COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vanderbilt closed out its 2015 season with a hard fought battle against the Ohio State Buckeyes in second round action of NCAAs. The Commodores fell 4-0 to top-seeded OSU, halting their chances in competing in Waco, Texas in the sweet 16. This is the second year in a row that the `Dores have fallen in second round action, dropping a heartbreaker to Columbia last season. With the loss the Commodores end the season with a 20-8 record.
“We almost found a way to turn the match around,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage, “but just came up a little short. I’m proud of what our team accomplished this year and our freshman gained experience that we will build on next year. Our focus now turns to having a great individual NCAA’s for AJ (Austin) and Rhys (Johnson)”
The Commodores opened doubles play on fire with fifth-ranked Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson bringing in the first victory of Saturday’s match. The duo dominated the Buckeyes Kevin Metka/Herkko Pollanen in an 8-1 win. The triumph on court one was the duos 17th of the spring and 29th overall.
However the `Dores couldn’t pull out the two remaining doubles matches on courts two and three, with both tandems falling to OSU, 8-5, and 8-4 respectively.
With the one-point deficit the Commodore began singles action taking two hard losses on courts six and two by senior Jeffrey Offerdahl and junior Johnson to give Ohio State a quick 3-0 deficit.
Freshman Baker Newman dropped his first set on five, but the Commodore delivered a resilient performance coming back from a 5-2 deficit to take his opponent, Kevin Metka, to a second set tiebreaker.
The future looked bright for the `Dores entering the breaker as Austin and Daniel Valent were both up on courts one, three and Kris Yee splitting on four. Newman fought to the death, but unfortunately came out on the wrong end of an 8-6 tiebreak.
While the team’s season is over, the NCAA singles and doubles tournament still awaits for two VU student-athletes. Austin and Johnson will both be taking a trip down to Waco competing in doubles play with a top-eight seed, garnering the pair automatic All-American status. AJ Austin will also be competing in singles play as an automatic All-American as a 9-16 seed.
The `Dores also look forward to the graduation of their three seniors as Austin, Offerdahl and Suresh Eswaran each receive their degrees from Chancellor Zeppos this coming Tuesday.
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Final Results:
#11 Ohio State 4, #24 Vanderbilt 0
Singles competition
- #55 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) vs. #10 Gonzales Austin (VIS) 6-7 (5-7), 4-5, unfinished
- #50 Chris Diaz (OSU) def. Rhys Johnson (VIS) 6-1, 6-4
- Herkko Pollanen (OSU) vs. #88 Danny Valent (VIS) 3-6, 3-5, unfinished
- Hunter Callahan (OSU) vs. Kris Yee (VIS) 4-6, 6-2, unfinished
- Kevin Metka (OSU) def. Baker Newman (VIS) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)
- #104 Ralf Steinbach (OSU) def. Jeff Offerdahl (VIS) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
- #5 Gonzales Austin/Rhys Johnson (VIS) def. Kevin Metka/Herkko Pollanen (OSU) 8-1
- Hunter Callahan/Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) def. Pen Binet/Ryan Smith (VIS) 8-5
- Chris Diaz/Ralf Steinbach (OSU) def. Baker Newman/Suresh Eswaran (VIS) 8-4
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Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 20-8; National ranking #24
Ohio State 27-8; National ranking #11
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,2,5)
Official: Jerri Banks T-2:06 A-192
