The draws have been released for this year’s Men’s National Team Indoors and while most of the teams were slotted where I expected there were a few surprises.
I expected Ohio State and UCLA to pass USC based off each picking up top 20 wins last week but the committee kept USC in front despite its best win this year being against #22 Florida.
I thought a two loss Baylor, with a best win over #42 Oregon, would fall behind a one loss Illinois with the Illini having wins over #21, #25, #36 (2X) and the one loss coming to #3 North Carolina – I’d love to hear the logic on keeping Baylor that high.
I thought South Florida may drop one spot after losing to Texas A&M but they held firm at #13 – can’t argue too much with this one because it was a 4-3 loss to a #3 team.
Despite all that the pairings look pretty good though we’ll see UCLA and Georgia and Wake Forest and Oklahoma play each other for the second time in two weeks.
Each team also released its depth chart with a few notables listed below:
Oklahoma – Andrew Harris at #4 – I’m thinking he’s still iffy with knee tendinitis
Ohio State – Chris Diaz at 2, Hugo Di Feo at #3
TCU – Eduardo Nava at 4, Jerry Lopez at 5
USC – Nick Crystal at 1, Max de Vroome at 2
Georgia – Jan Zielinski at 4, Paul Oosterbaan at 5, Walker Duncan at #3 though he’s been in a walking boot for a few weeks – probably doubtful
Virginia – Alex Ritschard at 4 – hasn’t played yet due to a shoulder injury – probably sits
Baylor – Vince Schneider at 5 – hasn’t played yet due to reasons unknown – looks like Baylor went over to the intramural courts to get a few backups – I couldn’t find any intel on the guys listed at 8, 9, and 10.
The big matchup of the day between #1 Virginia and #9 UCLA ended up falling well short of expectations. Virginia jumped on UCLA in doubles by going up an early break at #2 and ultimately Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski would break again to win 6-2. The match at #1 stayed on serve until Virginia’s Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli broke to go up 4-3 then they broke again to win it 6-3. They played out the match at #3 with UCLA’s Gage Brymer and Austin Rapp pulling it out 7-6.
Virginia dominated in singles winning all six first sets and they’d finish five of those off in straight sets with Ryan Shane, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Collin Altamirano, J.C. Aragone, and Henrik Wiersholm winning at #1, #2, #3, #5, and #6. Aragone was the only one I recall coming back from a break down with Staggs jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the second set at #5.
UCLA’s Karue Sell earned the only point for the Bruins with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Mac Styslinger at #4.
The live stream of the match was fine but unfortunately the live scoring was not. I tried following on my phone for a bit because I was out and about but I’d either get a blank scoreboard or if the scores popped in they wouldn’t update. When I got home I was able to get the scores to come up but they would update intermittently. The scoreboard was rarely in sync with the streaming video and at time was games behind so it made it difficult to figure out what was really going on. Let’s hope the live scoring issues get addressed before the NTIs get underway on Friday.
“I believe this win will give us a lot a confidence as we head into National Indoors, an event that we have looked forward to hosting for a long time,” Boland said. “I can already feel the excitement for Friday night. We hope that people really come out and support us. I believe this weekend is going to be really special for the players.”
But Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are better. TCU stronger too
Not the same league…yet every team is still ranked in the top 25, except for Texas. Still the best league.
As a guy in Texas, Baylor has to be the most despised fan base (in any sport) in the state and Big XII. I sincerely hope they are as weak as they appear. Lenz is still great but the rest of that team is suspect.<br /><br />Texas is struggling mightily. Oklahoma has clearly fallen off. The Big XII was so strong last year but they are not the same league as last year.
Ya, sure, like it is only the 4.5 scholarships funding those players….there is so much more.
Addendum<br />Richmond was also a 5* blue chip but known previously as Jon. Aragone play in Latin America and played outside the US and hence was not ranked. Is listed as being from Yorba Linda but that must have been briefly before he matriculated at Wahoo U.
If I am not mistaken, they have 6 blue chip recruits ( Shane, Kwiatkowski, Altamirano, Styslinger, Wiersholm and Corinteli). Add in the foreign contingent of Ritschard and Cornish. No true ranking available for Richmond and Aragone but I think Aragone graduated early to be a wahoo.
Baylor should ask Virginia to send over a couple of players because it looks like they have enough for 2 complete teams. And they just added another from the Isle of Mann who is sitting out this spring. Amazing what they can do with 4.5 scholarships.