Wichita State’s No. 2 team of Miroslav Herzan and Haru Inoue didn’t have any issues with the conditions as they rolled, and I mean rolled, to a 6-0 win over Illinois State’s Christoffer Greve and Dylan Steffens in a match that took all of 11 minutes.
It only took 11 minutes for @GoShockersMTEN to win 6-0 at #2 – love hold by Miroslav Herzan to seal it pic.twitter.com/17SVMNJvWsBobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
The match at No. 1 doubles stayed on serve until WSU’s Jocelyn Devilliers and Tin Ostojic broke ISU’s Andreas Boers and Jakub Eisner to up 4-3. Devilliers held for 5-3 and then he and Ostojic broke Boers to win it 6-3. The match at No. 3 was abandoned with WSU serving 4-4.
So after a 25 minute doubles point Wichita State got off to a quick start at 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles while Illinois State grabbed the early lead at 1 and 2.
WSU freshman Eddie Stoica jumped out to a 4-0 lead at No. 5 before ISU’s Andreas Boers held for 4-1. Stoica then held and broke on this point to take the opening set 6-1. The second set wasn’t much closer as Stoica went up an early break and then cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win.
Set on 5 for @GoShockersMTEN – Eddie Stoica breaks to take it 6-1 pic.twitter.com/UBUG3zPVw1Bobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
WSU freshman Haru Inoue would put the third point on the board for the Shockers. Inoue broke ISU’s Christoffer Greve to go up 2-1 but Greve would break back for 2-2. Inoue broke again to go up 3-2 and then he took the next three games to take the opening set 6-2. Greve broke Inoue to start the second set but Inoue broke back and would break again later in the set to win it 6-2, 6-3.
Illinois State was in a situation where it had to win all four remaining matches and while it had set leads at both No. 1 and No. 2 it wasn’t looking as good at No. 3 and No. 6
WSU senior Sergio de Vilchez had a set lead on Dylan Steffens at No. 6 and was on serve in the second set while WSU junior Jocelyn Devilliers was nearing the finish line at No. 3.
Devilliers served for the match up 6-2, 5-4 (40-30) but he double faulted both match points away to put it back on serve at 5-5. The second set would go to a tiebreak and it looked like ISU’s Rodrigo Oliveira was going to force a third set after he took a 5-1* lead at the changeover. However Devilliers would reel off six straight points to seal the team win with the match clincher coming on a Oliveira double fault. Below is match point and below that are some video highlights that Wichita State put together.
That l’s all folks – @GoShockersMTEN shuts out Illinois State 4-0 – Jocelyn Devilliers clinches on a DF in the TB pic.twitter.com/0nnetwo14oBobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
T-1:43
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The second semifinal of the day matched up the No. 2 seed Southern Illinois and the No. 4 seed Drake. These teams had met just seven days prior with Southern Illinois pulling off a 4-3 upset in a match that was played at Illinois State.
Drake won the doubles point in that first meeting and they put themselves in a good position to take it again today. Drake served first on all three courts and held on each to take an early 1-0 lead.
Drake’s No. 2 team of Ben Lott and Ben Stride must have taken note of Wichita State’s 6-0 scoreline on the same court because after breaking on the deciding point to go up 2-0 they’d roll to a 6-0 win in just 18 minutes.
Match on 2 – @Drake_MTEN breaks and wins 6-0 pic.twitter.com/LWIT0FPgjFBobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
Match on 3 – @SIU_MTennis wins it 6-4 pic.twitter.com/7xMfY3duw0Bobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
The match at No. 1 doubles was all holds until Drake’s Bayo Phillips and Ben Wood broke on this point to go up 5-3.
Break on 1 for @Drake_MTEN and they’ll serve up 5-3 pic.twitter.com/skkUv4tct5Bobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
Phillips would then serve the match out from 40-30 to win it 6-3 and give Drake the early 1-0 lead.
Doubles point goes to @Drake_MTEN – Phillips holds from 40-30 to win it 6-3 pic.twitter.com/vpSHiZDcRZBobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
Drake kept the pedal to the metal in singles and won all six first sets with only two of them closer than 6-3. Drake freshman Tom Hands would finish first with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Alex Pozo at No. 5. Drake sophomore Ben Stride was the last one to finish his first set but he’d be the second one to finish his match after he defeated Daniel Martinez 7-5, 6-0 at No. 6.
SIU was showing some life in the second set at No. 3 and No. 4 as both Wilder Pimentel and Peter Molloy went up breaks but SIU just couldn’t get a breakthrough at No. 1 or No. 2.
Drake’s Ben Lott had just held for a 6-1, 5-3 lead at No. 1 while Vinny Gillespie had three match points on the Piotr Baranski serve at No. 2. Baranski managed to come back and hold but Gillespie would quickly go up 40-0 on his 6-3, 5-4 service game. Baranski fought off the first match point but Gillespie would clinch the win when Baranski put a backhand into the net on the next point.
Game, set, match – @Drake_MTEN defeats Southern Illinois 4-0 – Vinny Gillespie clinches on 2 pic.twitter.com/LHZGqfKtU4Bobby Knight (@College10s2day) April 30, 2016
#4 Drake 4, #2 Southern Illinois 0
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This will be the sixth year in a row that Drake and Wichita State have met in the finals of the Missouri Valley Championships with Drake having won five of those six meetings. The only Wichita State win in that span came in 2013 which happened to be the last time Wichita State hosted the event.
Drake won the regular season meeting at home 4-1 but Wichita State’s No. 1 Tin Ostojic did not play in that match due to an ankle injury. I expect it to a close match but it’d be hard to match the excitement of last year’s four hour and fifty-three minute thriller which had a little bit of everything. If you want to go back and see how that one finished you can check out my recap.
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (1,4,6,2)
What a wild match last year!