The Ohio State Buckeyes may be celebrating a victory over the Illini in basketball, but their highly-ranked men's tennis team will continue to hunt for that first national title. In the meantime, the Northwestern Wildcats are playing their third straight final at the ITA Indoor Championships.
It hasn't been easy for the Wildcats to make it back to the finals. After the initial 6-1 victory over Tennessee, it was a tight 4-3 over the Florida Gators, and Sunday was just as close. The California Bears, who have been finalists in the last two NCAA Championships, pushed Northwestern until the the final match was left the court.
The doubles point went to California after their top two teams won. The singles proceeded as a back and forth affair, with Cal's Jana Juricova capturing the first point over Maria Mosolova to give her team a 2-0 win. Samantha Murray had the Wildcats first point, but Mari Andersson answered with another and the Bears were just one point away from the finals.
Northwestern had to step up their game to come back from 1-3, and they did. Stacey Lee and Lauren Lui brought in the next points, and freshman Brittany Wowchuk sealed it. The Wildcats will be playing North Carolina, who have continued to make upsets since they took out Notre Dame for a spot in this event. In the semifinals, they eliminated the top-seeds, reigning NCAA champions Duke, in a 4-3 win clinched by Sanaz Marand in the third set.
No. 2 Northwestern 4, No. 3 California 3
Jana Juricova (CAL) defeated Maria Mosolova (NU), 6-3,6-1
Samantha Murray (NU) defeated Marina Cossou (CAL), 6-3,6-3
Mari Andersson (CAL) defeated Kate Turvy (NU), 6-3,6-1
Lauren Lui (NU) defeated Kasia Siwosz (CAL), 6-3,7-6
Brittany Wowchuk (NU) defeated Annie Goransson (CAL), 7-5,6-3
Stacey Lee (NU) defeated Tayler Davis (CAL), 7-6,6-1
Andersson/Juricova (CAL) defeated Chernyakova/Lui (NU), 8-4
Cossou/Siwosz (CAL) defeated Mosolova/Wowchuk (NU), 8-2
Murray/Turvy (NU) defeated Davis/Goransson (CAL), 8-6
Click here for results from all the matches.
It was a very different scene at the University of Virginia where the one remaining Big Ten team fell. While Ohio State has remained mostly in the top three of the rankings for as many years, a national title has eluded Coach Ty Tucker and he will have to wait until May to try it again as the home team was clearly in charge of the semifinals at the ITA Men's Indoor Championships.
The match It was nearly all Virginia from the doubles point. The Cavaliers took a second point from Drew Courtney over Shuei Uzawa. Dino Marcan would take the next one to put the Buckeyes on the board, but it wouldn't really matter as Virginia won it with straight set wins from Houston Barrick and Sanam Singh. The men's championship final will now be Virginia vs. Tennessee. The Volunteers beat Texas, 5-1.
No. 2 Virginia 4, No. 3 Ohio State 1
Michael Shabaz (UVa) vs. #103 Chase Buchanan (OSU) 4-6, 6-3, 0-0 DNF
Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Justin Kronauge (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
Dino Marcan (OSU) def. #16 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) 6-1, 6-4
Drew Courtney (UVa) def. #34 Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
Houston Barrick (UVa) def. Balazs Novak (OSU) 6-2, 6-4
Lee Singer (UVa) led Matt Allare (OSU) 6-3, 3-4 DNF
Click here for results from all the matches.
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