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2015 Men's National Team IndoorsDay 1 of the National Indoors saw a slew of competitive matches but if you were a fan at home trying to follow the streaming video or the live scoreboard you were probably ready to pull your hair out.
I’m not sure what the problem is with the NTIs but this is the 2nd year in a row that the “Live” scoring has been “Taped Delayed” scoring with it commonly delayed by multiple games. You see guys go from winning the 1st set to 20 minutes later having the score switched to show the other player winning the set, you had the scoreboard operator wipe out the completed set scores early in the day and just put a 1 by whoever won the set like we’re at Wimbledon, you had scores stay stuck for 15-20 minutes on certain courts then update to show the set that never started is already over, and the list goes on and on.
Another thing that baffles me is that someone can’t put some kind of notation on the live scoring sheet that notates who served first to start the match so that way the viewing pubic would know if a 5-4 score meant the match was on serve or if someone was up a break and getting ready to close the set out. Come on tournament organizers if the equipment is working and you are using volunteers go find some more volunteers that are capable of tracking the score on a court. Before the day starts take 5 minutes to make sure they understand the game of tennis and know how the scoring system works and know what teams wear what color shirts and if you can’t tell the color of the shirt they usually have some writing on the back that says the name of the school. If you have Baylor playing Duke and one guy is wearing green and the other is wearing blue and the green guy wins the set then know enough about the teams to make sure you put the 6 by the right name – were not talking quantum physics here.
I do want to give a BIG shout out to several of the team’s twitter guys/gals for staying on top of things and keeping us in the loop with the pertinent details like who was serving and the occasional mid-game score and for that matter the actual up-to-date score of the match. Special recognition to these ones for going above and beyond today; if you follow college tennis give them a follow on Twitter – Columbia (@ColumbiaMTennis), Virginia (@UVAMensTennis), UCLA (@uclatennis), North Carolina (@carolinatennis), Penn State (@pennstateMTEN), Ohio State (@OhioState_MTEN), Cal (@CalMensTennis). Also great job today by Jonathan Kelley (@jokelley_tennis) for providing us with scoring updates and other insight while he is covering the tournament for ZooTennis – look for his Day 1 recap in a little bit.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox (for now) back to regularly scheduled programming – let’s dive into Saturday’s quarterfinals which should be 9 to 10 hours of spectacular tennis. Instead of having two quarters at 12 and two quarters at 3:30 like most years since the host Illini won its 1st round match they get to play in primetime at 6:30 which means we have UVA/Baylor and Oklahoma/UNC at high noon and then USC/Ohio State all by itself at 3:30 and to wrap up the evening Illinois/Georgia at 6:30.
[3] Virginia vs. [11] Baylor – 12pm cst – Despite getting pushed in doubles and at the bottom of the lineup by a tough TCU team, Virginia (6-0) rode it’s 3 big horses (Frank, Shane, Kwiatkowski) to the finish line and closed out the 4-0 shutout. Baylor (5-1) came out fired up and really took it to Duke at 2 and 3 doubles winning both courts by a 6-2 score but singles was a dog fight with 4 courts going 3 sets. Baylor was able to pull it out despite its #1 Julian Lenz taking a pretty sound beating at 1 losing 6-4, 6-2. The last time these teams bumped into each other was at last year’s NCAA quarterfinals which Virginia won 4-0 in a match that was played indoors at Georgia Tech due to rain. Both teams have different lineups this time around and I think Baylor has a much better shot this year but pulling the upset will be a tall task that has to start with taking the doubles point. One thing I don’t see happening is a Virginia sweep of the top 3 spots – I really like Kwiatkowski at 3 (big surprise) but both 1 and 2 will be in play. Despite Lenz getting roughed up on Friday he does go into his match with Frank knowing that he’s beaten him before (6-2, 6-2 on 3/1/14) however if memory serves me correctly Mitchell wasn’t 100% that day but still a win is a win. Tchoutakian continues to impress and he’s playing with enough confidence right now to give him more than a puncher’s chance against Ryan Shane at #2. It’ll probably be a game time decision for Boland on who he puts in at 4 but I’m guessing he goes with Altamirano unless there’s some kind of injury that we don’t know about. The bottom of Virginia’s lineup was a little touchy today but I’m thinking they shore that up and pick up wins at 4 and 5. Prediction: Virginia 4-2
Probable Singles Lineup
1. Mitchell Frank (UVA) vs. #10 Julian Lenz (BU)
2. #4 Ryan Shane (UVA) vs. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU)
3. #1 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) vs. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU)
4. Collin Altamirano (UVA) vs. Diego Galeano (BU)
5. Alexander Ritschard (UVA) vs. Mate Zsiga (BU)
6. JC Aragone (UVA) vs. Vince Schneider (BU)
Probable Doubles Lineup
1. #37 Shane/Corinteli (UVA) vs. #40 Zsiga/Lupieri (BU)
2. #41 Styslinger/Kwiatkowski (UVA) vs. Lenz/Galeano (BU)
3. Frank/Altamirano (UVA) vs. Schneider/Felipe Rios (BU)
