved a de Vilchez because last year’s final came down to Sergio’s brother Guillermo.
Hold by de Vilchez on the deciding point point for 5-4 pic.twitter.com/7sFzY21JrfBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
Stride quickly fell behind 0-30 on his 4-5 service game but a volley winner made it 15-30. The next point, as strange it would sounds, would end up being the last point of the match. The guys traded forehand for forehand and after de Vilchez hit one about 12 shots into the rally Stride called it long/wide and that’s when the mayhem ensued. De Vilchez immediately appealed the call to the chair who at first wasn’t sure if Stride had actually called it out. Once it was determined that he did the chair said she saw it good which made it 15-40 – but wait there’s more. The overrule was Stride’s third of the match which meant a corresponding point penalty went with it and since it was now 15-40 the point penalty would mean the match was over. However the chair was confused because she thought the previous point was 30-15 and not 15-30 but once de Vilchez and Wichita State head coach Brad Louderback explained the point sequence she agreed and that was officially the match and the Shockers stormed the court. Watch the two videos below which show the final point and then the aftermath and celebration – crazy, crazy, scene!!
There was so much emotion from Wichita State because it had come up short against Drake four times in the last five years plus head coach Brad Louderback had missed all the teams road matches this year after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in December. Its top singles player, Tin Ostojic, had also missed most of the last month with an ankle injury so for this team to come out on top meant a lot to everyone associated with the Shockers Tennis Program.
I will say that it was nice to see Drake head coach Davidson Kozlowski show a great amount of class at the end and quickly shake everyone’s hands – I don’t know if you’d see that happen too many times in a finish like that.
This turned out to be Championship point for @GoShockersMTEN pic.twitter.com/ECmgKoIgnWBobby Knight (@College10s2day) May 1, 2016
The overrule in question was a baseline ball not a far sideline ball. The chair should not have motioned to the sideline official, but everyone was shouting; ask the official; the only official was on the sideline. He was just reiterating it was not wide on his line. It was a dramatic moment, especially for a 1st year chair official.
ok so just caught there was a far side line judge, who ruled the ball was not wide, also sorry but Wichita St coach bullied that call. Like Bobby said kudos to the Drake Coach he would have had a valid reason to complain if he felt, so obviously he saw the ball good as well.
I'm sure the new ITA Officials Committee will use this match to promote their hidden agenda to assign officials for all ITA matches next year, using only their token pro chairs on their off-time like Brad Taylor is attempting to do on ACC matches. By the way, what qualified Referee would ever assign a green official to such an important match. Therein lies the problem which must be fixed.
Thanks 10:04 but neither coach can be happy with how that unfolded and I feel for the official, she probably should not have been put into that situation in the first place. First year official in a Conference Final knowing match was probably going to be close is a recipe for disaster and now add in if true the official is from the hometown of one of the schools.
"That was a Major League Over Rule…..Major League…"
That was a weird situation with the women starting an hour early while the men's match was still going on. I know SIU had a 5:05 flight back to STL because that was the same flight I was on. That match finished in plenty of time though – it was over by 3 I think.
I just tweeted them out – it'll be tomorrow before I do a write-up with more explanation
Bobby, are you going to release new rankings (double rerun) tonight by any chance? Should be pretty clear by now who made the tournament, probably only #42 spot which is still unknown. Few teams are definitely waiting to see those! Thanks so much for everything you do for college tennis!!!
The Line 6 chair was a 1st year official from Wichita who they have been training-up all year… No doubt she will be back next year. The Ref wasn't around because they were starting the women's match doubles before the men's match was completed.
Classic chair for a college match. I mean when are they going to get more qualified people to work these matches? The fact that the chair a) needed the game score recounted and b) didn't immediately know it was third overrule is an absolute joke.
wow not a good job in the chair there and the I assume the Drake player will be written up for poor sportsmanship for actions after the match, assuming the referee was paying attention. Just a bad sequence of events and poor chairmanship