10/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 21, 2015
RELATED INFO
- Midwest Regional Website
- 2015-16 Season Stats
- 2015-16 Schedule
- Follow the Buckeyes on Facebook and Twitter
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s tennis team had a great start to the year in Tulsa and will look to stay hot this weekend as it heads to the ITA Midwest Regional Championships in South Bend, Ind.
Redshirt-freshman Charles Shewalter will start the weekend for the Buckeyes as he is the 10th seed in the qualifying singles draw. He faces Cleveland State’s Kevin Goth in the opening round which begins on Thursday morning. Eight qualifiers will advance to the main draw which is slated to begin on Friday morning.
By virtue of their performances at the ITA All-American Championships two weeks ago, sophomores Mikael Torpegaard and Hugo Di Feo have already qualified for the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. next month. They will not be in action this weekend meaning a new singles champion will be crowned. Torpegaard made a name for himself last fall as he rolled to the ITA Midwest singles title as a freshman. Di Feo advanced to the quarterfinals at the All-American Championships to punch his ticket to New York while Torpegaard won the consolation bracket to earn his spot. The winner of both the singles and doubles draws this weekend will also receive an invitation to New York.
In doubles action at the All-American Championships, junior Ralf Steinbach and freshman Martin Joyce advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 upset of top-ranked Austin Smith and Ben Wagland of Georgia. Torpegaard and junior Herkko Pollanen went 4-1 as they made their way through the qualifying draw and also earned a spot in the quarterfinals of the main draw.
The Buckeyes have had tremendous success at the Midwest Regional. Since 2003, a Buckeye has won the singles title nine times and a Buckeye doubles team has taken home the crown four times. Peter Kobelt won the singles title in both 2013 and 2014 and also teamed with Kevin Metka to win the doubles title in 2014. Last year, Torpegaard’s singles victory marked the third-straight season with a Buckeye champion.
Matches will be played at two sites this weekend — the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Notre Dame’s campus and the Lakeland Athletic Club in Niles, Mich. Live scoring will only available for those matches that take place at the Eck Tennis Pavilion, and a livestream of Monday’s championship matches will be available on WatchND.tv. The draws will be updated on the Tournament Central Page as results from the Eck and Lakeland come in. Consolation matches will be played outdoors at the Courtney Tennis Center located next to the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