[2] Oklahoma vs. [7] North Carolina – 12pm cst – Just like the UVA/Baylor match this one between Oklahoma (7-0) and North Carolina (9-1) will also be a rematch from last year’s NCAA quarterfinals. Oklahoma won that one by a 4-2 score in a match that saw 3 blowouts and 3 close ones. The match-ups at #2 and #3 singles will both be repeats but I don’t see Oklahoma sweeping them both this time. I do like Dane Webb at 3 but I see Ronnie Schneider redeeming himself from last year and knocking off Alvarez at 2. At the top of the lineup I like Brayden Schnur in a close one over Andrew Harris and I’d give the slight advantage at 4 to OU’s Spencer Papa who came through in the clutch on Friday by winning the clincher in a pressure packed 3rd set tiebreak. The match between Ghilea and Murray at 5 should be excellent with it likely going 3 sets and at 6 I like the red-hot Robert Kelly who showed some guts by coming back from 4-1 down in the 3rd to clinch the win over UCLA. So I’ve got OU at 3, 4, an 5 and UNC at 1, 2, and 5. Winner of the doubles point most likely get the W. Prediction: Oklahoma 4-3
Probable Singles Lineup
1. #26 Andrew Harris (OU) vs. #6 Brayden Schnur (UNC)
2. #11 Axel Alvarez (OU) vs. #19 Ronnie Schneider (UNC)
3. #31 Dane Webb (OU) vs. Brett Clark (UNC)
4. Spencer Papa (OU) vs. Oystein Steiro (UNC)
5. #63 Alex Ghilea (OU) vs. #104 Jack Murray (UNC)
6. Jose Salazar (OU) vs. Robert Kelly (UNC)
Probable Doubles Lineup
1. #5 Alvarez/Webb (OU) vs. Schnur/Steiro (UNC)
2. Papa/Harris (OU) vs. Clark/Kelly (UNC)
3. Salazar/Ghilea (OU) vs. Murray/Schneider (UNC)
[1] USC vs. [8] Ohio State – 3:30pm cst – This will be a rematch of last year’s NTI Championship as USC (7-0) comes in well rested after smoking Penn State 4-0 while Ohio State (10-1) got all it wanted and more from Texas before pulling it out 4-3 behind The Man, The Myth, The Metka. The only singles rematch from last year will be at #1 where Hanfmann beat Diaz 6-5(4), 6-3 at #2. Any chance of an Ohio State win is tied to getting the doubles point and I think the Buckeyes take it to grab the early momentum. I think Hanfmann wins again and I also like Roberto Quiroz at 2 against the young freshman Torpegaard and it’s hard to go against Jonny Wang at 3. The bottom 3 courts are all winnable matches for Ohio State with Steinbach and Metka the likeliest to win at 4 and 6. The match at 5 will decide this one in my opinion – Hunter Callahan hasn’t dropped a set since October (vs. Jared Hiltzik) but Max De Vroome almost always comes through in the clutch when it counts (10-1 record at the NCAA Tournament and National Indoors) so something has to give. Big Max will give the Trojans some redemption as he wins a 3rd set thrilla. Prediction: USC 4-3
Probable Singles Lineup
1. #7 Yannick Hanfmann (USC) vs. #53 Chris Diaz (OSU)
2. #24 Roberto Quiroz (USC) vs. #30 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU)
3. #20 Jonny Wang (USC) vs. Herkko Pollanen (OSU)
4. Eric Johnson (USC) vs. #68 Ralf Steinbach (OSU)
5. Max De Vroome (USC) vs. #110 Hunter Callahan (OSU)
6. #49 Nick Crystal (USC) vs. Kevin Metka (OSU)
Probable Doubles Lineup
1. #1 Hanfmann/Quiroz (USC) vs. #7 Steinbach/Metka (OSU)
2. #38 De Vroome/Johnson (USC) vs. #36 Callahan/Diaz (OSU)
3. Crystal/Connor Farren (USC) vs. Torpegaard/Pollanen (OSU)
[4] Georgia vs. [5] Illinois – 6:30pm cst – We’re going to hear a lot of ILL-INI chants on Saturday night as a rowdy crowd is going to do its best to help push Illinois (7-1) past Georgia (5-1) though the Illini didn’t need much help on Friday after they took it to Cal in route to posting a 4-0 shutout. Georgia on the other hand better be thankful its new doubles pairings came through because without that doubles point they’d be playing in the consolation bracket after squeaking by Columbia 4-3. As with all the other quarterfinal matches this should be another close one. With a large pro Illini crowd expected Georgia needs the doubles point to keep it calm because if Illinois gets the point it’s going to get crazy up in there. After taking a pretty sound beating by Winston Lin I’m looking for Wayne Montgomery to bounce back and play much better against Farris Gosea. I like UGA’s Pasha at 3 over Kopinski and Illinois’s Vukic at 5 over Wagland. I think the Hiltzik brothers will split their matches at 2 and 4 and it’ll be interesting to see if Manny Diaz sticks with a slumping Oosterbaan (lost 4 straight) at 6 or goes with either Eric Diaz or Peter Bertran to provide a spark. This one will probably go back and forth but I think Georgia finds a way to put behind it’s so-so performance against Columbia and plays much better and pulls it out. Prediction: Georgia 4-3
Probable Singles Lineup
1. #41 Farris Gosea (ILL) vs. #17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA)
2. #23 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) vs. #21 Austin Smith (UGA)
3. #37 Tim Kopinski (ILL) vs. #15 Nathan Pasha (UGA)
4. #69 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) vs. Nick Wood (UGA)
5. #46 Aleks Vukic (ILL) vs. Ben Wagland (UGA)
6. Toshiki Matsuya (ILL) vs. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA)
Probable Doubles Lineup
1. #11 Kopinski/Ross Guignon (ILL) vs. Wagland/Smith (UGA)
2. Hiltzik/Matsuya (ILL) vs. Pasha/Diaz (UGA)
3. Bazarnik/Brian Page (ILL) vs. Oosterbaan/Montgomery (UGA)
I’ll be onsite on Saturday so I’ll do my best to at least tweet out who is serving on each court so that way you’ll know who is up a break and who is on serve – you can follow me on twitter at @College10s2day . If you have a question during the day send me a tweet and if I can answer it I will.
Semifinal Sunday:
[1] USC vs. [4] Georgia
[2] Oklahoma vs. [3] Virginia
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