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NCAA Quarterfinals: Big 12 Flexes Its Muscle & Virginia Hammers A&M

by | May 17, 2015 | Blog | 2 comments

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I was expecting 4 knock down drag em out fights but in the end there were 2 good matches and 2 that weren’t as close as I anticipated.

It was expected to be another wet day with the chance of rain around 50% but the showers stayed away and for the most part is was a very pleasant day (for the spectators). It was overcast, humid, and windy for the first 2 matches and then the sun came out for the last 2 but the wind and humidity stayed around all day.

In the opening match of the day on the main Grandstand Courts it was #1 Oklahoma pushing past #7 Georgia 4-2.  This will be Oklahoma’s second ever NCAA semifinal appearance with the first time coming last year.

In doubles all 3 courts stayed on serve until Georgia’s #2 team of Nathan Pasha and Wayne Montgomery broke at love to go up 4-2 but OU’s Dane Webb and Spencer Papa broke right back from 30-40 to put it back on serve.

OU’s #1 team of Andrew Harris and Alex Ghilea would break the Ben Wagland serve from 15-40 to go up 5-3 then Andrew Harris would hold at love to make it 6-3. OU would break the Austin Smith serve for 7-3 then “The Machine” Alex Ghilea would serve it out (clip below) to give OU the 8-3 win at #1. It was only the 3rd loss on the year for the ITA #1 doubles team of Wagland/Smith.

OU’s #3 team of Axel Alvarez and Jose Salazar would snag its first break when they broke the Eric Diaz serve from 30-40 to go up 5-3 and they’d follow that up with a hold for 6-3. After 3 straight holds (2 by UGA & 1 by OU) OU’s Axel Alvarez would serve for the match up 7-5. Alvarez fell behind 15-30 on his serve but battled back to ad-in and that set up match point:

Georgia’s #2 team led 7-6 in the unfinished match though it was on serve.

Georgia really came out firing on all cylinders in singles and would storm out to break leads at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles. While Austin Smith, Nathan Pasha, and Nick Wood would win first sets for Georgia at 2, 3, and 5, OU’s Alex Ghilea and Florin Bragusi would both rally back to take their opening sets at 4 and 6. Bragusi actually trailed 3-0 and was down 0-40 on his serve before he rallied to win 5 straight games and would ultimately take the set 6-4.

The only OU Sooner to never trail was its #1 Axel Alvarez as he broke the Wayne Montgomery serve to go up 3-1 and would never look back in route to a 6-1, 6-1 win in a match that lasted a surprisingly long 1 hour and 14 minutes (long considering the scoreline).  Here is match point for Axel:

Exactly 4 minutes later Georgia’s Nathan Pasha would put the Bulldogs on the board as he finished off Dane Webb 6-2, 6-3 at #3 singles. For the second match in a row Pasha led wire to wire as he broke Webb early and often in route to the win. Here is match point from the fired up Pasha

OU’s Florin Bragusi would be next off the court as he finished off Georgia’s Paul Oosterbaan 6-4, 6-2 at #6 singles.  After falling behind 3-0, Bragusi rattled off 12 of the next 15 games with match point coming below (I was a little too far away to get a good shot)

Oklahoma would now lead 3-1 and even though Georgia’s Nick Wood had a break lead in the 3rd at #5, the Sooners were in control on the other 2 courts.  OU’s Andrew Harris battled back from a set down to go up 4-1 in the 3rd at #2 singles and he was serving to try and make it 5-1. OU’s Alex Ghilea had opened up a 7-6, 5-2 lead at #4 so it appeared it was just a matter of time before OU put this one to bed.

Georgia wouldn’t go down without a fight as Austin Smith broke Harris and then held to pull within 4-3 (still 1 break down). Wagland would hold and then break Ghilea to put it back on serve at 5-4.

Nick Wood would then close out Spencer Papa 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 at #5 singles to pull Georgia to within 3-2 and it looked like for a few minutes that something special might be happening.

Wagland would hold for 5-5 but Ghilea quickly held for 6-5. Harris held for 5-3 but Smith held right back for 4-5. Wagland fell into a hole on his 5-6 service game and would fight off 2 match points but he couldn’t fight off the 3rd as he double faulted to give Ghilea the match clinching 7-6(4), 7-5 win.

Below is the video clip I shot of match point and below that is the clip from the opposite side that OU shot – if Wagland’s serve did indeed miss it sure couldn’t have missed by much because as you can see Wagland wasn’t pleased with the call.

At the time of the clinch Georgia’s Austin Smith was up 15-30 on the Harris serve so it would have been high drama if he would have broke and Wagland could have forced a 3rd set.

