Feb. 16, 2007
Stanford battled second-ranked and undefeated Ohio State in the first round of the ITA National Men's Indoor Championships in Chicago, but lost to the Buckeyes 4-0 in a match that was closer than the score indicates. The Cardinal, ranked No. 28, was playing its third straight Top 10 team in Ohio State. The National Indoors continues at the Midtown Tennis Center through Monday.
The match includes two tie-breakers to decide the doubles point and four of six singles matches that had first-set tie-breakers. The Buckeyes were able to win the doubles point and the first three singles points to win the match.
Justin Kronauge, playing No. 5 singles, made the score 2-0 Buckeyes as he beat Stanford freshman Kevin Kaiser, 6-4, 6-2. Kronauge is ranked No. 69 in the nation. Matt Bruch was beaten at No. 1 singles by Bryan Koniecko, 6-3, 6-4 and Ohio State pulled away to a 3-0 lead.
The deciding match came at No. 4. OSU's Chris Klingemann, ranked No. 46, won a first-set tie-breaker over Eric McKean, then won the second set 6-2 to close out the match and give OSU the win over the No. 15-seeded Cardinal.
After losing at No. 3 doubles when Steven Moneke and Bryan Koniecko beat McKean and Jeff Zeller, 8-4, the Cardinal and Buckeyes went to tie-breakers at both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. In the end, Ohio State won the doubles point when Devin Mullings and Klingemann, the No. 22 ranked doubles team in the nation, beat Stanford's freshman tandem of Richard Wire and Paul Morrissey. Stanford won a 9-8 decision at No. 1 doubles after Bruch and Muller defeated Drew Eberly and Justin Kronauge.
Stanford Men's Tennis Results
February 16, 2007
Midtown Tennis Center
Chicago, IL
ITA National Team Indoor Championships
First Round: Ohio State 4, Stanford 0
Doubles (Ohio State wins doubles point)
1. Matt Bruch / Blake Muller (S) d. Drew Eberly/Justin Kronauge (Ohio State), 9-8
2. #22 Devin Mullings/Chris Klingemann (Ohio State) d. Richard Wire / Paul Morrissey (S), 9-8
3. Steven Moneke/Bryan Koniecko (Ohio State) d. Eric McKean / Jeff Zeller (S), 8-4
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. #62 Bryan Koniecko (Ohio State) d. Matt Bruch (S), 6-3, 6-4
2. Richard Wire (S) vs. #1 Steven Moneke (Ohio State), 7-6, 2-6, dnf
3. #42 Devin Mullings (Ohio State) vs. Blake Muller (S), 7-6, 4-2, dnf
4. #46 Chris Klingemann (Ohio State) d. Eric McKean (S), 7-6, 6-2
5. #69 Justin Kronauge (Ohio State) d. Kevin Kaiser (S), 6-4, 6-2
6. Drew Eberly (Ohio State) vs. Paul Morrissey (S), 7-6, 5-3, dnf
Order of finish: 5,1, 4
Records/Rankings: No. 2 Ohio State (8-0), No. 28 Stanford (0-5)
Day One Recap
CHICAGO - Saturday's quarterfinals will include Georgia facing Pepperdine in a rematch of last year's final at the U.S. Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men's Team Indoor Championships at the Midtown Tennis Club. The University of Illinois is hosting this year's championships, presented by DLA Piper.
Top-seeded Georgia beat No. 16 seed Penn 4-0 in Friday's first round and No. 9 Pepperdine edged No. 8 Notre Dame 4-2. Georgia beat Pepperdine in last year's Team Indoor final in Seattle and Pepperdine later avenged the loss, topping the Bulldogs in last May's NCAA final. Host Illinois, the No. 6 seed, topped No. 9 Oklahoma State tonight, 4-2, to also advance.
Also advancing to Saturday's quarterfinals were No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Virginia, No. 6 Mississippi and No. 7 Baylor. In today's first round matches Ohio State beat No. 15 Stanford 5-0; Virginia beat No. 13 Texas 4-0; Mississippi beat No. 12 Boise State 4-0; and Baylor beat No. 10 Duke 4-0. Mississippi will face Virginia in a 9 am quarterfinal match. Georgia will face Pepperdine at noon. Ohio State will face Baylor at 3:30 pm. Illinois will face the winner of the final first round match tonight between UCLA and Miami (Fla.) at 6:30 pm.
Illinois (7-1) continued its string of success at this event, having now advanced to at least the quarterfinals six straight years and nine times since 1997. UI won the doubles point against Oklahoma State and got wins in singles from Ryan Rowe, Kevin Anderson, and Ruben Gonzales. UI held off a late Cowboy comback bid when Gonzales clinched the match in dramatic fashion, outlasting Dmytro Petrov, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 (5).
This was UI's fifth win over a top-20 team this season. Oklahoma State (4-1) was looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2001. UI improves to 27-10 overall at the Team Indoors in 11 all-time appearances. It won the title in 2003 and 2004 (and reached the final on three other occasions).
Georgia won the doubles point against Penn and got wins in singles from Jamie Hunt, Nate Schnugg and Travis Helgeson. Helgeson beat Mikhail Bekker at No. 3 singles to clinch the victory. Georgia (5-0) advances to the Team Indoor quarterfinals for the third straight year and is gunning for its second straight title. The Bulldogs have now won 35 of their last 36 matches dating back to last season.
Pepperdine (7-1) won the doubles point against Notre Dame and got third-set victories from Andre Begemann, Bassam Beidas and Mahmoud Kamel in singles. Beidas put the Waves up 3-2 and Kamel beat Andrew Roth 5-7, 7-3, 7-5 at No. 6 to clinch the match. Notre Dame was looking to make its first quarterfinal appearance since 2002 when it beat Pepperdine in the first round.
Mississippi (8-0) won a tight doubles point against Boise State and got wins in singles from Karl Norberg, Robbye Poole and Erling Tveit. Tveit clinched the win at No. 1 singles, beating Luke Shields 7-5, 6-3. Ole Miss advances to the Team Indoor quarterfinals for the fourth straight year with today's win (it has advanced to the semifinals two of the last three years).
Virginia (7-0) won the doubles point and got wins in singles from Somdev dev Varman, Treat Huey and Houston Barrick. UVA reached the final two years ago in Chicago in its first ever Team Indoor appearance.
Ohio State (8-0) advances to the Team Indoors quarterfinals for the first time in three tournament appearances. The Buckeyes won a tight doubles point against Stanford and got wins in singles from Justin Kronauge, Bryan Koniecko and Chris Klingemann. Ohio State has outscored its eight opponents this season 50-1. Stanford (0-5) holds the all-time Team Indoor records for most overall appearances (31), victories (77), final appearances (16) and titles (12).
Baylor (7-1) won the doubles point against Duke, then got wins in singles from Denes Lukacs, Dominik Mueller and Michal Kokta. Mueller came back from down 4-1 in the second set to beat David Goulet 7-6, 6-4 at No. 5 singles to clinch the win. Tonight's loss ends Duke's (3-3) streak of Team Indoor quarterfinal appearances at 10. Baylor won Team Indoor title last time event was in Chicago in 2005 and has now reached the quarterfinals four of the last five years.