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No. 5 Ohio State edges No. 18 Men's Tennis, 4-3 at NCAA Championships
05.20.2016 | Men's Tennis
UT junior George Goldhoff hands Ohio State’s top-ranked Mikael Torpegaard his first loss of the season.
TULSA, Okla. – Texas junior George Goldhoff upset Ohio State's top-ranked Mikael Torpegaard, and Harrison Scott and Michael Riechmann added singles wins, but the fifth-ranked Buckeyes (33-2) edged the 18th-ranked Longhorns by a 4-3 count Friday afternoon at the NCAA Championships.
The Longhorns exit the NCAA Championships round of 16 with a 19-12 overall record and are likely to remain among the top-20 in the final ITA team rankings after winning a pair of matches at the NCAA Championships.
Ohio State led off by winning a tightly-contested doubles session after the match start had been delayed by over three hours due to light rain. Ohio State's Herkko Pollanen and Mikael Torpegaard broke UT's Goldhoff and Riechmann for a 3-2 lead at first doubles and held on for a 6-4 win.
At second doubles, both sides held serve throughout the match, and the contest progressed to a tiebreaker. OSU's Martin Joyce and Ralf Steinbach defeated UT sophomore Adrian Ortiz and redshirt freshman Julian Zlobinsky 7-5 in the tiebreaker to seal the doubles point for the Buckeyes. Texas' Scott and John Mee held a 6-5 lead over Ohio State's Hugo Di Feo and Matt Mendez at third doubles before the match was called.
OSU's Pollanen posted a 6-2, 6-0 win over UT's Zlobinsky at fifth singles to stake the Buckeyes to a 2-0 lead before Riechmann put Texas on the board with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Steinbach at fourth singles. The Houston native fell behind 3-0 in the first set before taking the next five games for a 5-3 lead and finishing off the set two games later.
Five days removed from his biggest win as a collegiate tennis player, Goldhoff went one better and handed Ohio State's top-ranked Torpegaard his first loss of the dual-match season. Goldhoff took Torpegaard to a first-set tiebreaker and prevailed 7-4. The southern Californian seized complete control of the match in the second set and shut out Torpegaard, 6-0 at first singles to even the match at two.
Ohio State's Chris Diaz rallied from an early first-set deficit and took the first set from UT's Ortiz in a tiebreaker at second singles, 7-2. Diaz took the second set 6-0 to give the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead. Texas' Scott rallied from one set down to defeat OSU's 45th-ranked Di Feo in three sets and even the match at three.
Scott took a 4-0 third-set lead and held serve for 5-2 before Di Feo held serve and broke Scott to pull within 5-4. Scott managed to break Di Feo's serve one last time to preserve the 6-4 third-set win and leave the match's deciding point at sixth singles.
Mee claimed the first set from OSU's Martin Joyce 6-3 only to see Joyce return the favor in the second set. Trailing 5-4 in the third set, Mee produced a match-saving service break and evened the set at five. Joyce broke Mee again for a 6-5 OSU lead but Mee took advantage of Joyce's mistakes in the next game for another service break, as the match progressed to a tiebreaker.
Joyce assumed a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker. Though Mee smacked a backhand passing winner to pull within 6-3, Joyce won the following point to win the tiebreaker and close out the 4-3 victory for the Buckeyes.
NCAA Championships Third Round (Round of 16)
No. 5 Ohio State 4, No. 18 Texas 3
Doubles - Order of Finish: 1, 2
1. Herkko Pollanen/Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio State) def. George Goldhoff/Michael Riechmann (Texas), 6-4
2. Martin Joyce/Ralf Steinbach (Ohio State) def. Adrian Ortiz/Julian Zlobinsky (Texas), 7-6 (5)
3. John Mee/Harrison Scott (Texas) vs. Hugo Di Feo/Matt Mendez (Ohio State), 6-5 DNF
Singles - Order of Finish: 5, 4, 1, 2, 3, 6
1. #68 George Goldhoff (Texas) def. #1 Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio State), 7-6 (4), 6-0
2. #88 Chris Diaz (Ohio State) def. Adrian Ortiz (Texas), 7-6 (2), 6-0
3. Harrison Scott (Texas) def. #45 Hugo Di Feo (Ohio State), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
4. Michael Riechmann (Texas) def. Ralf Steinbach (Ohio State), 6-4, 6-4
5. #103 Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State) def. Julian Zlobinsky (Texas), 6-2, 6-0
6. Martin Joyce (Ohio State) def. John Mee (Texas), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
It was a great match. Ohio State is one of the favorites to win the national championship and we're in a tiebreaker in the third set, last match on to win the match. We came a long way this year. Couldn't be prouder of these guys, what they did, the commitment they made to each other, the commitment they made to their tennis. It was just a phenomenal, phenomenal effort today and we just came up a little bit short at the end.
Players Mentioned
