Ohio State Men's Tennis (2014/2019/2024 ITA Indoor National Champs, 17 Straight B1G Titles)

[gracelhink]

Rola and Buchanan drop a 7-6, 6-1 match vs. Louisville in the round of 16.

Blaz Rola will take on #1 seed Steve Johnson from USC in the quarters tomorrow.

 

[gracelhink]

Recap of the Buckeyes involved in the NCAA tournament from the OSU Tennis Site.

Blaz Rola, a freshman on the Ohio State men's tennis team, advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Singles Championship Friday following a 6-3, 6-0 win vs. Michigan's Evan King. Rola will face No. 1 seed Steve Johnson of USC next at Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif.
"I just played really well today," Rola said. "My first serve percentage was high and my forehand was working really well. It also helps I did not hurt myself with stupid mistakes. He made a few uncharacteristic errors, but I'm very happy to get through with this match."
In the first set, Rola broke King in the sixth game to go up, 4-2. However, the Wolverine nearly answered with a break of his own when he went up, 30-0. Still down, 30-40, Rola eventually held serve and took a 5-2 lead. Two games later Rola served for the set and won, 6-3.
In the second set, Rola immediately took control, going up 40-15 on King's serve. Later in the set, with Rola leading, 3-0, King had double break point, but Rola rallied and took a 4-0 lead before winning the set, 6-0.
In doubles action, the 11th-ranked Buckeye pair of Rola and Chase Buchanan dropped a 7-6, 6-1 decision to No. 18 Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk of Louisville. Both tandems opened action breaking each other's serve before the Cardinals took a 3-1 lead following their second-consecutive break and a hold. However, in the ninth game, Rola and Buchanan held serve to make the score 5-4 in favor of Louisville. In the next game, the Buckeyes broke Childs and Maksimcuk's serve again to even up the score at five a piece. Heading into a tiebreaker, Louisville eventually secured a 5-3 lead to win, 7-5, and the set before taking the second set by a 6-1 score.
2011 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Singles/Doubles Championships
May 27, 2011
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
Singles
No. 4 Blaz Rola (Ohio State) def. No. 21 Evan King (Michigan) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
No. 18 Austen Childs/Viktor Maksimcuk (Louisville) def. No. 11 Chase Buchanan/Blaz Rola (Ohio State)
7-6, 6-1

Rola will take on #1 seed Steve Johnson of USC in the quarters, match begins at 3 pm est.

:osu:

 

[gracelhink]

Tough break for the #4 ranked Rola to face #1 ranked NCAA player in the quarters, however Rola finishes off his Freshman campaign at OSU with a quarterfinal loss 6-3, 6-3 to #1 seed Steve Johnson of USC.
For the year Blaz collected 41 wins in singles and 34 in doubles. Both totals are records for an OSU freshman.
Congratulations on a sensational season Blaz!

 

[ScriptOhio]

Tough break for the #4 ranked Rola to face #1 ranked NCAA player in the quarters, however Rola finishes off his Freshman campaign at OSU with a quarterfinal loss 6-3, 6-3 to #1 seed Steve Johnson of USC. For the year Blaz collected 41 wins in singles and 34 in doubles. Both totals are records for an OSU freshman. Congratulations on a sensational season Blaz!

I guess there is a very good reason why Johnson is #1 ranked. i.e. he's the best college player in the country. There's no shame in losing to the #1 player, Rola did have an outstanding freshman year. Forty one single wins is even more impressive when you consider that he was Ohio State's #1 player so he played against the other team's #1 player, etc.
:osu:


P.S. Let's hope he has an even better sophomore year.

 

[gracelhink]

Agree with you Script re. the soph year!
Recap of Saturday's quarter from the OSU Tennis site.

