Tucker’s recipe for success has traditionally been to have a balanced mixture of the top talent from the state of Ohio and the northeastern U.S. along with a few high-end Europeans. Some of Ohio State’s better players over the last decade weren’t the sure thing TRN Blue Chips but rather the 4 and 5 stars that Tucker was able to develop into excellent players (Kobelt, McCarthy, Callahan, Metka). The reason they were able to develop is due to Tucker’s practice of getting many of his guys to take a redshirt season which allows them to adapt to college life as well hone their game at a slower pace. 8 of the 12 guys on the current roster have already taken a redshirt season or will be taking one before their eligibility runs out. If you go back to 2007, 21 of 37 guys that played for the Buckeyes will have taken a redshirt season.
Another Ty Tucker trademark is his emphasis on doubles – I can’t think of another program that is as strong in doubles as Ohio State is year in and year out. In Ohio State’s last 299 matches they have won the doubles point an astounding 254 times (85%). As a point of reference, the 64 teams that qualified for the NCAAs last year won the doubles point on average 65% of the time. If you’ve ever shown up to an Ohio State match and watched them practice doubles you won’t see a dry shirt anywhere. They really get after it in practice as well as in the match itself. Many will say that doubles isn’t that important because it’s only worth 1 point but when you’re playing a team of equal if not greater talent having to win only 3 singles matches instead of 4 is HUGE.
Tucker’s teams have always had a lot of success indoors since that’s where they practice and play most of their matches but there have been a few occasions where they’ve ran into trouble when playing outdoors in windy conditions. It’s tougher for the teams in the Northeast and Midwest to be as accustomed to playing outdoors in the elements when the colder temperatures keep them indoors into late March/early April.
Despite winning a slew of Big 10 Championships and a National Team Indoor Championship the one thing that has alluded this great program has been the coveted NCAA Team Championship. Ohio State has never been the #1 seed in the NCAAs but they’ve been a #2 seed twice (2007/2008), a #3 seed twice (2009/2014, a #4 seed twice (2010/2011), and a #5 seed twice (2012/2013). The Buckeyes have made it the final 16 site 12 times but have only made it past the quarterfinals on 3 occasions (2009, 2011, 2013).
The 2009 team was Ty’s only team make the finals but they ran into a USC team that unbeknownst at the time was getting ready to go on a run and win 4 straight National Titles. The 2009 team was full of guys that excelled in college (Koniecko, Moneke, Kronauge, Allare, Novak, Buchanan) but aside from Chase Buchanan they never made much noise on the pro tour.
I thought about doing my piece on the 2009 team (and may at a later date) because of the fact that members of that team occupy 6 of the top 7 spots on Ohio State’s all-time wins list. However after looking over the rosters I knew the 2012 team was the one I wanted to focus on because of how much success those guys have had on the pro tour. The starters on the 2011-12 team have won a total of 23 pro singles titles (21 Futures/2 Challengers) and 44 pro doubles titles (34 Futures/10 Challengers).
#6 – Chase Buchanan
#46 – Blaz Rola
#272 – Hunter Callahan
#451 – Wyatt Lippert
#907 – Connor Smith
#912 – Steven Williams
#1537 – Peter Kobelt
TennisRecruiting.Net Rating & Highest Class Ranking:
Blue Chip #1 – Chase Buchanan
Blue Chip #6 – Hunter Callahan
Blue Chip #6 – Nelson Vick
Blue Chip #9 – Connor Smith
Blue Chip #17 – Chris Diaz
5-star #31 – Wyatt Lippert
5-star #33 – Steven Williams
5-star #53 – Peter Kobelt
4-star #53 – Devin McCarthy
4-star #73 – Kevin Metka
The 2011-12 team was anchored by senior Chase Buchanan, who was the lone holdover from the 2009 national runner-up team, though he had a strong supporting class composed of sophomore Blaz Rola, redshirt sophomore Peter Kobelt, sophomore Ille Van Engelen, redshirt junior Devin McCarthy, and junior Connor Smith (Florida State transfer). Redshirt freshman Hunter Callahan and redshirt sophomore Nelson Vick also contributed in back-up roles though Callahan unexpectedly would find himself playing at #5 singles in the NCAA quarterfinals (we’ll get to that in a bit).
The defending B1G Champs would open up the season by crushing its first 10 opponents by a combined score of 54-4 but they’d run into a stiff test in the quarterfinals of the National Team Indoors against a 10-0 Kentucky team that had outscored its opponents 53-7. Ohio State would jump out to the early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles points for the 11th time in 11 tries but Kentucky wouldn’t go away in singles. The Wildcats were in control up top at 1, 2, and 3 while Ohio State looked good at 5 and 6. With 11 of the 12 guys having singles rankings you figured there’d be a lot of 3-setters yet all but 1 match finished in straight sets. Kentucky got straight set wins from Eric Quigley, Alex Musialek, and Anthony Rossi at 1, 2, and 3 while Devin McCarthy and Connor Smith won in straights at 5 and 6 for Ohio State. It all came down to a third set at #4 between Ille Van Engelen and Tom Jomby. Van Engelen jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the final set but Jomby held, broke, and held to knot it at 4-4. The final point of the match came with Jomby serving at 5-6, 15-30. Van Engelen hit what he thought was a winner but Jomby called it out. Van Engelen appealed to the chair and the call was overruled which made it 15-40 but since it was Jomby’s third overrule he got a point penalty which meant that was all she wrote.
