HOUSTON -- Oklahoma’s Dane Webb rallied from a first-set loss in No. 4 singles to clinch the Sooners' 4-3 victory against No. 22 Illinois in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship first round on Friday.
“We always talk about doing the right things and I know [Dane] had two or three set points in the first set where he went after it and played aggressive,” OU head coach John Roddick said.
“That’s all we want him to do. He lost them, but that’s fine if you do that. Just keep doing that and it’ll pay off and it did. That’s a great effort to regroup.”
Webb finished Illinois sophomore Brian Page 5-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance the seventh-ranked Sooners (7-0) to the quarterfinals at the Galleria Tennis and Athletic Club.
Oklahoma faced an uphill battle after losing the doubles point for the first time this season.
ITA second-ranked Guillermo Alcorta also needed three sets to put away eighth-ranked Jared Hiltzik 6-3, 5-6, 6-4 in No. 1 singles.
Sooners in No. 2 and No. 3 singles each counted 6-4, 6-5 triumphs. Fourth-ranked Axel Alvarez beat 30th-ranked Farris Gosea in No. 2 singles and No. 28 Andrew Harris secured the Sooners’ first point with a win against No. 24 Tim Kopinski.
No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 16 Notre Dame 2
HOUSTON -- Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2014 ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a 4-2 victory against Notre Dame at the Galleria Tennis and Athletic Club. The Cavaliers (5-0) rallied from losing the doubles point to win four singles matches and record the victory.
The Cavaliers will play either No. 9 Mississippi State or No. 11 California in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The Cavaliers fell behind early in the match as the Irish took the doubles point. It was the first time this season Virginia has dropped the opening point of a match. Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski gave Virginia an early edge with a 6-4 win at No. 3 against Ryan Bandy and Eric Schnurrenberger. Notre Dame drew even with a win at No. 2, where Josh Hagar and Billy Pecor downed Mitchell Frank and Luca Corinteli 6-4. The deciding match at No. 1 came down to a tiebreak where Greg Andrews and Alex Lawson edged Alex Domijan and Justin Shane 6-5(3) to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead in the match.
Virginia rallied in singles, winning four of the six first sets. Jordan Daigle drew the Cavaliers even in the match as he posted a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 versus Schnurrenberger. Frank gave Virginia a 2-1 lead with his 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 1 against Andrews. The other four matches all went to a decisive third set. Shane had a dominant final set at No. 3, defeating Bandy 6-3, 3-6 6-0 to extend the lead to 3-1. Notre Dame posted its only singles win at No. 4 where Hagar rallied for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win versus Styslinger. Seconds later, Domijan closed out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 against Quentin Monaghan to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers.
The win was Virginia's 35th consecutive win, the longest active streak in the nation and one win shy of the 36-match school-record win streak set in 2010. The win was also the Cavaliers' 108th consecutive win against ACC competition.
No. 2 UCLA 4, No. 15 Pepperdine 0
HOUSTON -- UCLA posted a shutout in its first match of the ITA National Team Indoors on Friday afternoon, downing Pepperdine 4-0 at the Downtown Club at the Met. With the win, UCLA (6-0) moves on to the quarterfinals where it will face No. 7 Oklahoma on Saturday (CST).
The Bruins and Waves, who are actually scheduled to meet at UCLA next week, were not supposed to face off in the first round at the Indoors. Pepperdine was a late replacement in the event after Duke was unable to make it to Houston due to severe weather in North Carolina.
UCLA claimed the doubles point on Friday when ninth-ranked Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald were 6-2 winners against Francis Alcantara and Alex Sarkissian at court No. 1. Joseph Di Giulio and Clay Thompson preceded that clinching point with a 6-1 win against Tom Hill and David Sofaer at court No. 2.
It was fairly routine for the Bruins from there on out, as UCLA cruised to three straight-set victories to lock up the 4-0 victory. The clinching win came from court No. 5, where Dennis Mkrtchian downed Pedro Leme 6-4, 6-5(2).
