Trojans can’t pull off unprecedented ‘5-peat’
An outstanding four-year championship run ended for the USC men’s tennis program on Saturday, May 18, in Urbana, Ill., as the No. 4 Trojans were knocked from their throne by the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes 4-3 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
Holding serve · Freshman Max de Vroome did his best to keep the Trojans afloat by winning both his doubles and singles matches. – Corey Marquetti | Daily Trojan
The quarterfinal match set up a rematch of the 2009 NCAA title match, which USC won to claim their first of four consecutive NCAA championships. The Trojans also squared off against and defeated the Buckeyes in the 2010 quarterfinals.
But USC faced a much stronger Ohio State squad bent on revenge Saturday, as the Buckeyes first fended off the match point in the deciding doubles match and won the tiebreaker to take an early lead.
The Trojans came back from losing the doubles point, but the Buckeyes stayed in control, winning the three singles matches necessary to ultimately overcome the Trojans.
“Congratulations to [Ohio State head coach] Ty Tucker and his team,” USC head coach Peter Smith said. “They played a great match and deserved this win.”
This was the third time in the last five NCAA tournaments that USC has faced Ohio State. After upsetting the Buckeyes in the championship, 4-1, in 2009, the Trojans did the same in the 2010 quarterfinals.
The 4-3 loss gave the Trojans a 26-5 end to their 2013 season.
Two of three doubles matches stretched into exciting tiebreakers. USC’s pair of junior Ray Sarmiento and sophomore Yannick Hanfmann fell 8-3 on court one to the Buckeyes’ pair of Peter Kobelt and Connor Smith. But the match on court three was much closer, as USC’s pair of sophomore Eric Johnson and freshman Max de Vroome came down the wire against Ohio State’s Hunter Callahan and Blaz Rola. The two teams were even at 8-8 before heading to a tiebreaker, where the Trojans quickly took control, jumping to a 4-0 lead that gave them the momentum to take the 9-8 victory .
Meanwhile, USC’s undefeated pair of junior Emilio Gomez and sophomore Roberto Quiroz dueled with the Buckeyes’ McCarthy/Van Engelen. The Buckeyes served the match with an 8-7 lead, but the Trojan duo forced a tiebreak. This was a very tight tiebreak: Both teams were even at 7-7, until Ohio State scored two straight points to hold on for the win with a 9-7 decision. The Trojans’ second loss gave the Buckeyes their first point of the afternoon.
In singles, USC got on the board with Johnson putting away the Buckeyes’ Chris Diaz early in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, on court five to equalize the match 1-1. However, on court one, Gomez could not handle the sharpshooting of Ohio State’s Blaz Rola, whose 6-1, 6-0 decison made the match 2-1 Ohio State.
Once again, USC responded as de Vroome brought home a 6-3, 6-1 win in straight sets over Ohio State’s Constantin Christ.
At the No. 4 spot, the Trojans’ Quiroz fell in a first-set tiebreaker and never recovered, falling 7-6, 6-1 to McCarthy. On court three, Hanfmann reigned in the equalizer with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Connor Smith.
Tied at three victories each, the teams faced one another in a final singles match on court two.
There, the Trojans’ Sarmiento took on Ohio State’s Peter Kobelt. Both held serve throughout the match, and both sets were decided via tiebreaker. In the end, Sarmiento was outmatched by the power and heavy hitting of Kobelt, who went on to win both tiebreaks, clinching the win for the Buckeyes with a 7-6, 7-6 win.
The 4-3 loss was USC’s first loss in the NCAA tournament since 2008.
USC doesn’t have the luxury of mourning the loss of its title streak, however, as the NCAA Individuals begin today.