Ohio State
Michigan
No. 4 Buckeyes Blank No. 23 Michigan 4-0 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 27, 2016
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Outside under beautiful sunny skies at the Ohio State Varsity Tennis Courts, the No. 4 ranked Buckeyes blanked rival Michigan 4-0 Sunday afternoon.
The win improves the Buckeyes to 18-2 on the year and 3-0 in the Big Ten. The loss was just the fourth of the year for Michigan and the first in Big Ten play.
“Any time you beat Michigan is a good thing,” said Director of Tennis Ty Tucker. “We were outside today which may have been a little bit of an advantage because Michigan is a very good team that has been stuck inside a little more than we have been in the last couple of weeks. It gets a little crazy at the end of March around here. I expect to see them again at the Big Ten Tournament playing well because there is a lot of tennis left to be played. But this was a good win today.”
The Buckeyes have been trying to sure-up their doubles lineup in the past few weeks and another shake up on Sunday seemed to work. Playing together for the first time this season, Ralf Steinbach and Matt Mendez raced to a 6-1 victory on court three over Myles Schalet and Gabe Tishman. The other two matches were a bit closer.
Chris Diaz and Hugo Di Feo were trailing 5-3 on court two before rallying to win the next three games. That proved pivotal as that took some of the pressure off Mikael Torpegaard and Martin Joyce on court one. They were able to take a 6-4 victory over the No. 39 ranked team of Alex Knight and Runhao Hua to clinch the point.
“We got off to a good start at three doubles which was good to see,” said Tucker. “Diaz and Di Feo got themselves into a little bit of a pickle at two but they found a way out. That doubles point could have been very close had those guys not been able to fight back. That kept the pressure off court one which was big because Michigan’s No. 1s are very good.”
Sunday was another day at the office for Torpegaard in singles as he didn’t give Knight much to work with in a 6-3, 6-1 victory. The No. 2 ranked player in the country improves to 21-2 on the season and has not dropped a set in the last seven singles matches.
Joyce has been equally as hot in singles as he picked up another win with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Schalet on court six. Steinbach then provided the final point as he won 6-4, 6-3 over Davis Crocker on five.
The Buckeyes won all six first sets in singles play. Herkko Pollanen was well on his way to a win on court four as he was leading 7-5, 5-1. Di Feo was also up 6-3, 4-2 on court three and Diaz won a thrilling first set 7-5 over Carter Lin and was only in the second game of set two when the match was finished.
Ohio State remains at home next weekend, hosting Iowa on Friday, April 1 at 6 p.m. and then Nebraska on Sunday, April 3 at Noon.
#4 Ohio State 4, #23 Michigan 0
Singles competition
1. #2 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) def. #107 Alex Knight (UM) 6-3, 6-1
2. #65 Chris Diaz (OSU) vs. Carter Lin (UM) 7-5, 0-1, unfinished
3. #26 Hugo Di Feo (OSU) vs. Runhao Hua (UM) 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
4. #70 Herkko Pollanen (OSU) vs. Kevin Wong (UM) 7-5, 5-1, unfinished
5. Ralf Steinbach (OSU) def. Davis Crocker (UM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Martin Joyce (OSU) def. Myles Schalet (UM) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Mikael Torpegaard/Martin Joyce (OSU) def. #39 Alex Knight/Runhao Hua (UM) 6-4
2. Chris Diaz/Hugo Di Feo (OSU) vs. Jathan Malik/Kevin Wong (UM) 6-5, unfinished
3. Ralf Steinbach/Matt Mendez (OSU) def. Myles Schalet/Gabe Tishman (UM) 6-1
Match Notes:
Michigan 13-3 (2-0); National ranking #23
Ohio State 17-2 (2-0); National ranking #4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,6,5)
Official: Marcus Lee T-2:00 A-165