No. 3 Southern California 4, No. 14 Tennessee 1
HOUSTON -- Southern California took out Tennessee with a 4-1 win at the first round of the ITA indoor championship clinched by freshman Connor Farren at the No. 4 singles spot. Now 5-0 overall, the Trojans move on to Saturday's quarterfinals, where USC will face either Texas A&M or Baylor at the Galleria Tennis and Athletic Club.
USC's first leg up in the match came in doubles play as the Trojans rolled to the first point with relatively quick wins on court Nos. 2 and 3. At the No. 3 spot, USC's Max de Vroome and Eric Johnson got the ball rolling with a 6-2 win versus Andrew Dromsky/Markus Kerner. Clinching the first point of the match for the Trojans was Connor Farren and Roberto Quiroz at No. 2 with their swift 6-3 win against Jarryd Chaplin/Brandon Fickey. That left a battle on court No. 1 suspended at a 5-5 lockup between USC's No. 35 Yannick Hanfmann and Ray Sarmiento and Tennessee's top-ranked Mikelis Libietis/Hunter Reese.
The Vols tried to make things interesting in taking an early point in singles on Reese's win against USC's No. 16 Hanfmann, but the Trojans had Hanfmann's back. USC peppered Tennessee with a string of wins to power to victory. At the No. 6 slot, senior Michael Grant rang up a 6-4, 6-1 win versus Kerner to launch the Trojans back ahead, up 2-1 with two more Trojans closing quickly on victory.
At the top spot, USC's No. 7 senior Ray Sarmiento fended off No. 45 Libietis in a second-set tiebreaker for a 6-1, 6-5 (3) win that put USC on the brink up 3-1. Freshman Farren was the clincher. He'd stay the course against Chaplin for a 6-2, 6-4 finish that rolled USC to a 4-1 win.
No. 10 Texas 4, No. 4 Georgia 3
HOUSTON --- Texas defeated Georgia 4-3 in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday afternoon at the Galleria Tennis and Athletic Club.
The Longhorns advance to the quarterfinals of the national indoors for the fourth time in the past five appearances in the event. Texas will face No. 5 Ohio State on Saturday at the Downtown Club at The Met.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead by winning doubles point with 6-3 victories on court Nos. 1 and 2.
Momentum quickly swung Texas' way with three consecutive singles victories, giving the Longhorns a 3-1 lead. In the only straight-set singles match in the dual, sophomore Nick Naumann defeated Georgia's No. 109 Nick Wood (6-4, 6-3) to give the Longhorns their first point of the day.
Texas protected the top three spots in the lineup to eventually clinch the team victory. No. 29 Lloyd Glasspool defeated No. 20 Nathan Pasha (6-4, 1-6, 6-4) at court No. 2 and No. 53 Søren Hess-Olesen defeated No. 14 Austin Amith (5-6, 6-1, 6-4) at court No. 1.
Georgia won close matches on court Nos. 4 and 6 to tie the dual match, 3-3.
With the dual match hanging in the balance, freshman George Goldhoff outlasted sophomore Ben Wagland on court No. 3. When serving match point (4-5 [30-40]), Wagland was overruled and assessed a code violation. The code violation resulted in a game penalty, which gave Goldhoff the dual match-clinching victory.
No. 5 Ohio State 4, No. 12 Florida 1
HOUSTON -- Ohio State posted a 4-1 win against Florida in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday morning. The Buckeyes (10-0) will face No. 13 Texas on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
Ohio State claimed its first win away from home this year by clinching the doubles point outright, followed by three singles victories.
In doubles action, redshirt senior Peter Kobelt and redshirt junior Kevin Metka, who shot up to No. 2 in the ITA doubles rankings this week, were first to win for Ohio State, defeating No. 24 Stephane Piro and Michael Alford 6-4 on court No. 1. Redshirt junior Hunter Callahan and freshman Herkko Pollanen clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court No. 2 against Gordon Watson and Maxx Lipman. Redshirt sophomore Chris Diaz and redshirt freshman Ralf Steinbach were leading Diego Hidalgo and Florent Diep 5-3 when play was called.