Order of Finish: Doubles – 1,2 ;Singles – 5,1,3,6,2,4
Ohio State would meet the 4-time defending NTI Champion Virginia Cavaliers in the semifinals and with the tournament being played in Charlottesville they knew they’d be facing a large pro-Virginia crowd. Ohio State didn’t let the noise bother them and made it 12 doubles points in a row when Peter Kobelt and Connor Smith pulled out the tiebreak at #3 doubles in the decider. Ohio State had to feel good getting the doubles point because with Virginia having won 94 in a row at home the Buckeyes knew they’d need to pull out all the stops to snap the streak. All 6 singles matches were tight with 7-5 and 7-6 set scorelines the norm not the exception. Devin McCarthy would extend the Ohio State lead to 2-0 with a 7-6, 6-0 win over Justin Shane at #5 but Virginia’s Drew Courtney would answer with a 7-6, 7-5 squeaker over Ille Van Engelen at #4. The unranked Peter Kobelt would make it 3-1 Buckcyes when he stunned the ITA #1 Mitchell Frank 7-5, 7-6. It was Frank’s first collegiate loss after starting 16-0. Each of the 3 remaining matches were into a 3rd set and while Virginia’s Jarmere Jenkins and Julen Uriguen would go up breaks at #1 and #6 it would be Ohio State’s Blaz Rola that would go up the late break at #2. Rola broke the Alex Domijan serve in the eighth game of the set to go up 5-3 and then the 6′ 4″ sophomore from Slovenia would serve it out to put Ohio State back in to the final of the National Indoors for the third time in school history (2007/2008).
Order of Finish: Doubles – 2,1,3; Singles – 5,4,3,2
It would all come down to a third set at #5 singles between Devin McCarthy and USC freshman Yannick Hanfmann with each having won a 6-3 set (McCarthy the 1st and Hanfmann the 2nd). After 4 straight service holds to start the third, Hanfmann would break to go up 3-2 and would then quickly consolidate for 4-2. McCarthy would come back from 0-30 down to hold for 3-4 but Hanfmann held easily from 40-15 to go up 5-3. McCarthy held from 40-30 to pull within 4-5 but Hanfmann held easily at love to seal USC’s first NTI Championship since 1988.
Ohio State would finish as NTI runner-ups for the 3rd time in 5 years but at least they could say they were 1 of only 2 teams to take at least 3 points off the eventual NCAA Champs (UCLA was the other after stunning SC 4-3 in the final match of the regular season).
After the heartbreaking loss to USC the Buckeyes would respond and win 7 straight by a combined score of 38-5 (including a 4-0 rout of #7 Kentucky) but a trip to Athens to face #4 Georgia would be up next.
On a warm and humid day in Athens, Ohio State would take the doubles point for the 20th time in 21 tries with wins at #1 and #3 but Georgia would snag 4 first sets in singles with only Rola and McCarthy able to take the opening sets at #1 and #5. Rola would make it 2-0 with a quick win at #1 over Wil Spencer but Georgia would even it at 2-2 with wins from KU Singh and Ignacio Taboada at #2 and #4. Devin McCarthy would put Ohio State ahead 3-2 with a win over Hernus Pieters at #5 and things were looking good at #6 with Connor Smith leading Nathan Pasha 4-2 in the 3rd.
Pasha was cramping earlier in the set but after taking a medical timeout he regained his footing and would break Smith from 30-40 to even it at 4-4 and would then break again from ad-out to close out a 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 win. The match now came down to a 3rd set at #3 between Peter Kobelt and Sadio Doumbia. Kobelt had 3-1 leads in both the 1st and 2nd sets but was only able to take the 2nd set and that came in a tiebreak. Unfortunately for Kobelt he didn’t have much left in tank for the 3rd set and went down pretty quickly 6-1.
The loss snapped a 3-match winning streak against Georgia.
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,4,5,6,3)
Ohio State proceeded to go undefeated in Big 10 regular season play for the 7th consecutive year and it almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that they’d also win their 7th consecutive Big 10 Tournament Championship with the tourney being held in Evanston, Illinois. During the regular season Ohio State outscored Big 10 opponents by a combined score of 64-6 with its closest match being a 5-2 win over Northwestern.
