No. 20 Men’s Tennis NCAA Tournament Preview – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 7, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio— The No. 20 Ohio State men’s tennis team (21-4 overall, 10-2 Big Ten) will take on the Vanderbilt Commodores at 9 a.m. Saturday in Lexington, Ky. If OSU advances they will play the winner of No. 7-seed Kentucky vs. Murray State Sunday in Lexington, Ky. The Buckeyes are making a third-consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. Ohio State’s two previous trips, the only NCAA tournament appearances in OSU history, came under the direction of head coach Ty Tucker.
OSU IN THE NCAA TOURNEY
The Buckeyes are 2-2 all-time in the NCAA tournament. The 1999-2000 team defeated Boise State, 4-3, at Boise State in the first round and lost to Texas, 4-1, in the second round. The 2000-01 Buckeyes defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 4-3, at Tennessee in the first round and lost in the second round to Tennessee, 4-1.
METZ AND WURTZMAN SELECTED FOR SINGLES
Phil Metz and Jeremy Wurtzman both were selected to play in the 2002 NCAA Singles Championships. This year is the first time the Buckeyes have had two singles players in the NCAA singles tournament since four Buckeyes (Ivan Botica, Jim Flower, Francisco Gonzalez and Pedro Gonzalez) participated in the 1976 tournament. A total of 15 Buckeyes (nine different individuals) have qualified for the NCAA singles tournament in the history of the program.
2002 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
The Ohio State University played host to the 2002 Big Ten Men’s Tennis Tournament April 25-28 at the Stickney Tennis Center and Jesse Owens West Recreation Center. Ohio State entered the 2002 tournament as the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Buckeyes defeated Wisconsin, 4-3, in the quarterfinals April 26 but fell in the semifinals April 27 to Minnesota, 4-3. Minnesota lost to Illinois in the championship match April 28. A complete tournament bracket is posted at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
OSU IN THE BIG TEN TOURNEY
The Buckeyes won the 2001 Big Ten Championship. They defeated Illinois, 4-2, to gain the title in Wisconsin. OSU entered the 2001 tournament as the No. 2 seed after finishing 21-3 overall and 8-2 in the Big Ten.
FIRST UNDEFEATED HOME SEASON
The Buckeyes were undefeated at home during the 2001-02 regular-season, a first in program history. The victory over Purdue (4/14/02) was OSU’s 15th-consecutive home win, breaking the all-time record of 14-consecutive home wins set in the 1982-83 season.
BUCKEYE WINNING STREAK
OSU earned its 17th-consecutive victory this season against Northwestern (April 20), setting an all-time record. OSU beat the team record of 16-consecutive wins, achieved in 2000-01.
HIGHEST RANKING IN HISTORY
The Buckeyes reached No. 12 March 20 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings, this was highest ranking in the history of men’s tennis program. In 2000-01 the highest ranking OSU reached was No. 16.
SCOUTING REPORT: VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt, ranked No. 43 nationally, is 10-13 overall and 1-10 in the SEC. The Commodores lost to Florida, 0-4, in the first-round of the 2002 SEC Championships April 18. Vanderbilt’s Bobby Reynolds is 12-8 in duals and 27-12 overall at the No. 1 singles position. Chad Harris, ranked No. 99 nationally, is 14-7 in duals and 21-13 overall at the No. 2 spot. At the No. 1 doubles position, Reynolds and Lewis Smith are 7-5 overall and ranked 26th nationally.
BUCKEYES VS. COMMODORES
Ohio State is 2-5-1 against Vanderbilt in the all-time series. The Buckeyes defeated the Commodores, 5-2, Feb 8 in Columbus.
SCOUTING REPORT: NO. 7 SEED KENTUCKY
The Wildcats are 20-9 overall this season and ranked No. 9 nationally. Kentucky defeated Mississippi, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Championships April 19. UK suffered a loss to Auburn, 4-1, in the semifinal round April 20. The Wildcats’ Jesse Witten, ranked No. 6 nationally, finished his season 30-11 overall. Freshman Karim Benmansour is ranked 61st nationally with a 19-14 overall record. UK’s doubles team of Benmansour and Evan Austin are ranked 49th nationally and have an overall record of 15-14.
BUCKEYES VS. WILDCATS
The Buckeyes are 4-12 against the Wildcats in the all-time series. Last season, Ohio State defeated Kentucky, 4-3, Feb 14 in Columbus.
SCOUTING REPORT: MURRAY STATE
The Murray State Racers are 19-7 overall this season. MSU’s Nikola Aracic is 20-5 overall this season at the No. 1 position. At the No. 2 spot, Freddy Sundsten is 19-6 overall. The doubles team of Aracic and Sundsten are 20-4 overall at the No. 1 doubles team position.
