The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Ohio State
No. 7 Men's Tennis upsets No. 2 Ohio State, 4-2, advances to NCAA semifinals
05.18.2008 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns advance to the NCAA semifinals for the second time in three seasons and the third time in the program's history. Texas joins Georgia, Baylor and Virginia as schools who have reached the NCAA semifinals at least twice in the last three seasons. Texas will take on third-seeded UCLA, a 4-2 NCAA quarterfinal winner over sixth-seeded USC, in Monday's semifinals at 5 p.m. Central.
As has been the case throughout the NCAA Championship, the Longhorns captured the doubles point. Texas struck first at third doubles, where Kutrovsky and sophomore Josh Zavala dealt Matt Allare and Shuhei Uzawa an 8-4 defeat. Freshmen Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico sealed the doubles point for Texas by knocking off the Buckeyes' 10th-ranked duo of Bryan Koniecko and Steven Moneke to stake the Longhorns to a 1-0 lead.
Diaz Barriga split his first two sets with Ohio State's Uzawa before pulling away to a 6-1 win in the final set to give Texas a 2-0 lead. Mihailovic outlasted the Buckeyes' Allare in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-4, at fifth singles and registered his lone service break of Allare at the most opportunistic time, as led 5-4 in the second set and broke Allare's serve to take the second set, 6-4 and give Texas a 3-0 lead.
Ohio State trimmed the Texas lead to 3-1 when Balazs Novak dealt Miguel Reyes Varela a 6-2, 6-2 defeat at sixth singles, and the Buckeyes pulled within 3-2 when Moneke outlasted Damico at the second slot, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
Ohio State's Koniecko handily dispatched Kutrovsky in the first set, but Texas' sophomore All-American rebounded with a solid 6-2 second-set win to prolong the match. Koniecko broke Kutrovsky early in the final set, but Kutrovsky immediately broke back and took a 3-2 lead. Serving 5-3 and ad-in, Kutrovsky converted his first serve and watched as Koniecko's return sailed long, as Kutrovsky nailed down the 6-3 third-set victory to secure the fourth and clinching point for Texas.
NCAA Men's Tennis Championship - Quarterfinals
Michael D. Case Tennis Center - Tulsa, Okla.
No. 7 Texas 4, No. 2 Ohio State 2
Doubles - Order of Finish: 3, 1
1. No. 9 Corrie/Damico (UT) def. No. 10 Koniecko/Moneke (OSU) - 8-5
2. Diaz Barriga/Reyes Varela (UT) vs. No. 14 Eberly/Kronauge (OSU) - 7-6, susp.
3. Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Allare/Uzawa (OSU) - 8-4
Singles - Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6, 2, 1
1. Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. Bryan Koniecko (OSU) - 1-6, 6-2, 6-3
2. Steven Moneke (OSU) def. Kellen Damico (UT) - 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
3. Ed Corrie (UT) vs. Justin Kronauge (OSU) - 6-7 (8), 5-3, susp.
4. Luis Diaz Barriga (UT) def. Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) - 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
5. Milan Mihailovic (UT) def. Matt Allare (OSU) - 7-6 (4), 6-4
6. Balazs Novak (OSU) def. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) - 6-2, 6-2
POST-MATCH NOTES
- Texas improves to 33-25 all-time at the NCAA Championship and reaches the NCAA semifinals for the third time in program history (1993, 2006, 2008) and the third time under coach Michael Center, the 2007 USPTA National College Coach of the Year.
- The Horns join Baylor, Georgia and Virginia as the only schools to have reached the NCAA semifinals in two of the last three seasons.
- Texas also defeated Ohio State in the 2006 NCAA quarterfinals to reach the NCAA semifinals; the Horns and Buckeyes opened the match outdoors in Palo Alto, Calif., before rain forced the relocation of the match to an indoor facility in San Francisco, where Texas posted a 4-3 victory.
- Texas has now won 25 of 28 doubles points contested this season (a doubles session was not played in Texas' loss to Baylor at the Big 12 Championship)
- The Longhorns are 23-2 in matches where they have secured the doubles point (losses at Virginia and Texas Tech).
- Senior Milan Mihailovic moved into a tie for eighth on UT's all-time singles wins list, as he picked up his 94th career victory with his 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over OSU's Matt Allare; Mihailovic improved to 22-6 on the season and 12-1 at No. 5 singles.
- Senior Luis Diaz Barriga registered his first 30-win season with his three-set win over the Buckeyes' Shuhei Uzawa.
- Diaz Barriga moved into a tie for 18th (with Johnny Levine and Jean Simon) on UT's all-time wins list and now has 83 singles wins to his credit at Texas.
- Diaz Barriga is 30-5 on the season and holds a 20-2 mark at No. 4 singles; Diaz Barriga holds an incredible 57-9 singles mark over the last two seasons.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
HEAD COACH Michael Center
On the win: Ohio State is a very difficult team to knock out. They compete really, really well up and down the lineup. Their top three have been really amazing this year. I don't think Steven Moneke has lost a dual match, and Bryan Koniecko and Justin Kronauge are very good. They've been very reliable at the top. Then, the guy that plays six for them has been very, very good. They're a very physical team, well-conditioned and well-trained. I thought we had an edge in the doubles today, and we got that point. I like the fact that we had two seniors at four and five playing two freshmen at four and five. I thought we had a little bit of an edge there, but I knew to knock out one of those other four guys was going to take a heck of an effort, and we produced it today. Dimitar Kutrovsky got it done and clinched the match.
On the play of Big 12 Conference teams at the NCAA Championship: I don't know if our conference gets enough credit nationally. Baylor broke through and won the championship in 2004, and they've been to the Final Four several times. This is our second trip. I think for us to really get the national attention, we need to break through as well. We've been a very competitive team. It's our second Final Four in the last three years. We're here to break through. We feel good about our team. I thought at the beginning of the year that this team had a chance, and now it's down to four teams. So, we'll be out there going for our shots and playing aggressively. If someone takes us out, they're going to have to beat us. That's our attitude right now.
On the turnout of Longhorns fans in Tulsa: We had a nice following today. Some people flew up from Austin today. Texas has a huge alumni base. I see people sitting there with their Texas garb on, which is probably tough to wear here in the state of Oklahoma, so they find an excuse to put on the burnt orange and come out and support the Horns. We encourage all of them to come out, and I will assure them they'll be safe here at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
SOPHOMORE Dimitar Kutrovsky
On rallying for the victory over Ohio State's Bryan Koniecko: I knew Bryan's style. I knew him from junior tennis. I played doubles with him in one tournament. I know he's a good player. We have a pretty similar style, being aggressive and hitting the ball flat and attacking every shot that we possibly can. He just started off better than me. He was more energetic. He was more aggressive, and I wasn't as energetic as I could have been. He pushed me on my serve and I couldn't do much on my return game, so it I was down pretty quickly, 6-1. In the second set, I just had to put it together and be more aggressive and energetic. I knew that if I lost I would let everyone down, so I had to lay it out there and play hard.