Going into this week I knew the doubles point would be crucial to Georgia’s hopes of advancing because winning 4 singles matches against this kind of competition wasn’t going to be easy and it proved to be just a tad too difficult today against #1 Oklahoma.

Here is a highlight clip from OU’s recap with a few interviews as well:

Video

FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of May 15th. For more details about UTR check out their website. 


[1] Oklahoma def. [8] #7 Georgia 4-2

May 16, 2015 – Hurd Tennis Center Grandstand Courts 
Doubles Competition
1. #57 Andrew Harris/Alex Ghilea (OU) def. #1 Austin Smith/Ben Wagland (GA) 8-3       
2. Dane Webb/Spencer Papa (OU) vs. Wayne Montgomery/Nathan Pasha (GA) 6-7 unf.
3. Axel Alvarez/Jose Salazar (OU) def. Eric Diaz/Paul Osterbaan (GA) 8-5
Singles Competition
1. #1 Axel Alvarez (OU 15.19) def.#24 Wayne Montgomery (GA 14.61) 6-1, 6-1
2. #7 Andrew Harris (OU 15.05) vs. #30 Austin Smith (GA 14.32) 4-6, 6-4, 5-4 (15-30) unf.
3. #31 Nathan Pasha (GA 14.38) def. #44 Dane Webb (OU 14.22) 6-2, 6-3
4. #103 Alex Ghilea (OU 14.42) def. Ben Wagland (GA 13.49) 7-6(4), 7-5
5. NickWood (GA 13.85) def. Spencer Papa (OU 13.90) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
6. Florin Bragusi (OU 13.64) def. Paul Oosterbaan (GA 13.85) 6-4, 6-2
Match Notes:
Oklahoma 29-2
Georgia 24-5
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (1,3,6,5,4)

Match Times:
Alvarez – 1 hour and 14 minutes
Pasha – 1 hour and 18 minutes
Bragusi – 1 hour and 31 minutes
Wood – 1 hour and 55 minutes
Ghilea – 2 hours and 21 minutes

Oklahoma Head Coach John Roddick
On the match results
“We were in a good position. It always gets a little tougher to close out, but we had two good opportunities. Georgia had us down early and I thought we played really well. We played doubles as well as we had all year, and who knows if that would have been the difference or not. We will never know. We’ve done this all year where we try to put teams in a position where it is going to take a heck of an effort to come back and beat us, and I think that’s what our guys did today. It was a great effort.
On playing a conference opponent in the semifinals
“I think everybody in our conference knew our conference was really good all year. I think even throughout the recruiting season, when we saw who guys were bringing in, we knew it was going to be a really good conference. You still have to go out and play. I think TCU has gotten better all year long. From indoors, when I first really saw them, to now, I think they are better and are more confident in themselves. So it’s going to be a tough match. It will be way tougher than the match we had with them at home. We controlled a lot of that match and their lineup is a lot different. I think it is going to be a really difficult match. We will be ready to come out and battle and get tough points.
More comments from the OU recap
“It was one of our top goals of the year to reach this point, Roddick said. “That was a goal, but we are not happy just being in the final four. We want to play another good match and get through that one to play for a national championship. Beating a team like Georgia, that is one of the best of all time, says a lot about our guys. They are fearless and they can put it on the line when it matters.
“Someone asked me how we are thriving in doubles, Roddick said. “I like hearing that because I haven’t heard it all year. We are playing really well. Sometimes you go out and play really well and still lose, that’s doubles. We’re playing as well as we have all year and you can feel the confidence when they walk out there. They aren’t wondering if they are going to play well, they know they are going to put out a good performance.
“You beat Wayne Montgomery one and onehe’s a guy that makes you play a lot of balls, Roddick said. “We’ve played him in a lot of situations and it’s almost always a tough three-setter. To rebound like that after losing you first match of the year, stands out to me. He played a high level of tennis and it’s tough to breathe out there when he is hitting the ball that big and not making any errors.
“It was important for me after the loss I had in the last match,” Alvarez said. “I really wanted to win this one mentally. I just put a lot of intensity into it and I was focused from the beginning. I wanted it really badly. I played my best tennis today.”
Georgia Head Coach Manuel Diaz
On the match results
“There is no denying, our guys fought to the very end, very courageous match. Oklahoma just played a little bit better than we did. You know, they are not No. 1 for nothing. I am pleased with the way [we competed], I think we can play a little bit better in certain spots. Oklahoma just controlled play and they dictated play more than we did, and they got the victory.               
On Nick Wood and Nathan Pasha winning their matches

“We actually looked good in a lot of spots. We had a chance to win the match all the way to the very end. It was Nick and Nathan who put us in that position. We kind of just made a run out of them. Austin [Smith] was up a set there. Ben [Wangland] broke back to get the tiebreaker. We just couldn’t close either one of those sets. We competed well. You’ve got to give the credit to Oklahoma, they played a little bit better than we did. They deserved to go forward and we wish them the best.
_________________________________________________________

In the other early quarterfinal match, played on the Riverside courts, it was #5 TCU upending #13 North Carolina 4-1 in a match that felt like it was being played in Fort Worth due to the large contingent of TCU fans.

