Men’s Tennis Begins Season With Victories – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 12, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio– The Ohio State men’s tennis team, currently ranked No. 35 in the nation, will send three players to compete in the ITA All-American Championships, the second leg of the collegiate Grand Slam, held in Stone Mountain, Ga., Tuesday through Sunday.
Competing for OSU will be Phillip Metz (So., Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) in the Open Singles division and Chris Porter (Sr., Canton, Ohio/Jackson) and Andrew Carlson (Sr., Gambrills, Md./Arundel) will compete in doubles tournament.
The remainder of the OSU team will compete at the Rocket Indoors at Toledo Friday.
Big Time Buckeye
Metz, ranked No. 92 in the collegiate circuit, earned a spot in the All-American’s main draw Wednesday after defeating Texas Tech’s Jevgenij Cariov, 6-4, 6-2, on the final day of qualifying. Cariov entered the match a day after upsetting No. 77 Maciej Dillaj, 6-3, 6-4.
“Phil is playing good tennis right now,” Ty Tucker, OSU’s head coach, said. “I think he is the first person in 10 or 15 years (from Ohio State) to make it to the main draw at this tournament. He has proven the caliber of player he is.”
Metz will open play Thursday with the University of Georgia’s Mattias Boeker, the No. 5 seed in the tournament and the No. 7 player in the collegiate ranks.
Dangerous Duo
The team of Porter and Carlson enter the tournament as the No. 4 seeded-team and the No. 8 team in the nation. They will take on the team of Chad Carlson and Bo Hodge from the University of Georgia. Carlson is currently on the No. 35 doubles team with Adam Seri while Hodge is usually paired with teammate Lesley Joseph, the No. 39 doubles team.
“Porter and Carlson are a very tough team and should do well this year,” Tucker said. “They have the potential to go far in any tournament they play in and can help our team win.”
Though this is the first time the team will compete together this season, they amassed a record of 23-6, only three wins behind the OSU team of Bob Wellstein Sr., Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) andDerek DeFalco’s (Sr., Maumee, Ohio/Maumee) 26 victories.
Last Week
OSU completed competition Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Indiana State Fall Tournament, a day earlier than expected, because of cold weather. The Buckeyes started off cold in their first round of matches, but they stormed back to dominate the competition.
Against ISU Friday, OSU won only one singles match and was swept in the doubles competition. The lone victorious Buckeye was Jonathon Scale (So., Acworth, Ga./Harrison) at the No. 3 singles position. Scale recorded a 6-1, 7-6 win over Lovre Brajkovic, his only loss in the tournament.
In the Friday afternoon session, OSU won five of six singles matches against South Florida before sweeping the three doubles matches. Leading the singles charge was Chris Porter’s straight-set victory over Aleks Popovic, 6-0, 6-1.
The team of Bob Wellstein and Derek DeFalco recorded an 8-1 victory in No. 2 doubles for OSU.
On Saturday, the Buckeyes played one set of matches when they took on the Michigan State Spartans. OSU again won five of six singles matches and captured two of three in doubles. Metz and Porter led OSU with straight set victories in their No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, as the Buckeyes finished with a combined singles record of 11-9.
The Buckeyes also finished 5-4 in doubles action with the teams of Wellstein/DeFalco and Brenton Contini (Fr., Dover, Ohio/Dover) and Martin Johannson (Jr., Malmo, Sweden/Physical Education) each finishing 2-0 on the weekend.
Rewriting The Record Books
At the end of last season, Chris Porter’s performances on the court helped him move among the elite of the OSU tennis program.
Porter recorded 36 singles wins in 1999-00, now third best all-time for wins in a season. Leading the Buckeye greats are Roger Smith with 45 wins in 1986 and Mike Massie’s 39 wins, also in 1986.
Porter also can find his name in the 12th position in all-time career singles victories with 75, just one victory shy of Lior Rusinek’s 76 wins from 1980-83. Roger Smith leads the way with 126 victories (1983-86). Coach Ty Tucker also is on the books with 64 career wins (16th) and wins in a season with 28 (10th, 1990).
Next Time Out
The Buckeyes will visit Philadelphia, Pa. for the Penn Invitational. The tournament is Oct. 20-21.
