Ohio State
Texas A&M
Comeback Falls Short As Buckeyes Fall To Texas A&M – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 14, 2015
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DALLAS, Texas — Ohio State always seems to always find itself in great matches come May at the NCAA Tournament and Thursday night was no exception. Falling behind 3-1, the Buckeyes battled back to even the match with No. 5 Texas A&M 3-3 but the comeback fell just short. The Aggies would end OSU’s season with a 4-3 victory.
The Buckeyes, who won a share of the B1G regular season title for the 10th-straight year, also advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the 10th-straight season. Ohio State ends the year with a 27-9 record.
With the threat of inclement weather in Waco on Thursday night, the match was forced indoors. With one indoor facility in Waco, the two teams were forced to drive an hour and a half north to Dallas, Texas to play the match inside the SMU Tennis Facility.
The doubles point set the tone for the evening as the three matches were as close as they could get. Mikael Torpegaard and Herkko Pollanen went up a break 5-4 and then broke the Aggie duo of Arthur Rinderknech and AJ Catanzariti a second time to win their match 8-5. The same scenario played out in reverse on court one as Kevin Metka and Ralf Steinbach fell 8-5 to the No. 10-ranked team of Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant.
The point came down to Hunter Callahan and Chris Diaz on court two. The match was played on serve through the first 10 games before the Buckeyes went up a break at 6-5. TAMU’s Jeremy Efferding and Jordan Szabo answered right back with a break of their own to even the match and after each side held serve one more time, the match headed to a tie-break.
In the tie-breaker, the first eight points were split 4-4 before the Aggie duo won two-straight points to go up 6-4. Diaz held off one match point but Efferding served out the final point to give the Aggies a 7-5 win and the crucial doubles point.
Vinsant put the Aggies up 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Diaz on court two. The loss for Diaz was his first since March 17 and snapped an 11-match win-streak. Steinbach got the Buckeyes on the board shortly after as he won the first set in a tie-breaker and then took a 5-3 lead in the second. He lost the next two games and the match would go to another tie-breaker. He won this time 7-5 for his team-high 29th singles victory of the season.
Torpegaard dropped the first set to Efferding 7-5 and then battled in the second before falling 6-4. That pushed the Aggie lead to 3-1. But as that was happening, Metka and Pollanen, who each lost the first set in their matches, won second-set tie-breaks to give the Buckeyes some momentum.
Metka, in what turned out to be his final singles match as a Buckeye, raced out to a 4-1 lead on Catanzariti in the third and would finish off him 6-2 to cut the A&M lead to 3-2. Callahan also capped his career with a three-set victory as he broke Harrison Adams in the eighth game and then served out the match 6-4.
That left the match in the hands of Pollanen and Rinderknech on court three. Pollanen fell behind 2-0 and showed a lot of heart to get back in the set. He broke Rinderknech to even the set at 4-4 but then lost his very next serve to again fall behind 5-4. Rinderknech then served out the match 6-4.
The Buckeyes time in Waco isn’t over however as the singles and doubles championships will begin next Wednesday and Thursday. Diaz and Torpegaard are in the singles draw which starts on Wednesday while Metka and Steinbach, who are the No. 7-seed, begin the doubles championships on Thursday.
#5 Texas A&M 4, #11 Ohio State 3
Singles competition
1. #47 Jeremy Efferding (TAMU) def. #55 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) 7-5, 6-4
2. #80 Shane Vinsant (TAMU) def. #50 Chris Diaz (OSU) 6-4, 6-2
3. #84 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4
4. Hunter Callahan (OSU) def. #78 Harrison Adams (TAMU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
5. Kevin Metka (OSU) def. #92 AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
6. #104 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) def. Jordi Arconada (TAMU) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
1. #10 Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (TAMU) def. #7 Kevin Metka/Ralf Steinbach (OSU) 8-5
2. #56 Jeremy Efferding/Jordan Szabo (TAMU) def. #88 Hunter Callahan/Chris Diaz (OSU) 8-7 (7-5)
3. Mikael Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen (OSU) def. Arthur Rinderknech/AJ Catanzariti (TAMU) 8-5
Match Notes:
Ohio State 27-9; National ranking #11
Texas A&M 24-4; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,6,1,5,4,3)
NCAA Round of 16
