The day started off in Lexington with No. 20 Kentucky and No. 5 Ohio State playing indoors due to high winds and the chance of rain.

Ohio State was able to claim the doubles point for 19th time in 23 tries after picking up wins at No. 1 and No. 3. The Buckeyes duo of Matt Mendez and Hugo Di Feo fell into an early 3-0 hole at No. 3 but rallied to take the next six games to close out Austin Hussey and Ryotaro Matsumura 6-3. Ohio State’s Mikael Torpegaard and Martin Joyce led Nils Ellefsen and Enzo Wallart 5-3 at No. 1 but the Kentucky duo won the next two to even it at 5-5. Torpegaard and Joyce would take the next two games to close it out 7-5. The match at No. 2 was abandoned with Kentucky leading 6-5.

Kentucky’s indoor facility only has four courts so the top four singles spots went on first with No. 5 and No. 6 not going on until matches finished.

It’d only take 60 minutes for the first court to open up because Kentucky freshman Ryotaro Matsumura whipped Chris Diaz 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2. Matsumura opened a 4-0 lead in the first and second sets before Diaz finally got on the board. Someone needs to tell Matsumura that he doesn’t have to pay for his court time so he can stay out there for longer than an hour 🙂

Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio State)

Ohio State sophomore Mikael Torpegaard put the Buckeyes back on top with a 7-6(5), 6-0 win over William Bushamuka in one and ten minutes. The ITA No. 2 wasn’t broken all day and now has a perfect 17-0 dual-match record.

Kentucky freshman Enzo Wallart would tie the match at 2-2 with a win over Herkko Pollanen at No. 4. Wallart broke Pollanen to go up 2-1 in the first and would hold for 3-1 before Pollanen held and broke back to even it at 3-3. Wallart broke back and held for 5-3 and would serve it out two games later to take the opening set 6-4. Wallart broke and then held to go up 2-0 in the second and he’d keep the break lead the rest of the way to close it out 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and thirty-six minutes.

Ralf Steinbach (Ohio State)

Ohio State redshirt freshman Hugo Di Feo would put the Buckeyes ahead 3-2 with a three set win over Nils Ellefsen at No. 3. Ellefsen jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and would take it 6-2. Di Feo broke Ellefsen to start the second set and then held for 2-0. Di Feo went up a double break at 4-1 but Ellefsen took one of the breaks back and held to pull within 4-3. Di Feo would hold and then break again to take the second set 6-3. The third set stayed on serve until Ellefsen broke Di Feo to go up 4-3 however Di Feo would break back, hold, and break again to close it out 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and fifty-two minutes.

By this time the matches at No. 5 and No. 6 were getting deeper in the first sets. Ohio State just needed to win one of the two while Kentucky needed them both.

Ohio State redshirt junior Ralf Steinbach would earn the first break of the match when he broke Trey Yates to go up 6-5 in the first and then he’d serve it out to take the opening set 7-5. Steinbach broke Yates to go up 5-4 in the second and then he’d serve it out to clinch the team.

The match at No. 6 between Martin Joyce and Austin Hussey was abandoned with the Buckeye freshman up a set and on serve in the second.

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A crowd of close to 500 was on hand in Gainesville and they got to see their Gators go toe-to-toe with the defending NCAA champion Virginia Cavaliers.

All three doubles courts would finish with identical 6-4 scores. Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger broke Florida’s Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin on the deciding point to go up 4-3. Styslinger held for 5-3 and then Orkin held on the deciding point to make it 5-4. Kwiatkowski served it out from 40-15 by hitting an ace down the T to clinch the 6-4 win.

Florida’s Alfredo Perez and Chase Perez-Blanco broke Virginia’s Collin Altamirano and J.C. Aragone to go up 4-3 and then Perez held for 5-3. After a Virginia hold, Perez-Blanco would hold from 40-15 with a service winner on match point to clinch the 6-4 win.

The doubles point would be decided at No. 1 between the ITA ranked No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams. Virginia’s Ryan Shane was serving 4-4, 40-0 but Florida’s Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson would come back to break on the deciding point when they forced a Shane backhand error. Shane and Luca Corinteli would go up 15-40 on Watson’s 5-4 service game but Watson hit a service winner for 30-40, Hidalgo hit a nice drop volley winner for 40-40, and then Watson hit another service winner to give Florida the doubles point.

Florida used the momentum from doubles to jump on Virginia in singles as the Gators went up early breaks on the bottom three courts. Virginia would claw back into each of those three matches and would also take break leads at No. 2 and No. 3.

Virginia junior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski would tie the match at 1-1 with a win over Elliott Orkin at No. 2. Kwiatkowski broke Orkin to go up 3-1 in the first but Orkin broke back to make it 3-2. Kwiatkowski would then break, hold, and break again to take the opening set 6-2. The only break of the second set came when Kwiatkowski broke Orkin’s 4-5 service game to close the match out 6-2, 6-4.

Virginia junior J.C. Aragone put the Hoos ahead 2-1 with a win over Chase Perez-Blanco at No. 4. Aragone trailed 4-2* in the first but won the final four games to take the opening set 6-4. Aragone broke Perez-Blanco to go up 5-3 in the second and then served it out for a 6-4, 6-3 win.

Luca Corinteli (The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff)

Virginia junior Luca Corinteli would make it 3-1 after he came back from a set down to defeat McClain Kessler at No. 6. Kessler opened up a 3-0 lead to start the match and would take the opening set 6-3. Corinteli went up 3-0 to start the second and would break one more time to take the second set 6-2. Corinteli fought off a couple of break points to hold for 3-2 in the third and then he broke on the next game to go up 4-2. Corinteli would hold for 5-2 when he bludgeoned a forehand winner on the deciding point and then two games later he’d hold from 40-15 by hitting a service winner on match point to win it 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Virginia’s Collin Altamirano and Henrik Wiersholm were both up a set and 5-3 so it appeared the match would be over in a matter of seconds.

Altamirano went up 30-40 on Alfredo Perez’s 4-6, 3-5 service game but Perez would come back to hold when Altamirano left a lob too short and Perez hammered it home at the net. Altamirano was now serving for the match and after falling behind 15-40 he’d get it to the deciding point. A fairly lengthy point ensued and it’d end with Perez hitting a crosscourt forehand winner much to the dismay of Altamirano. Perez then held on the deciding point to go up 6-5 and then he’d break on yet another deciding point to take the second set 7-5.

Henrik Wiersholm (The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff)

Meanwhile back over at No. 5, Henrik Wiersholm was struggling to close out his match against Gordon Watson. Wiersholm was broke serving for the match at 5-3 in the second and then Watson would hold for 5-5. Wiersholm came back from either 15-40 or 30-40 (lost track) to hold for 6-5 and then he went up 15-40 on Watson’s 5-6 service game. Watson would hit three consecutive aces to get the hold and send the second set to a tiebreak. Wiersholm went up *4-0 in the tiebreak but Watson would take the next three to make it *4-3. Watson put a forehand into the net to make it 5-3 and then a backhand error made it 6-3. Watson would take the next two points on his serve to pull within 6-5 but Wiersholm would clinch the Virginia win on the next point when Watson put a forehand into the net.

The two remaining matches were played out with Florida’s Diego Hidalgo getting a late break to defeat Ryan Shane 6-4 in the third while Altamirano righted the ship and pulled away to take it 6-2 in the third.