Tennis season over for Big Ten players

The prospects looked good a few weeks ago for some NCAA trophies coming home to the Big Ten. The women boasted Michigan as the fourth seed and Northwestern at six and the men with Ohio State seeded four and Illinois at 13. In the individual events, there were nine singles players, including top ranked Chase Buchanan and Maria Mosolova, and seven doubles teams.  A week into the tournament, however, all the Big Ten players have gone home.

Only three players bowed out of the first day of the singles championship, but the next days did not go so well. Ohio State’s Justin Kronauge fell in the second round to Oleksandr Nedovyesov, the sixth seed from Oklahoma State. His teammate Chase Buchanan took it one further, squeezing out a three setter over Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman before he was upset by Michael Shabaz of Virginia. The other remaining Big Ten players, Dennis Nevolo of Illinois and Marek Michalicka of Wisconsin, fell in their second round matches.

The only Big Ten women’s players remaining after the first round of singles were from Northwestern.  Samantha Murray lost in the second round to top-seeded Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech.  Maria Mosolova, seeded 9-16, made it through one more before second-seeded Jana Juricova of California defeated her in the round of 16.

Doubles did not go any better for Big Ten players. The women’s teams – Whitney Taney & Rika Tatsuno of Michigan.  Elena Chernyakova & Lauren Lui of Northwestern, and Merel Beelen & Sonja Molnar of Iowa – all lost in the first round. The men’s teams did a bit better with three out of four advancing after round one.  Unfortunately, the three remaining teams of Marek Czerwinski & Dennis Nevolo of Illinois, Jason Jung & Evan King of Michigan and Chase Buchanan & Dino Marcan of Ohio State all lost their second round matches in three-setters.

Round of 16
Men’s Singles-
Michael Shabaz/Virginia (9-16) defeated Chase Buchanan/Ohio State (7), 6-2,7-6(3)
Women’s Singles-
Jana Juricova/California (2) defeated Maria Mosolova/Northwestern (9-16), 6-2,6-1

Second Round
Men’s Doubles-
Drew Courtney/Michael Shabaz-Virginia defeated Marek Czerwinski/Dennis Nevolo-Illinois, 6-3,3-6,6-4
Bradley Klahn/Ryan Thacher-Stanford (4) defeated Jason Jung/Evan King-Michigan, 6-4,3-6,6-3
Iain Atkinson/Steven Forman-Wake Forest (3) defeated Chase Buchanan/Dino Marcan-Ohio State (5-8), 6-4,5-7,6-2

Second Round
Men’s Singles-
Oleksandr Nedovyesov/Oklahoma State (6) defeated Justin Kronauge/Ohio State, 6-4,6-2
Eric Quigley/Kentucky (9-16) defeated Dennis Nevolo/Illinois, 6-3,6-2
Denes Lukacs/Baylor (9-16) defeated Marek Michalicka/Wisconsin, 6-2,6-3
Chase Buchanan/Ohio State (7) defeated Ryan Lipman/Vanderbilt, 6-3,1-6,6-4

Women’s Singles-
Irina Falconi/Georgia Tech (1) defeated Samantha Murray/Northwestern, 6-3,6-4
Maria Mosolova/Northwestern (9-16) defeated Katrina Tsang/North Carolina, 6-0,7-6

First Round
Men’s Doubles-
Reid Carleton/Henrique Cunha-Duke (1) defeated Moritz Baumann/Marek Michalicka-Wisconsin, 6-3,7-5
Marek Czerwinski/Dennis Nevolo-Illinois defeated Drew Courtney/Michael Shabaz-Virginia, 6-3,3-6,7-5
Jason Jung/Evan King-Michigan defeated Raony Carvalho/Rafael Garcia-Texas Tech, 7-6(8),7-6(2)
Chase Buchanan/Dino Marcan-Ohio State (5-8) defeated Tim Puetz/Alexander Stamchev-Auburn, 7-5,6-3

Women’s Doubles-
Marrit Boonstra/Allie Will-Florida (5-8) defeated Whitney Taney & Rika Tatsuno-Michigan, 6-3,6-4
Kayla Duncan/Katarina Tuchimea-TCU defeated Elena Chernyakova/Lauren Lui-Northwestern, 7-5(4),6-2
Nadja Gilchrist/Chelsey Gullickson-Georgia (5-8) defeated Merel Beelen/Sonja Molnar-Iowa, 6-2,6-2