by Bobby Knight | Feb 24, 2019 | Blog
The big top 10 showdown on Saturday took place at Stanford with the No. 4 Cardinal hosting No. 7 Vanderbilt in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship Final. Stanford won that match in Winston-Salem 4-3 with some final court drama but this one on Saturday at Stanford was a pretty cut and dry win for the Cardinal. Stanford rolled through doubles only dropping two games each at No. 1 and No. 3 and then they added five first sets in singles with four of them being lopsided 6-1 scores. Melissa Lord made it 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over at No. 2 and Emma Higuchi made it 3-0 with a 6-1, 7-6 win at No. 6. Emily Arthbuthnott provided the clincher at No. 4 with...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 23, 2019 | Blog
USC avoided its second three-match losing streak of this young season after knocking off crosstown rival No. 14 UCLA 4-1 in a non-conference tilt at USC’s Marks Stadium. USC struck first by claiming the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 and then the Trojans added four opening sets in singles. USC freshman Jake Sands cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 6 but UCLA freshman Govind Nanda answered with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2. USC senior Logan Smith, who was only playing in his second dual-match of the year, rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 and junior Riley Smith clinched at No. 4 with a 6-1, 7-6(3) win. Both teams were playing without their No. 2...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 21, 2019 | Blog
Wednesday was rankings release day with both the ITA and USTA releases its latest rankings. Up until this point all the ITA team rankings have been done by committee but starting with this week and going forward the computers take so that’s why we saw a bunch of swings in this week’s rankings versus prior weeks. The computer rankings used each team’s four best wins while deducting points for losses so that’s why we had a few notable teams not show up in the top 50 (Georgia/Texas A&M). As expected Ohio State is the new men’s No. 1 after running the table at the National Team Indoors while Wake Forest comes in at No. 2....
by Bobby Knight | Feb 18, 2019 | Blog
Ohio State capped off a tremendous week in Chicago by knocking off defending champion Wake Forest 4-2 to win the program’s second Men’s National Team Indoor Championship. Ohio State got off to a quick start at No. 2 doubles as the ITA No. 7 ranked team of Kyle Seelig and Alex Kobelt cruised to a 6-1 win. Wake Forest was fairing much better elsewhere with break leads late in the match at both No. 1 and No. 3 however despite winning 6-3 at No. 1 they’d be unable to close the door at No. 3. Ohio State’s Hunter Tubert and John McNally fought off a match point to break on the deciding point for 4-5 and then they fought off another match...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 18, 2019 | Blog
For the third year in a row Ohio State and Wake Forest will meet in a meaningful match. Ohio State leads the all-time series 5-3 and has won five of the last six; of course the most important of those six came last year when Wake won 4-2 in the finals of the NCAA Championships. The other recent meeting of importance came two years ago in the semifinals of the National Team Indoors when Ohio State’s Mikael Torpegaard came back from 0-3 down in the third to edge Petros Chrysochos 7-6, 5-7, 7-6(4). Ohio State has yet to give up a point during the tournament and in singles they’ve only dropped five sets. JJ Wolf and Hunter Tubert are the only...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 17, 2019 | Blog
It’ll be No. 1 vs. No. 3 in the finals of the ITA Men’s National Team Indoor Championships after top seed Ohio State blew past Texas 4-0 while Wake Forest fought its way past North Carolina 4-2. For the third match in a row Wake Forest found itself in a precarious position, after falling behind on several courts, but the defending NCAA and NTI champs found its way through to the finals. Wake welcomed Borna Gojo back to the doubles lineup and his return helped spark a close win in the deciding court. Wake’s Bar Botzer and Petros Chrysochos were first off the court with a 6-3 win at No 2 but UNC’s Mac Kiger and Simon...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 17, 2019 | Blog
The semifinals are set in Chicago with the early matches providing plenty of excitement while the later matches were a pair of shutouts. It looked like No. 3 Wake Forest, the defending National Team Indoor Champions, were going to make an early exit but thanks to freshman Melios Efstathiou the Deacs lived to fight another day.Wake found itself down 1-0 after the doubles point with UCLA picking up wins at No. 1 and No. 3 but the Deacs came back in singles with four opening sets (note: UCLA was without its No. 2 player Keegan Smith who injured his ankle the previous day). UCLA junior Ben Goldberg put the Bruins in front 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 5 but...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 16, 2019 | Blog
The opening day of the Men’s National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago was a day of upsets and near-upsets as No. 2 Mississippi State and No. 4 Florida went down while No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 5 Texas survived and held on. The top seed Ohio State had no issues, North Carolina blanked a less than 100% Baylor, UCLA overcame the loss of one of its top players to get past Notre Dame, and Virginia surged past Stanford 4-2. The day started off with the biggest upset by seeding as No. 15 TCU defeated No. 2 Mississippi State 4-1. The Horned Frogs overcame the loss of the doubles point after dropping the decider at No. 1 in a tiebreak 7-5 but they...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 15, 2019 | Blog
The Men’s National Team Indoors in Chicago is THE event this weekend with Ohio State the top seed and definite favorite. The top seeded Buckeyes open up with Tulane on Friday and with a win in that match they’d move on to face the winner of the Virginia/Stanford match. Almost all of the round of 16 matches are expected to be highly competitive with many 4-2 and 4-3 scores sure to come. Slam.Tennis will have updated brackets and match times throughout the weekend plus they’ll have a running scoreboard in addition to the scoring and video links. I think they’ll only be streaming video on 7 of the 12 courts so I guess we’ll have to...
by Bobby Knight | Feb 14, 2019 | Blog
The Men’s National Team Indoors is less than 24 hours away from kicking off in Chicago but on Wednesday night at the Midtown Athletic Club the Illinois Fighting Illini and UCLA Bruins squared off in a top 15 dual to let the locals know what was in store for the coming days. UCLA jumped out to the early 1-0 lead after picking up a pair of 6-2 wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles but Illinois bounced back in singles by taking four opening sets. Illini freshman Siphosothando Montsi tied the match at 1-1 after winning his first career dual-match with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles. Aleks Kovacevic put the Illini in front with a 7-6, 7-5 win over Maxime...
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