Ohio State
ITA Midwest Regional
Herkko Pollanen Wins ITA Midwest Regional Title – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 26, 2015
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The singles championship at the ITA Midwest Regional was all Scarlet and Gray as teammates Herkko Pollanen and Chris Diaz squared-off for the title. Pollanen was able to come away with a 6-3, 7-5 victory, marking the fourth-straight Buckeye to win the Midwest singles title.
This marked the third time since 2008 that Buckeye teammates met in the final singles match at the Midwest Regional Championship. Bryan Koniecko topped current OSU assistant coach Justin Kronauge in the 2008 final and Blaz Rola beat Matt Allare to win the title in 2010. In addition to Pollanen, Peter Kobelt won the crown in 2013 and 2014 and Mikael Torpegaard won last year as a freshman.
Pollanen’s win earns him a trip to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships next month in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. He will join teammates Hugo Di Feo and Mikael Torpegaard who each earned spots by virtue of their performances at the season-opening ITA All-American Championships two weeks ago.
Pollanen got an early break in the first set of the championship match and would go on to win the opening set 6-3. Like the first set, he took a 3-1 lead in the second but Diaz was able to get back on serve at 5-5. Pollanen held serve to take a 6-5 lead and then finished-out the championship with a 7-5 victory.
In the semifinal matches on Monday morning, Pollanen took down top-seeded Quentin Monaghan of host Notre Dame 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. The second set of that match was the only set Pollanen lost all weekend. Monaghan was ranked No. 5 in the fall rankings and that marked the highest ranked opponent Pollanen has beaten in his career.
Diaz advanced to the finals with a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Northwestern’s Strong Kirchheimer. He was down 5-3 in the first but came back to force a first-set tie-breaker. In the breaker, he jumped out to a 5-2 lead but let Kirchheimer back in it with four-straight points. Trailing 6-5, Diaz won the next three points to take the tie-breaker 8-6. The second set was played mostly on serve. Diaz held to take a 6-5 lead and then closed out the match with another break to win 7-5.
Earlier in the tournament, Diaz and Pollanen teamed together in the doubles draw. They won their opening round match before falling in the second round.
This was a productive weekend for the Buckeyes. In addition to an all Buckeye singles final, two Buckeye doubles teams — Ralf Steinbach and Martin Joyce and Matt Mendez and Hunter Tubert — each advanced to the semifinals of the doubles draw.
Oct. 22
Q1 Charles Shewalter def. Kevin Goth (Cleveland State) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
Q2 Charles Shewalter lost to Kevin Dunn (Valparaiso) 6-4, 6-3
Oct. 23
R64 Ralf Steinback def. Kenny Sabacinski (Notre Dame) 6-2, 6-1
R64 Chris Diaz def. Patryk Koscielski (Detroit-Mercy) 6-4, 6-2
R64 Hunter Tubert def. Runhao Hua (Michigan) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
R64 Herkko Pollanen def. Nicolas Montoya (Notre Dame) 6-1, 6-0
R64 Matt Mendez def. Ruben Greiner (Western Michigan) 6-3, 7-5
R64 Riley Reist lost to Josef Dodridge (Wisconsin) 6-1, 6-2
R64 Martin Joyce def. Davis Crocker (Michigan) 6-4, 6-4
R64 Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert def. Hugo Morth/Youssef Sherif (Youngstown State) 8-4
R64 Chris Diaz/Herkko Pollanen def. Brian Hickey/Michale Savaglio (Valparaiso) 8-1
R64 Riley Reist/Charles Shewalter lost to Daniel Fernandez/Alvaro Verdu (Marquette) 8-4
Oct. 24
R32 Ralf Steinbach def. Matej Svjetlicic (Western Michigan) 6-3, 5-7, 6-0
R16 Ralf Steinbach def. Fedor Baev (Northwestern) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
R32 Chris Diaz def. Sten Leusink (DePaul) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
R16 Chris Diaz def. Alp Horoz (Northwestern) 7-5, 6-2
R32 Herkko Pollanen def. Alex Galoustian (DePaul) 6-2, 6-3
R16 Herkko Pollanen def. Ben Van Dixhorn (Northwestern) 6-2, 6-1
R32 Martin Joyce def. Alex Lawson (Notre Dame) 6-3, 7-6
R16 Martin Joyce lost to No. 46 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) 6-3, 7-6
R32 Hunter Tubert lost to Maik Steiner (Western Michigan) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
R32 Matt Mendez lost to Leopold Gomez Islinger (UW-Green Bay) 6-1, 6-2
R32 Ralf Steinbach/Martin Joyce def. Mihir Kumar/Ben Van Dixhorn (Northwestern) 8-3
R16 Ralf Steinbach/Martin Joyce def. Josef Dodridge/Lamer Remy (Wisconsin) 8-7
R32 Chris Diaz/Herkko Pollanen lost to Gabe Tishman/Kevin Wong (Michigan) 8-4
R32 Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert def. Vince Anzalone/Luka Vitosevic (Toledo) 8-1
R16 Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert def. Kyle Johnson/Sten Leusink (DePaul) 8-3
Oct. 25
QF Ralf Steinbach lost to No. 5 Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
QF Herkko Pollanen def. Eddy Covalschi (Notre Dame) 7-6, 6-1
QF Chris Diaz def. Carter Lin (Michigan) 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
QF Ralf Steinbach/Martin Joyce def. Runhao Hua/Alex Knight (Michigan) 8-6
SF Ralf Steinbach/Martin Joyce lost to No. 55 Charlie Emhardt/Jeffrey Schorsch (Valparaiso) 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 (6)
QF Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert def. Matt Hamilton/Maik Steiner (Western Michigan) 8-5
SF Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert lost to No. 28 Alex Lawson/Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame) 6-3, 6-2
Oct. 26
SF Herkko Pollanen def. No. 5 Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
SF Chris Diaz def. No. 120 Strong Kirchheimer (Northwestern) 7-6 (6), 7-5
FI Herkko Pollanen def. Chris Diaz 6-3, 7-5
