May 1, 2010
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men’s tennis team fell short of advancing to the championship game with a 4-0 defeat Saturday morning against the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes.
The battle started early in doubles play. Chris Freeman and Luke Rassow-Kantor dropped the first match at the No. 3 slot (8-4) before Mike Dierberger and Patrick Pohlmann took out Matt Allare and Shuhei Uzawa (8-3) at the No. 3 spot.
The doubles point came down to the top flight, where OSU’s No. 15-ranked Chase Buchanan and Dino Marcan took an early 4-1 lead before No. 14-ranked Moritz Baumann and Marek Michalicka cut the lead to 5-2 before tying the match up to force a tiebreak. The duo’s comeback came up short dropping the tiebreak to give Ohio State the 1-0 lead heading into singles.
The top-seeded Buckeyes increased the lead to two when No. 28 Michalicka, who last week played in the No. 1 spot against Buchanan, dropped his match to No. 31 Kronauge (6-3, 6-1). In the No. 1 flight, No. 22 Baumann didn’t have much success with a two-set loss to ninth-ranked Buchanan by a score of 6-3, 6-4.
Ohio State completed the sweep when Balazs Novak bested Freeman at the No. 4 position in a 6-3, 6-4 decision.
Pohlmann and Rassow-Kantor each won the first set in singles play, while Billy Bertha dropped his first set, before the matches were retired.
Ohio State improves to 14 straight wins in Big Ten tournament play to improve to 31-1 this season. This is the second year in a row the Buckeyes have knocked Wisconsin out of the Big Ten Tournament.
Wisconsin falls to 19-8 overall with a 7-3 mark in the Big Ten as the Badgers look to make their fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance.
The Badgers now await their fate when the 2010 NCAA Division I men's and women's tennis selection announcements will air between 4-5 p.m. Central time, Tuesday, May 4, on ESPNews. ESPNews is located on DirecTV channel 207/DishNetwork channel 142.
Tennis Match Results
Wisconsin vs Ohio State
May 1, 2010 at Bloomington, Ind.
(IU Tennis Center)
#4 Ohio State 4, #27 Wisconsin 0
Singles competition
1. #9 Chase Buchanan (OSU) def. #22 Moritz Baumann (WIS) 6-3, 6-4
2. #31 Justin Kronauge (OSU) def. #28 Marek Michalicka (WIS) 6-2, 6-1
3. Dino Marcan (OSU) vs. Patrick Pohlmann (WIS) 2-6, 5-4, unfinished
4. Balazs Novak (OSU) def. Chris Freeman (WIS) 6-3, 6-4
5. Matt Allare (OSU) vs. Luke Rassow-Kantor (WIS) 3-6, 6-3, 3-2, unfinished
6. Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) vs. Billy Bertha (WIS) 7-5, 2-2, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #15 Chase Buchanan/Dino Marcan (OSU) def. #14 Moritz Baumann/Marek Michalicka (WIS) 9-8 (7-5)
2. Mike Dierberger/Patrick Pohlmann (WIS) def. Matt Allare/Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) 8-3
3. Justin Kronauge/Balazs Novak (OSU) def. Chris Freeman/Luke Rassow-Kantor (WIS) 8-4
Match Notes:
Wisconsin 19-8; National ranking #27
Ohio State 31-1; National ranking #4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,1,4)
