The fourth-ranked Ohio State men's tennis (34-3) fell to top-ranked Virginia (34-0), 4-2, Monday at the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif., to finish the 2011 season. The 34 team wins are the fourth most in program history.
After falling in its second NCAA semifinals trip in program history, Ohio State and head coach
Ty Tucker now stands at 29-12 in the NCAA tournament.
In doubles, Buckeye duo
Chase Buchanan and
Shuhei Uzawa survived a couple of rallies by Jarmere Jenkins and Julen Uriguen on court two to put the Buckeyes up 1-0. Jenkins and Uriguen broke-serve to lead 6-5, but Buchanan and Uzawa returned the favor to pull out the victory.
Buchanan and Uzawa finished 15-2 overall in doubles on the year after winning their seventh-consecutive match.
Blaz Rola and senior co-captain
Balazs Novak would mount a comeback of their own to claim the doubles point for Scarlet and Gray and their 12th-consecutive victory. The tandem trailed 5-2 to Alex Domijan and Sanam Singh before breaking two of the Virginia pair's serves to tie it at 6-6. The duo continued its momentum to defeat the Cavalier team 8-6 and improve to 17-1 overall, all on court three.
Matt Allare and
Peter Kobelt held tough on one with the No. 2 ranked doubles team in the nation, Michael Shabaz and Drew Courtney, leading most of the match before having it abandoned at 8-8.
Overall, the Buckeyes finished the season at 82-20 in doubles competition.
The Cavaliers took a 2-1 lead by winning at the No. 1 and 2 singles positions. Domijan defeated Buchanan 6-2, 6-2 on court two and Shabaz downed Rola 6-4, 6-4 on one.
Devin McCarthy tied the match at 2-2 with a strong come-from-behind performance, winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5. McCarthy improved to 30-5 on the season, including marks of 25-3 in the spring and 11-2 on court five.
Allare rallied after being down 5-2 in the second set vs. Jenkins but eventually fell 3-6, 7-6, 2-6 on court four. Allare finished his Ohio State career 216 career wins.
Singh would wrap up the win for Virginia with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win against Van Engelen.
The 2011 senior class concludes its career with some of the best numbers in Ohio State history. For four-year players, Allare, Novak and Uzawa own the program's most wins all-time (140), most NCAA wins all-time (14), claimed a 55-0 all-time Big Ten record and never lost at home with an 73-0 ledger. The class leaves Ohio State with four Big Ten regular-season and four Big Ten tournament titles. In NCAA play, the class went to the program's only final (2009) along with four quarterfinal appearances (2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011).
The singles and doubles championships of the 2011 NCAA Tournament will begin following the conclusion of the team championship (May 19-24). The University of Stanford will serve as host. Rola, the fifth-seed, Buchanan, and Allare will participate in the singles draw, while Allare and
Peter Kobelt will compete on the doubles side. Live updates will be available at
www.gostanford.com and
www.ncaa.com.
Tennis Match Results
No. 1 Virginia 4 No. 4, Ohio State 2
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
May 23, 2011
Doubles (Order of Finish: 2, 3)
1) No. 2 Courtney/Shabaz (UVA) vs. No. 21 Allare/Kobelt (OSU) aban.
2) Buchanan/Uzawa (OSU) d. Jenkins/Uriguen (UVA) 8-6
3) Rola/Novak (OSU) d. Domijan/Singh (UVA) 8-6
Singles (Order of Finish: 2, 1, 5, 4, 3)
1) No. 5 Michael Shabaz (UVA) d. No. 4
Blaz Rola (OSU) 6-4, 6-4
2) No. 2 Alex Domijan (UVA) d. No. 10
Chase Buchanan (OSU) 6-2, 6-2
3) No. 34 Sanam Singh (UVA) d. No. 107 Ille Van Engelen (OSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
4) No. 56 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) d. No. 50
Matt Allare (OSU) 6-3, 6-7, 6-2
5) No. 65
Devin McCarthy (OSU) d. Justin Shane (UVA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
6) Julen Uriguen (UVA) vs. No. 111
Balazs Novak (OSU) aban.