Ohio State would crush Nebraska 4-0 in the Big 10 quarters but they got pushed in a few spots in a 4-1 win over Indiana in the semifinals. In the finals they’d meet an Illinois team that they had just blown out 2 weeks prior so confidence had to be high.
Illinois booked its spot in the finals by beating the hosts, Northwestern, 4-0 and then they also blanked the #2 seed Michigan 4-0. Illinois had lost to Michigan 4-3 a few weeks earlier so the fact they were able to turn that result around had to give them some added confidence that they could potentially do the same thing against Ohio State.
Ohio State took the doubles point with ease by winning 8-4 at #2 doubles and 8-3 at #3 doubles but Illinois really picked up the pace in singles and took 4 opening sets. If you look at the box score of the first encounter you’ll notice that Illinois only took 1 set the entire match so getting 4 first sets had to be huge for them.
Despite several of the guys having slow starts both Chase Buchanan and Peter Kobelt cruised in their matches with Buchanan winning 6-2, 6-2 at #1 and Kobelt winning 6-4, 6-2 at #3. Ohio State would lead 3-1 and after Blaz Rola and Devin McCarthy forced third sets at #2 and #5 the Buckeyes had to like their chances. McCarthy wouldn’t be able to maintain his level from the second set and would go down 6-1 in the third to Stephen Hoh.
A few minutes later Ross Guignon, who had only played in 8 regular season dual-matches, upset Connor Smith 7-6, 6-4. Smith was 23-4 in dual-match play coming into this one and in fact 3 of those 4 losses came after the outcome had been decided so a 10-point tiebreak was played in lieu of a third set.
It all came down to #2 singles between Blaz Rola and Roy Kalmanovich. Rola came into this match with a 21-3 dual-match record while Kalmanovich was 12-8 and just 16 days prior Rola beat Kalmanovich 6-0, 6-1 so the fact that the match was even into a third set was surprising to many. Kalmanovich opened up a 3-1 lead in the third but Rola broke back and held to even it at 3-3. Kalmanovich would then hold, break, and hold again to pull off the stunning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 upset and snap Ohio State’s 92-match Big 10 winning streak.
If you look at the box score of this match versus the regular season meeting you’ll notice that all the matchups were identical except at #6 where Illinois subbed in freshman Ross Guignon. While Ohio State only dropped 1 set in the regular season meeting they dropped 8 in the finals.
T-3:15 A-326
Ohio State was looking at a #3 seed in the NCAAs prior to this match but the loss dropped them down to #5 which meant they’d be’d put in the same side of the bracket as #1 USC and #4 UCLA.
The Buckeyes rolled in the first two rounds of the NCAAs by posting 4-0 wins over East Tennessee State and Notre Dame but they got some resistance in the Round 16 against #12 Florida.
Ohio State ran its doubles record to 34-3 by taking the doubles point with easy wins at #1 and #3 but Florida fought back in singles and took the opening set at #3, #4, 5, and #6. While Devin McCarthy lost to Florent Diep at #5 both Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola won comfortably at #1 and #2 to put Ohio State up 3-1. Ohio State turned the other 3 courts around with Peter Kobelt and Connor Smith forcing a third set at #3 and #6 while Ille Van Engelen was up 5-2 in the second at #4. Florida’s Mike Alford started to cramp badly deep in the second set at #6 singles and he’d never recover. Connor Smith pulled off the rare golden set in the third to give Ohio State the 4-1 win and send the Buckeyes on to the quarterfinals. Note: Alford got a game penalty for taking an extended medical timeout in between sets and started the third set down 1-0 and then proceeded to drop the next 20 points.
They shouldn't lose in the Big 10 this year since Illinois lost 3 starters. <br /><br />You know what you're going to get with Di Feo, Torp, and Diaz but it'll be interesting to see if Pollanen can play like he did in the fall. If he can and Steinbach hold it together I think this team will be very dangerous. Joyce has a ton of upside so it'll be interesting to see how he fits in.<br /><br /> I think one of the biggest factors on far they go in the NCAAs could be the weather in Tulsa. They've not played well in windy conditions in the past and I remember when Tulsa hosted back in 08 it was pretty windy at times. If they can overcome the elements there isn't any reason why they can't at least make the semis if not go all the way because the talent is there. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
How do you think the Bucks will fare this year? I feel that they have a good shot of making the final four, but would be the underdogs to Virginia, TCU, and Oklahoma. However, I still think they are capable of upsetting any of them under certain conditions.
I agree the 2009 team did have the best chance and the 2013 may have been 2nd because if they got past UCLA in the semis I think they would have had a real good shot against Virginia in the finals.
While the 2012 OSU team might have been their school's best team in history, I don't think that year is the year that had the best shot of winning an NCAA. In 2012, USC was the 3-peat defending champions that had just won their first ITA indoor tournament.<br /><br />The 2009 team was the preseason #1. Preseason triple threat of Koniecko ITA#1, Moneke #3, and Kronague #6.