Ohio State
ITA Midwest Regional Championships
ITA Midwest Regional Championship Presented by Oracle
10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 24, 2016
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Herkko Pollanen’s run at the ITA Midwest Regional Championship came to an end in the semifinals on Monday as he fell in a hard-fought three-set match to No. 2-seed Strong Kirchheimer of Northwestern.
Pollanen, the defending champion in the event, dropped the opening set 6-3 after Kirchheimer broke leading 4-3. But he got right back in the match by taking the first three games of the second set and would eventually win the set 6-3.
In the third, both players held serve through the first seven games before Kirchheimer took the upper hand with a break at 5-3. He then held serve to win the match and advance into the finals where he eventually won 6-3, 6-0 over Michigan’s Kevin Wong.
Pollanen finishes his fall with an 8-2 singles record.
Singles Draw
October 21, 2016
64 Hunter Tubert (Ohio State) def. Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) 6-1, 1-6, 6-1
64 Martin Joyce (Ohio State) def. Matej Svjetlicic (Western Michigan) 6-1, 6-1
64 Kyle Seelig (Ohio State) def. Brenden Volk (Northwestern) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
64 Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State) def. Daniel Rayl (Notre Dame) 6-2, 6-3
64 Alex Kobelt (Ohio State) def. Chase Colton (Wisconsin) 7-5, 6-1
64 Matt Mendez (Ohio State) def. Chris Ephron (Northwestern) 6-2, 6-3
64 Riley Reist (Ohio State) def. Grayson Broadus (Notre Dame) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
October 22, 2016
32 Myles Schalet (Michigan) def. Hunter Tubert (Ohio State) 6-4, 6-4
32 Charlie Emhardt (Valparaiso) def. Martin Joyce (Ohio State) 6-0, 6-4
32 Kyle Seelig (Ohio State) def. Guillermo Cabrera (Notre Dame) 5-7, 7-6, 6-4
32 Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State) def. Georg Lundkvist (Northern Illinois) 6-3, 6-1
32 Julian Childers (Illinois) def. Alex Kobelt (Ohio State) 6-4, 6-4
32 Josef Dodridge (Wisconsin) def. Matt Mendez (Ohio State) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
32 Runhao Hua (Michigan) def. Riley Reist (Ohio State) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4
16 Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State) def. Dave Bacalla (Valparaiso) 6-4, 6-4
16 Michael Lorenzini (Northwestern) def. Kyle Seelig (Ohio State) 6-2, 7-5
October 23, 2016
QF Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State) def. Julian Childers (Illinois) 3-0, retired
October 24, 2016
SF Strong Kirchheimer (Northwestern) def. Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Doubles Draw
October 21, 2016
64 Joao Garreto/Yossi Dahan (Youngstown State) def. Matt Mendez/Hugo Di Feo (Ohio State) 8-4
64 Kyle Seelig/Alex Kobelt (Ohio State) def. Omar Espinosa/Serjen Olmedo (Toledo) 8-2
64 Herkko Pollanen/Riley Reist def. Miles McDowell/Matel Kostadinov (Wisconsin-Green Bay) 8-5
October 22, 2016
32 Herkko Pollanen/Riley Reist (Ohio State) def. Patryk Koscielski/Nathan Ponton (Detroit Mercy) 8-3
32 Martin Joyce/Hunter Tubert (Ohio State) def. Daniel Soyfer/Osgar O’Hoisin (Wisconsin) 8-4
32 Charlie Emhardt/Jeffrey Schorsch (Valparaiso) def. Kyle Seelig/Alex Kobelt (Ohio State) 8-4
16 Conrad Zeiba/Dominik Starý (Northwestern) def. Herkko Pollanen/Riley Reist (Ohio State) 8-5
16 Alex Lebedev/Matt Gamble (Notre Dame) def. Hunter Tubert/Martin Joyce (Ohio State) 8-6
October 23, 2016
Defending ITA Midwest Regional singles champion Herkko Pollanen has advanced to the semifinals of this year’s event at the Ohio State Varsity Tennis Center.
Pollanen won a pair of matches on Saturday, first downing Northern Illinois’ Georg Lundkvist 6-3, 6-1 in the round of the 32. He then beat Dave Bacalla of Valparaiso 6-4, 6-4 to move into Sunday’s quarterfinals. He will play Big Ten foe Julian Childers of Illinois.
On Sunday, he took the first three games from Illinois’ Julian Childers in the quarterfinals before Childers had to retire with a back injury. Pollanen will face Northwestern’s Stronf Kirchheimer in the semifinals beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday morning.