It was a very tightly contested doubles point with both #1 and #2 staying on serve until deep into the point and in fact there wasn’t a break of serve at all on #2. TCU’s #1 team of Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson would break to go up 6-5 and would then hold for 7-5 and would eventually take it 8-6.

It looked like UNC’s #3 team of Jack Murray and Ronnie Schneider would close it out a little easier but TCU’s Guillermo Nunez and Hudson Blake kept hanging around. UNC’s Jack Murray served for the match up 7-4 but got broke and then Ronnie Schneider served for it up 7-6 but he got broke as well so on to a tiebreak it went. UNC raced out to a 6-3 lead in the tiebreak but Jack Murray double faulted on consecutive points to put it back on serve. UNC would finally close it out on the next point when Ronnie Schneider’s service return was too much for Guillermo Nunez to handle at the net.

It all came down to a tiebreak at #2 doubles to decide the point and UNC would have a match point up 6-5 but TCU’s Facundo Lugones would put this point away at the net to even it at 6.

A Nick Chappell service winner made it 7-6 and it would set the stage for this match point (first clip is one I shot and 2nd is from TCU:

In singles TCU’s Nick Chappell, Facundo Lugones, and Arnau Dachs would go up early breaks at 1, 4, and 5 while North Carolina’s Ronnie Schneider, Brett Clark, and Esben Hess-Olesen would go up breaks at 2, 3, and 6.

TCU’s Facundo Lugones jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead at #4 but Jack Murray would take the next 3 to put it back on serve at 3-3. Lugones then held for 4-3, broke for 5-3, and then served it out for a 6-3 set. Lugones would then close out the 2nd set in just 24 minutes for a 6-3, 6-1 win which put TCU up 2-0.

UNC’s Ronnie Schneider opened up an early 4-2 lead in the 1st set against Guillermo Nunez at #2 but Nunez would take the next 3 to go up 5-4. Schneider would end up taking the set in a tiebreak and would then pull away in the 2nd for a 7-6(5), 6-1 win

TCU’s Nick Chappell would extend the TCU lead to 3-1 after he upset #11 Brayden Schnur 6-4, 6-2 at #1 singles. Chappell wouldn’t be broke all day while in turn he broke Schnur’s serve 3 times – the 1st came when Schnur served at 1-1 in the 1st set and the next came in Schnur’s opening service game of the 2nd set.  Here’s match point for Chappell:

TCU was now looking for that clinching point but it wasn’t looking too good at either #3 or #6 because at #3 UNC’s Brett Clark led Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-6 (5-1) and at #6 UNC’s Esben Hess-Olesen led Will Stein 6-3, 3-2 with Hess-Olesen up a break in that 2nd set.

So TCU looked to senior Arnau Dachs down at #5 singles. Dachs broke the Robert Kelly serve at 2-2 and held from there to take the 1st set 6-4. Kelly would jump out to a 4-1 lead in the 2nd but then Dachs would hold, break, and hold again to knot it at 4-4. After another exchange of holds Dachs would get the big break to go up 6-5 and would be serving for the match. Dachs would go up 40-15 and the video clips will show you the rest (1st is mine/2nd is TCU’s)

In the matches that went unfinished, UNC’s Esben Hess-Olesen was serving 6-3, 5-6 at #6 while TCU’s Cameron Norrie came back from 5-1 down in that 2nd set TB to take it 7-5 and in fact had just held serve to go up 1-0 in the 3rd.

TCU will be making its 1st NCAA semifinal appearance since 2001 and 4th all time when it face Oklahoma on Monday.

Interesting tidbit – it was brought to my attention that TCU is the only remaining team in the field to start a left handed player – 3 in singles (Chappell, Nunez, Norrie) and 4 in doubles (Blake). Thanks to David Roditi and Paul Chappell for pointing that out.