Blaz Rola, a freshman on the Ohio State men's tennis team dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to No. 1-seed Steve Johnson of USC in the quarterfinals of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Singles Championship Saturday at Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif.
Rola, who earned the No. 5 seed as the fourth-ranked player in the nation, concluded the 2010-11 season with a 41-7 overall record. The 2011 ITA National Player to Watch, Rola had an impressive campaign in his first season as a Buckeye. He burst onto the scene during the fall winning the ITA Midwest region singles title, facing teammate Matt Allare in the final.
During the regular season, the Buckeye from Slovenia went 25-4 in singles, including an 8-1 record in the Big Ten. His 10-3 and 15-1 records at Nos. 1 and 2 singles helped him garner conference freshman of the year laurels.
In doubles action, Rola, who was the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA championships in both singles and doubles with Chase Buchanan, amassed a 34-8 overall ledger, including a 17-1 mark at No. 3 doubles.
2011 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Singles Championships
May 28, 2011
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
Singles
No. 1 Steve Johnson (USC) def. No. 4 Blaz Rola (Ohio State) 6-3, 6-3

 

[LitlBuck]

Forty one single wins is even more impressive when you consider that he was Ohio State's #1 player so he played against the other team's #1 player, etc.
:osu:


P.S. Let's hope he has an even better sophomore year.

not necessarily true because Buchanan often play #1 singles for Ohio State but still a great season for Rola and hopefully he will be back next season.
.

 

[gracelhink]

Congratulations to Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola for being named to the prestigious ITA All American status for 2011!
OSU Tennis Site

Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola, members of the Ohio State men?s tennis team, earned Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-America honors, the ITA announced Thursday. It is the third such laurel for Buchanan, while Rola becomes the second Buckeye freshman to garner All-America accolades.


Buchanan, who was a singles and doubles All-American in 2010, was a singles honoree this season. The New Albany, Ohio, native posted a 34-7 overall record, including a 29-3 dual record and 10-0 ledger in the Big Ten Conference. Buchanan, the two-time Big Ten Athlete of the Year, was 16-1 at No. 1 singles, while also going 13-2 at the No. 2 position.


Rola joins Dino Marcan (2009-10) as the only other Buckeye freshman to earn All-America honors. Rola, a 2011 singles recipient, advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles championship this past spring before falling to eventual champion Steve Johnson of USC. Named the ITA National Player to Watch, the Wilson/ITA Midwest Region singles champion was a fixture in the ITA Top 10 polls the entire season, reaching as high as third in the nation. The native of Slovenia led the squad in wins with 41 (seven losses). In all, Rola was 25-4 in dual action and 16-3 in tournament play. He posted an 8-1 record in the Big Ten and was 10-3 at No. 1 singles and 15-1 at No. 2.

In order to qualify as an ITA All-American in singles, a student-athlete must meet one of the following criteria:
1. Be a Top 16 seed in the NCAA singles championship
2. Reach the round of 16 in the NCAA singles championship
3. Finish in the Top 20 in the final ITA rankings.

Rola met all three qualifications as he was the fifth seed, reached the quarterfinals and finished fifth in the final ITA singles poll. Buchanan ended the season 12th and was also a Top 16 seed.

 

[calibuck]

Hey, Gracelhink,
Could you kinda summarize what OSU has coming back by class year? I know that Chase will be a SR, and Rola will be a SO, but after that I'm pretty fuzzy. Won't their ratings be affected by how well they play on the summer circuit? Or is that locked in via the NCAA's?

Also, do you know what recruits are coming aboard (and national ranking), so we can envision the banners being hoisted in the Schott (or wherever they hoist them) at OSU.....thanks

:gobucks3::gobucks4:

 

[LitlBuck]

Hey, Gracelhink,
Could you kinda summarize what OSU has coming back by class year? I know that Chase will be a SR, and Rola will be a SO, but after that I'm pretty fuzzy. Won't their ratings be affected by how well they play on the summer circuit? Or is that locked in via the NCAA's?

Also, do you know what recruits are coming aboard (and national ranking), so we can envision the banners being hoisted in the Schott (or wherever they hoist them) at OSU.....thanks

:gobucks3::gobucks4:

Not Mr. Tennis :) but you might want to take a look at post #1710 and #1711. I am sure that gracelhink will amplify on those posts but he has been extremely busy as of late Probably Breakfast at Wimbledon.

I can answer your question regarding recruits. While we have two very good ones coming in, I would not count on to contribute next year. The kids from Pennsylvania is ranked higher than the recruit from Ohio but the kid from Ohio does not a dominant dimension to his game. He has just very solid. Don't know much about the kid from Pennsylvania. I also had thought that we had recruited a player from Wisconsin but I cannot find any information about him. Supposedly, he was recruited last winter. That's about it from me.

