The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Drop Close Match To No. 5 Ohio State
4/14/2010 | Men's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. -- The No. 18 nationally ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team lost another close match, this time it was 4-2 to No. 5 Ohio State, Wednesday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
This marked the Rebels' sixth loss to a top 10 team this year, as they fell to 15-6 overall. Ohio State improved to 25-1. Just like most of the other top 10 matches, this one was another tight match where a few hits of the ball made the difference.
"It was a great effort by a young team. We came up a little short, but I saw lot of positives," head coach Billy Chadwick said. I want to thank everyone for coming out. It was a great crowd. What you saw was a team that is one of the teams that could possibly win the NCAA Championship, and we played them down to the wire."
Ole Miss had chances to gain the first point, even after losing the No. 3 match 8-3. Tucker Vorster and Jonas Lutjen won their third match in a row since moving to No. 2 doubles, breaking Matt Allare and Shuhei Uzawa to win it 9-7. The point came down to No. 1, where the Marcel and Chris Thiemann had chances to win it, up a break early on the Buckeye team of Chase Buchanan and Dino Marcan. Ohio State broke back and then at 5-5 they broke the Ole Miss duo for a 7-5 lead. The Thiemann's broke back for 6-7, but couldn't convert on their serve, as Ohio State took the 1-0 lead.
The Buckeyes then went ahead 2-0 as Balazs Novak defeated Rebel freshman Harry Fowler 6-3, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.
However, the Rebels kept fighting and earned two points in straight set wins. Chris Thiemann, the hero in Sunday's 4-3 win against Alabama, handed OSU's Uzawa a 6-0, 6-3 loss at No. 4 singles to put Ole Miss on the board. Not long after, Vorster, ranked No. 81 in the nation, evened it up, with an impressive 7-5, 6-3 win over 91st-ranked Marcan at No. 2 singles.
"I felt the guys did a good job of fighting," Vorster said. "The doubles is always a big deal. If we had won the point, it could have been a different story. We were right there with them, it was a good match."
Ole Miss fell behind 3-2 when Lutjen lost a tough first set tiebreaker to Buckeye senior Justin Kronauge 7-6(8) and then dropped the second set 6-0. Kronauge is ranked No. 36 and just became the all-time leader in singles and doubles (255) at Ohio State. Lutjen had chances to win the first set up 5-3 in the breaker.
With Adrian Forberg Skogeng on serve in the third set against his opponent at No. 5 singles, Ohio State closed out the match with 12th-ranked Chase Buchanan coming back to beat 54th-ranked Marcel Thiemann 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1.
"The doubles point could have gone either way, and for us to beat these guys, we needed it to go our way," Chadwick said. "We had a good shot at winning at No. 5. Then we're just one point behind. So it could have been the doubles point."
The Rebels will re-group and get ready to host arch-rival Mississippi State in their last regular season match, Saturday at 3 p.m.
#5 Ohio State 4
#18 Ole Miss 2
DOUBLES
1. Buchanan/Marcan (OSU) def. Thiemann/Thiemann (OM) 8-6
2. Vorster/Lutjen (OM) def. Allare/Uzawa (OSU) 9-7
3. Kronauge/Novak (OSU) def. Forberg Skogeng/Vazquez Catoira (OM) 8-3
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
SINGLES
1. Chase Buchanan (OSU) def. Marcel Thiemann (OM) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
2. Tucker Vorster (OM) def. Dino Marcan (OSU) 7-5, 6-3
3. Justin Kronauge (OSU) def. Jonas Lutjen (OM) 7-6(8), 6-0
4. Chris Thiemann (OM) def. Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) 6-0, 6-3
5. Adrian Forberg Skogeng (OM) vs. Matt Allare (OSU) 4-6, 6-4, 2-3, sus.
6. Balazs Novak (OSU) def. Harry Fowler (OM) 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 2, 3, 1