[5] TCU def. [13] North Carolina 4-1  
May 16, 2015 – Hurd Tennis Center Riverside Courts 
Doubles Competition          
1.  #30 Cameron Norrie/Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Hess-Olesen/Schnur (UNC)  8-6
2.  Nick Chappell/Facundo Lugones (TCU) def. #45 Brett Clark/Robert Kelly (UNC) 8-7(6)
3.  Jack Murray/Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. G. Nuez/Hudson Blake (TCU) 8-7(5)
 Singles Competition      
1.  #49 Nick Chappell (TCU 14.03) def. #11 Brayden Schnur (UNC 14.63) 6-4, 6-2
2.  #28 Ronnie Schneider (UNC 14.36) def. #59 Guillermo Nuez (TCU 14.11) 7-6(5),6-1        
3.  #39 Cameron Norrie (TCU 14.35) vs. #73 Brett Clark (UNC 13.85) 3-6, 7-6[6], 1-0 unf
4.  Facundo Lugones (TCU 13.99) def. Jack Murray (UNC 14.17)  6-3, 6-1
5.  Arnau Dachs (TCU 14.13) def. Robert Kelly (UNC 13.77)  6-4, 7-5

6.  Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC 13.67) vs. Will Stein (TCU 13.51) 6-3, 5-6 unf

Match Notes:
TCU 25-7
North Carolina 24-11
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,2,1,5)

Match Times:
Lugones – 1 hour 8 minutes
Schneider – 1 hour 30 minutes
Chappell – 1 hour 37 minutes
Dachs – 1 hour 54 minutes

TCU Head Coach Dave Roditi
On the match results…
“Just an unbelievable college match. Two good teams playing each other and leaving absolutely everything we both have on the court. We’re happy to be on the winning side today. That’s a well-coached team and a team we’ve been battling for the last few years. It always comes down to a few points, and it was no different today.”
On success this season…
“You start with your players, committed players, support from our administration and our fans. Then on top of that, you put our best recruit, [assistant coach] Devin Bowen. I keep saying he’s the one doing all the work on the court with them, mentally and physically. As you can see in these matches, it’s not so much how you play, it’s how you compete and how you handle the moment. Our guys did a great job of that today, and that’s a credit to Devin Bowen, and also to our conditioning coach Todd Kensler. These are tough conditions. It’s hot and humid, and I felt like at the end, we looked stronger.”
More comments from the TCU recap
“Well, just an unbelievable college match,” Roditi said. “Two good teams playing each other, leaving absolutely everything we both have on the court. We just had to get on the winning side today. That’s a well-coached team and it’s a team we’ve been battling for the last few years. It always comes down to a few points and it was no different today.
“Today our seniors stepped up and especially Nick Chappell who stepped up huge. We got three points from our seniors in singles and we had two seniors winning in doubles. That’s the beauty about today’s win. It was a completely different group than maybe it was in other matches when you had (Guillermo) Nuez and (Cameron) Norrie stepping up in the singles. Today, they allowed other guys to step up and that’s what makes a good team, that you can get points at any position at any time. It gives us depth and makes us tough to beat.”

North Carolina Head Coach Sam Paul
On the match results
“First of all, congratulations to TCU. Well, the doubles point would’ve been a big momentum boost for us; obviously we were just points away from getting it done there. They outplayed us in singles, but our guys didn’t quit. They fought hard, I think Nick Chappell won a great match here at one, and they just won up and down the line. So I’m sad that I won’t get to work with our seniors any more. That’s the hard part about today; it’s the last day to work with your seniors. You have to appreciate everything they’ve done for our program. I hate to see it end, but I’m looking forward to next year and going back to work.

________________________________________________________

In the 2nd match of the day on the Riverside Courts it was #3 Virginia flooring #5 Texas A&M 4-0 in just 2 hours and 29 minutes. Virginia has now reached the NCAA semifinals 6 times in a row and 8 times in the last 9 years.

Texas A&M was a long shot going in but they had to have the doubles point to have a fighting chance but Virginia just overwhelmed them from the get-go at #2 and #3 doubles.

Virginia’s Collin Altamirano and JC Aragone jumped out to a 3-1 lead at #3 and never looked back in route to an 8-4 win – here is match point with Altamirano serving and Aragone cleaning up at the net:

#2 doubles wasn’t any closer as Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger broke early for a 4-2 lead then broke again to win it 8-4 – here is match point with TSK hitting a nice lob and then he follows it up with a “hush please” to the partisan A&M crowd.

At the time of the clinch Texas A&M was serving for the match at #1 doubles up 7-4, 15-30.