 

[gracelhink]

Good request Cali,
Litl knows about the tennis recruiting scene in Ohio, he is our recruiting insider at BP!
Chris Diaz from C'bus was the #1 recruit in Ohio for '11, around #25 in the nation in a very strong class. CDiaz signed late with the Bucks and will be a solid contributor but probably will redshirt a year.
The #13 recruit in the nation for the class of '11 is Hunter Callahan from near Pittsburgh. He signed in the fall with talk that he would enroll early at tOSU. If he did enroll early, he did not get included on the roster or play this year. Both Diaz and Callahan have effective games and especially Callahan has tremendous upside.
I have not seen Callahan play but he was very impressive in some circuit tourneys this past fall.
It seems every year Tucker finds a gem on the international junior tours that makes an impressive entrance at tOSU (Marcan, Rola, Van Egelen).
I would be pleasantly surprised if Ty hauls one in again this year but have not heard any noise about the international tennis recruiting scene. It is a gold mine, and much richer, deeper than the states!
On the Buckeye roster for '11-'12:
Seniors; Chase Buchanan and Steven Williams
Juniors or redshirt sophs; Devin McCarthy, Peter Kobelt, Wyatt Lippert.
Sophomores; Blaz Rola (hope he returns), Ilie Van Engelen, and Nelson Vick
Freshmen; Kevin Metka, Hunter Callahan, and Chris Diaz
BTW, trophies and awards for tennis success are encased in the OSU Varsity Tennis center display area.

 

[cBucks]

Does anybody have a timeline of when we might know whether or not Rola will return next year? Is he still enrolled and taking classes, working out with the team, etc.? I really hope he, and everybody else, come back next year. I am really hoping these guys can bring home a National Championship!!!

Thanks. Go Bucks!!

 

[gracelhink]

Does anybody have a timeline of when we might know whether or not Rola will return next year? Is he still enrolled and taking classes, working out with the team, etc.? I really hope he, and everybody else, come back next year. I am really hoping these guys can bring home a National Championship!!!

Thanks. Go Bucks!!

B Rola has played a couple futures tournaments in Netherlands in June.
He has posted a 3-2 record so far.
http://www.coretennis.net/majic/pageServer/0l01000009/en/pid/12592/index.html

Agreed with your "everybody" hopes!

 

[cBucks]

Thanks for the info and link gracelhink.

Go Bucks!

 

[OSU_D/]

The #13 recruit in the nation for the class of '11 is Hunter Callahan from near Pittsburgh. He signed in the fall with talk that he would enroll early at tOSU. If he did enroll early, he did not get included on the roster or play this year. Both Diaz and Callahan have effective games and especially Callahan has tremendous upside.
I have not seen Callahan play but he was very impressive in some circuit tourneys this past fall.

Interesting.......... I suppose we'll have to wait to see the rosters later this year or get info from you or Litlbuck.

 

[gracelhink]

Coach Tucker must be highly selective with scholarship offers and the division of his quota of 4.5 full rides allowed for D1 men's tennis programs.
The signing of two blue chip American recruits this year is a major haul for the Buckeye's tennis program.
OSU official tennis site had this recent article about Chris Diaz
Link

Ohio State men's tennis head coach Ty Tucker earned another win with the addition of Christopher Diaz, a five-star recruit and recent graduate of Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus. Tucker announced Diaz has signed his national letter of intent to play for the Scarlet and Gray in the fall.

"We are very excited that Chris chose Ohio State," Tucker said, "He had many offers since he was a Top 20 American recruit. Chris loves Ohio State athletics and he understands the work that will be involved to overachieve on the court."
Diaz, a blue-chip prospect and the No. 1 player from Ohio in his class according to TennisRecruiting.net, has had a very successful prep career. He is also the No. 2 player in the Boys' 18 Singles Midwest Rankings. Diaz has improved from being ranked No. 31 nationally by the USTA during his freshman year in 2008 to being ranked as high as No. 19 in the Boys' 18 single standings during his senior campaign. The newest Buckeye compiled a 32-6 overall mark in his young USTA career. . .

Welcome to the Buckeye family Mr. Diaz!