Pollanen is trying to be the Buckeyes’ third back-to-back Midwest regional champion. Blaz Rola won the title in 2010 and 2011 and Peter Kobelt won back-to-back crowns in 2012 and 2013. He is also looking to make it seven-straight years with a Buckeye singles champion in the event.
Redshirt-freshman Kyle Seelig also won his round of 32 match on Saturday morning over Guillermo Cabrera of Notre Dame for his third three-set win but his run ended against Northwestern’s Michael Lorenzini in the afternoon.
The other five Buckeyes that won their opening round singles matches on Friday fell in the round of 32 on Saturday.
In doubles action, Pollanen and Riley Reist rolled to an 8-3 victory over Patryk Kosielski and Nathan Ponton of Detroit Mercy in the round of 32 but dropped an 8-5 decision to Conrad Zeiba and Dominik Starý of Northwestern in the nightcap.
Martin Joyce and Hunter Tubert also won their first match on Saturday but like their teammates, they fell in the second match to Notre Dame’s top pair of Alex Lebedev and Matt Gamble. Seelig and Alex Kobelt dropped their opening match on Saturday to Charlie Emhardt and Jeffrey Schorsch of Valparaiso of 8-4.
October 21, 2016
The Buckeyes were a perfect 7-0 in singles matches on Friday in the second day of the ITA Midwest Regional Championship at the Varsity Tennis Center. In doubles, a pair of teams advanced to Saturday’s second round.
Martin Joyce started the day with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win over Matej Svjetlicic of Western Michigan. Hunter Tubert and Kyle Seelig were also in the first wave of matches and needed three sets to advance. Tubert took down Illinois’ Aleks Kovacevic by the conventional score of 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 while Seelig moved on with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Brenden Volk of Northwestern for his first collegiate win.
Defending singles champion Herkko Pollanen started his defense with a solid 6-2, 6-3 win over Daniel Rayl of Notre Dame. Matt Mendez then defeated Northwestern’s Chris Ephron by the same score to advance to the second round.
In his first collegiate match, redshirt-freshman Alex Kobelt played well and took down Chase Colton of Wisconsin 7-5, 6-1. The final singles match of the day went to redshirt-junior Riley Reist. He dropped the first set 6-2 to Notre Dame’s Grayson Broadus but rebounded to win the next two sets by a score of 6-3.
Second round singles matches will start at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday morning with the third round following at 1 p.m.
In doubles, the Buckeyes dropped their first match of the day as Mendez and Hugo Di Feo fell to the Youngstown State pair of Joao Garreto and Yossi Dahan 8-4. Kobelt and Seelig then kept their first day of collegiate tennis rolling along as they knocked-off the Toledo duo of Omar Espinosa and Serjen Olmedo 8-2.
Reist and Pollanen finally capped the long day with an 8-5 victory over Miles McDowell and Matel Kostadinov (Wisconsin-Green Bay). The second and third round of doubles will be played tomorrow evening at the VTC.
October 20, 2016
Ohio State will host the ITA Midwest Regional Championship presented by Oracle this weekend, an event in which the Buckeyes have thrived in recent past.
The matches get underway on Thursday morning with singles qualifying and the championship matches will be played on Monday, Oct. 24. Two venues will be used for the first three days, the OSU Varsity Tennis Center and the Racquet Club of Columbus.
Live scoring and video for the entire weekend will be provided by FloTennis.
Since 2003, a Buckeye has won the singles title 10 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. In 2015, Mikael Torpegaard won the singles title as a freshman and then last year, Herkko Pollanen’s title marked the fourth-straight season with a Buckeye champion. Pollanen defeated teammate Chris Diaz in the final.
The winners of the singles and doubles titles will earn a trip to the USTA/ITA Singles and Doubles Championship next month in Flushing, N.Y. Torpegaard and Hugo Di Feo have already punched their tickets to New York by virtue of their performance at the season-opening ITA All-American Championship in Tulsa. Di Feo finished runner-up in the event while Torpegaard was a quarterfinalist. Both players will not be competing this weekend in singles action.
There are no Buckeyes in the singles qualifying which means they will not starting until the main draw on Friday afternoon. Pollanen, the defending champion, earned the No. 3-seed while Martin Joyce is the 6-seed, Kyle Seelig is the No. 10-seed and Matt Mendez is the No. 16-seed. Hunter Tubert, Riley Reist and Alex Kobelt are also competing in the singles draw.
In doubles, the Buckeyes have four teams competing. Joyce and Tubert are the No. 3-seed and received a bye in the opening round. Di Feo and Mendez are the No. 6-seed and Pollanen and Reist earned the No. 13-seed. Seelig and Kobelt make-up the fourth team.
Stay tuned to OhioStateBuckeyes.com for complete wrap-up and results at the end of each day.