Winning the doubles point seemed to energize Virginia and deflate Texas A&M because the Hoos came out smokin’ in singles with Ryan Shane, Mitchell Frank, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Alexander Ritschard, and JC Aragone all going up early breaks at 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. All 5 would close out the opening sets and then Alexander Ritschard would put point #2 on the board for Virginia with a 6-2, 6-1 destruction of #92 AJ Catanzariti at #5 singles – here is match point and it ends with Ritschard slapping an ace down the T:

#19 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski extended the UVA lead to 3-0 with an equally impressive 6-1, 6-2 win over #78 Harrison Adams – this one finished up less than 2 minutes after Ritschard’s win so I wasn’t able to get a clip of match point since the matches were on opposite ends.

Roughly 14 minutes later JC Aragone would close the door on Texas A&M’s season as the UVA sophomore and ACC Tournament MVP would take out Jordi Arconada 6-4, 6-3 – here is match point of the clincher:

At the time of the clinch Texas A&M was still in the other matches with #47 Jeremy Efferding down a set but up a break in the 2nd at #1 against #8 Ryan Shane, #84 Arthur Rinderknech had just held for a 1-0 lead in the 3rd at #3 against #77 Collin Altamirano, and #80 Shane Vinsant was on serve in the 2nd after dropping the 1st to #20 Mitchell Frank.

Here is the highlight clip that Virginia put together which is always well produced:

I honestly thought this would be a closer match but Virginia never let Texas A&M get its foot in the door – Steve Denton’s comments below about losing the doubles point said it all. The only singles result that surprised me was #5 singles – I really liked Catanzariti’s chances with the way he had been playing lately (despite the loss to Metka) but Ritschard just blitzed him.

Match Times:
Ritschard – 1 hour and 6 minutes
Kwiatkowski -1 hour and 8 minutes
Aragone – 1 hour and 20 minutes  

[3] Virginia def. [6] #5 Texas A&M 4-0  
May 16, 2015 – Hurd Tennis Center Riverside Courts 
Doubles Competition    
1. #10 Harrison Adams/Shane Vinsant (aTm) vs. #2 Luca Corinteli/Ryan Shane (UVA) 7-4
2. #42 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Styslinger (UVA) def. #56 Efferding/Szabo (aTm) 8-4
3. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (UVA) def. Rinderknech/Catanzariti (aTm) 8-5 
Singles Competition
1. #8 Ryan Shane (UVA 14.88) vs. #47 Jeremy Efferding (aTm 14.40)  6-2, 2-3, unf
2. #20 Mitchell Frank (UVA 14.53) vs. #80 Shane Vinsant (aTm 14.24) 6-3, 2-1, unf
3. #84 Arthur Rinderknech (aTm 14.34) vs. #77 Collin Altamirano (UVA 14.72) 6-1,1-6,1-0
4. #19 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA 14.77) def. #78 Harrison Adams (aTm 13.64) 6-1, 6-2
5. Alexander Ritschard (UVA 14.07) def. #92 AJ Catanzariti (aTm 14.33) 6-2, 6-1
6. J.C. Aragone(UVA 14.08) def. Jordi Arconada (aTm 13.68) 6-4, 6-3
Match Notes:
Virginia 27-3
Texas A&M 24-5
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (5,4,6)

Virginia Head Coach Brian Boland
On the match results
“Really pleased with how the team played. They had a lot of energy in doubles. [Texas] A&M competed hard, so congratulations to them for having a great season. We’re just thrilled to move on. I thought the guys played well today in doubles and kept the momentum in singles, and it’s good to get a win.”
On momentum of the match
“We’ve faced adversity quite a bit, so today probably wasn’t as much. But it felt like the guys kept the momentum. I was really pleased with how well the guys played and how focused and disciplined they were throughout the entire match.”
On getting to play outside
“We were thrilled to get outside. We worked so hard on our conditioning and making sure that we’re prepared to play in difficult elements. We’ve spent a lot of time talking and working on it, so we certainly wanted to get outside if we had a chance, and the guys certainly adapted to it.”
More Comments from UVA recap
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to play Baylor in the semifinals,” said head coach Brian Boland. “They are a great team, which we saw in the two matches earlier this season when they beat us. They are the No. 2 team in the nation, playing on their home courts in front of their fans, and should be the favorites. We embrace the underdog role and are excited for the opportunity to play this match on Monday.”

2 Comments

  1. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:04 pm

    It was a great win for him – I didn't realize he was born in Toronto – his dad said he and Brayden were very familiar with each other since Schnur grew up in the next town over.

    Reply
  2. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:04 pm

    Huge congrats to Nick Chappell, I did not expect that.

    Reply

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