Ohio State
Virginia
Ohio State Finishes Runner-up at ITA Indoors
2/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 20, 2017
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Ohio State men’s tennis team overcame a spot of adversity, battled back after losing the doubles point but ultimately came up short 4-1 to No. 1 Virginia in the finals of the ITA National Indoor Team Championship on Monday in Charlottesville.
The loss was the first of the season for the Buckeyes (13-1) who advanced to the finals of the championship for the fifth time since 2007.
The doubles point ended with a bit of controversy. It started with the UVA team of Luca Corinteli and Carl Soderlund downing Mikael Torpegaard and Herkko Pollanen 6-0 on court one. The other two matches came down to the wire.
On court two, the Buckeye pair of Martin Joyce and Hugo Di Feo went up a break at 5-4 and were serving for the match when Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Alexander Ritschard broke back to even the score at 5-5. The Buckeyes again broke to go up 6-5 and were serving when the match on court three came to a disputed end.
Matt Mendez and Hunter Tubert traded holds with Collin Altamirano and J.C. Aragone all the way up until 6-5. With the Buckeyes serving, they fell behind 0-30 and then ultimately 15-40. But just like in the semifinal match, Mendez and Tubert battled back and looked to have saved all three match points. But the chair umpire ruled in favor of the Cavaliers after a fan yelled out midpoint on the no-ad point, giving the match (7-5) and the doubles point to Virginia.
That lit a fire under the Buckeyes who came out driven in the singles matches. Torpegaard and Di Feo won their opening sets 6-3 and Pollanen followed with a 6-4 win in the first. Freshman JJ Wolf dropped the opening set 6-3 to Soderlund but came back to win the second set in a tie-breaker. He then went up a couple of breaks in the third and was leading 5-3 when the match was clinched.
Virginia took a 2-0 lead when Henrik Wiersholm defeated Kyle Seelig on court six 7-6 (7-2) and 6-2.
Torpegaard put the only Buckeye point on the board as he followed his first set win with a 7-3 win in a second-set tie-breaker over Collin Altamirano. Torpeggard had a tremendous weekend, winning all four of his singles matches and picked up three wins over ranked opponents including Sunday’s epic three-set match-clinching win over No. 1 Petros Chyrsochos.
Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski came back from dropping the first set to Di Feo to win the second set in a tie-break and take the third set 6-2. With Virginia leaded 3-1, the Buckeyes needed the final three matches and nearly got them.
In addition to Wolf looking like he was on the verge of winning, Joyce rebounded from losing the first set to Ritschard to win the second 7-5 and had momentum in the third leading 6-5 and up 30-15 in Ritschard’s service game.
But before those two matches were able to finish, Pollanen and Aragone went down to the wire in a third-set tie-break. The Cavalier was able to pull away with a 7-4 win in the breaker to seal the victory for the hosts.
It was a great run for the Buckeyes who rolled to 4-0 sweeps of No.14 Oklahoma and No. 12 Oklahoma State in the first two rounds and then downed No. 2 Wake Forest 4-3 in one of the better collegiate tennis matches in recent history on Sunday afternoon.
There isn’t any rest for the Buckeyes as they will head to No. 6 Florida this Sunday, Feb. 26 before returning home to host Notre Dame on March 3 and No. 14 Oklahoma on March 5. The match at Florida will likely be the Buckeyes’ first match outdoors this season.
#1 Virginia 4, #3 Ohio State 1
Singles
1. #2 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) def. Collin Altamirano (VA) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
2. #28 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. #8 Hugo Di Feo (OSU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
3. Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. JJ Wolf (OSU) 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 3-5, unfinished
4. #64 J.C. Aragone (VA) def. #47 Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
5. Alexander Ritschard (VA) vs. #77 Martin Joyce (OSU) 6-3, 5-7, 5-6, unfinished
6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) def. Kyle Seelig (OSU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
Doubles
1. #55 Luca Corinteli/Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #38 Mikael Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 6-0
2. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Alexander Ritschard (VA) vs. #25 Martin Joyce/Hugo Di Feo (OSU) 5-6, unfinished
3. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert (OSU) 7-5
Match Notes:
Ohio State 13-1; National ranking #3
Virginia 9-0; National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,1,2,4)
2017 ITA National Team Indoor Championship Final
T-2:56