BUCKEYES VS. RACERS
Ohio State is 12-1 against Murray State in the all-time series. The Buckeyes defeated the Racers, 7-0, Jan 25 in Columbus.
BUCKEYES IN BIG TEN PLAY
The Buckeyes finished second in the Big Ten Conference regular-season, 9-1 Big Ten. Ohio State kicked off the Big Ten season with a victory against Wisconsin, 6-1. OSU’s losses were against Illinois April 21 in Champaign, Ill and Minnesota April 27 at the Big Ten Tournament. Ty Tucker, OSU head coach, has lead the Buckeyes to a 28-9 record in the Big Ten in his three years at the helm. Tucker also led the team to the Big Ten tournament championship in 2001. OSU’s all-time record against opponents in the Big Ten is 265-351-2.
NG REACHED MILESTONE
Vince Ng (Jr., Broadview Heights, Ohio/University School) reached his 39th victory this year April 26, surpassing his 2000-01 record of 33-11. Ng defeated Wisconsin’s Scott Green (6-0, 6-1) at the Big Ten Championships to reach 39 wins and his 22 victory in duals this season. Ng is 39-8 overall and 10-2 in the Big Ten. Ng is 22-3 in duals this season.
METZ RANKED NO. 34
Phil Metz (Jr., Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) will make his second-consecutive appearance to the NCAA singles tournament. Metz is the first Buckeye to play in back-to-back NCAA singles tournament since Ty Tucker did in 1990-91. Metz (21-8 overall, 9-3 Big Ten) is currently ranked No. 34. He is 9-4 against nationally-ranked opponents with defeats over then No. 16 Mario Toledo and No. 17 Romain Ambert.
SOPHOMORE SENSATION
Jeremy Wurtzman (So., Rochester, N.Y./Brickhouse Academy (Fla.), OSU’s top rated player at No. 27, was selected to make his first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Wurtzman is 32-13 overall and 19-6 in duals. Wurtzman defeated his toughest opponent Minnesota’s No. 3 Harsh Mankad (6-4, 6-1) on April 27 at the Big Ten Championships. This season, Wurtzman is 11-10 against nationally-ranked opponents.
DOUBLES TEAM RANKED NO. 57
For the first time this season, the doubles team of Adrian Bohane (So., West Palm Beach, Fla./Palm Beach Lakes) and Paul Warkentin (Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) are ranked at No. 57 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings. Bohane and Warkentin are 13-10 overall this season. The duo recently defeated Illinois’ No. 4 doubles team of Amer Delic and Michael Calkins, 8-4, in Champaign, Ill.
METZ AND NG MOVING UP IN WINS
Ng moved into the top career singles wins chart this season. Ng currently has 90 career wins, last season he ended with 38 wins. Metz currently has 85 career wins in singles. Last season, Metz ended with 64 wins.
CAREER SINGLES WINS 1. Roger Smith 1983-86 126 2. Mike Massie 1983-86 113 3. Ernie Fernandez 1979-82 109 4. Chris Porter 1997-01 106 5. Kevin Dibelius 1987-90 91 6. Vince Ng 1999-02 90 7. Chris Gatt 1986-89 89 8. Doug Bloom 1993-96 87 9. Phil Metz 2000-02 85 10. Stephen Miguel 1987-90 84 11. Richard Berry 1984-87 82 12. Sam Sebastin 1991-93 78 13. Gabor Koves 1990-93 77 14. Lior Rusinek 1980-83 76 15. Mark Wurtzman 1994-97 68 16. Jason Homorody 1993-96 67 17. Andrew Carlson 1996-01 66 18. Ben Basil 1996-99 65 Ted Glavas 1986-89 65 Jeff Sparr 1982-85 65 21. Ty Tucker 1989-91 64 Scott Weisman 1985-88 64
NG AND WURTZMAN CLIMBING CHARTS
Ng moved up in the season singles wins chart. He is tied at second with 39 wins, last season Ng moved to sixth with 33 wins. Wurtzman was recently added in the season singles wins list and is tied at seventh with 32 wins. Last season, Wurtzman won 24 as a freshman at Florida.
TUCKER ENTERS THIRD YEAR
Ty Tucker is in his third season as the head coach of the Buckeye tennis program and is coming off a campaign in which the Buckeyes made their second-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, captured the championship of the Big Ten tournament and saw Tucker tabbed as the conference coach of the year. Tucker served as an assistant under John Daly for two years (1997-99) in which the Buckeyes went without a win in conference play. Since taking the reigns at OSU, Tucker’s squads have gone 60-19 overall with a 28-9 mark in the Big Ten.
COACH ACHIEVED MILESTONE
The victory over Penn State March 17 marked the 50th career victory for OSU head coach Ty Tucker. Tucker’s career record is currently 60-19 in his third season.
NEXT TIME OUT
The NCAA Championships will be May 18-27 in College Station, Texas.