In singles play, the Buckeyes and Gators each took three first sets, but No. 23 Kobelt was first to finish, downing No. 55 Stephane Piro on court No. 1 6-2, 6-2. Steinbach was next to finish, defeating Diep 6-3, 6-2 on court No. 4 to put the Buckeyes ahead, 3-0. At singles No. 6, Callahan sealed the Buckeye victory with a 6-4, 6-4 win versus Alford for his second consecutive clinch and third overall of the season. Pollanen fell just before the match point to Gordon Watson, 6-4, 6-5 (7-5) on No. 3. The remaining two matches were left unfinished.
No. 6 Baylor 4, No. 8 Texas A&M 3
HOUSTON -- Baylor picked up a first-round victory in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with a 4-3 win against Texas A&M on Friday at the Downtown Club at the Met.
BU got off to a slow start dropping the doubles point for the first time this season. BU's pairing of Diego Galeano and Tony Lupieri opened with a 6-4 win against A&M's Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant, but the Aggies would go on to claim the point with a pair of 6-5 wins on courts No. 1 and 3.
The Bears quickly turned things around in singles, picking up a quick 6-2, 6-4 victory by Lupieri on court No. 6 versus Jordan Szabo to even the match score at 1-1. Then on court No. 1, sixth-ranked Julian Lenz bested No. 22 Harrison Adams 6-4, 6-1, to put the Bears up 2-1.
The teams would trade jabs to finish out the match leaving the deciding point on court No. 4 with the score tied 3-3. Baylor's Mate Zsiga claimed a 6-5 (7) first-set victory, but dropped the second, 6-3. In the third and deciding set Zsiga dominated and earned a 6-0 victory to clinch the match.
No. 11 California 4, No. 9 Mississippi State 3
HOUSTON -- Califorinai trailed 1-0 early after falling in doubles to Missiissippi State, but the Bears forged a 3-1 lead thanks to their early success in singles. MSU eked out a 3-3 tie, and the court No. 5 match between Cal’s Gregory Bayane and Mississippi State’s Rishab Agarwal became the decider.
Bayane lost a close first set in the tiebreaker, 5-6(6). He bounced back to take the second set 6-2 and force the third. He then wrapped up the overall match when he beat Agarwal 6-3 at the Galleria Tennis Athletic Club.
Cal (6-0) advances to the quarterfinals to play top-seeded Virginia (5-0) on Saturday.
In Friday’s doubles, Mississippi State and Cal split matches on court Nos. 1 and 2 to make court No. 3 the deciding match. First, the Cal duo of senior Ben McLachlan and freshman Andre Goransson fell to the 55th-ranked Jordan Angus/Malte Stropp 6-3 on No. 1. Bayane and junior Chase Melton evened matters with a 6-2 victory against Florian Lakat/Tassilo Schmid on No. 2. Cal had its chances to clinch doubles in a tight court No. 3 match, but the Bears’ team of senior Campbell Johnson and freshman Filip Bergevi fell to Agarwal/Zach White, 6-5(5).
Goransson, ranked No. 118 in singles, recorded his 16th win of the season and tied the overall match at 1-1 by beating White 6-2, 6-2 on court No. 4. Bergevi followed with his sixth consecutive win -- a 6-2, 6-4 victory against No. 115 Angus on court No. 3 -- to lift Cal to a 2-1 advantage. Johnson, ranked No. 68, gave Cal a 3-1 lead by topping No. 49 Stropp 6-4, 6-3 on court No. 2.
McLachlan, ranked 62nd, opened his court No. 1 match by blanking No. 52 Lakat 6-0. But the Bulldog won the second on a tiebreaker, and he wound up losing the match 0-6, 6-5(4), 6-3. Another three-set loss for Cal on court No. 6 -- sophomore Mads Engsted fell to Schmid 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 -- made the score 3-3, before Bayane’s heroics secured the win for Cal.
