Michigan Men Win 4-3 Thriller Over USC to Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals; No Upsets in Friday's Five Women's Super Regionals

Six Super Regionals were played today, and all had their storylines, but the men's match between No. 10 Southern California and No. 7 Michigan in Ann Arbor was in many ways the most intriguing of the weekend. 

Often those highly anticipated matches don't deliver, but this one certainly did, coming down to a third set tiebreaker at line 1 singles, with Michigan's Ondrej Styler earning a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5) decision over Stefan Dostanic that sent the Wolverines to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight year. 

I'll have a full recap of the match, with quotes from Styler, Michigan head coach Adam Steinberg and USC head coach Brett Masi on the Tennis Recruiting Network Monday, but here's a brief synopsis from my trip to Ann Arbor.

Late Thursday the match was moved up three hours, from 4 p.m. to 1 p.m. due to a threat of rain later in the day, and while that could have affected the size of the crowd, attendance was impressive and the Wolverine fans were vocal and supportive throughout.

The doubles point was by far the least compelling tennis of the day, with Michigan needing only 29 minutes to post two 6-1 decisions and take a 1-0 lead.

But USC came roaring back, won the first two singles points, with Lodewijk Westrate at line 6 and Learner Tien at line 2 getting straight sets wins. Andrew Fenty brought the Wolverines back to 2-all with a victory at line 3, but the Trojans got a win from Wotjek Marek at line 4 to go up 3-2. The matches at line 1 and line 5 were in the third sets, and Michigan had a break lead in both. 

Gavin Young was able to close out his win at 5 to make it 3-3, just as Styler was serving for the fourth point at 5-4. Dostanic broke, with some excellent returns the key to his pulling even, but lost his next service game. The rain drops began to fall at that point, but it was never heavy enough to stop play. It did add to the already peak tension, however, although the Michigan fans breathed a sigh of relief when Dostanic dropped serve again, giving Styler a second chance to serve it out, but again Dostanic broke, forcing the deciding tiebreaker. Dostanic led 4-1, but dropped both his serves leading 4-3. He immediately got the mini break back but missed a return, giving Styler a match point. 

After Dostanic's first serve clipped the tape and went wide, the second serve was as pressure-packed as they come, and when it went long, the Michigan dogpile was underway, as the USC team made its way to console a downcast Dostanic.

Michigan[7] 4, Southern California[10] 3

DOUBLES:

1. Andrew Fenty/Gavin Young(MICH) d. Samuel Rubell/Wotjek Marek(USC) 6-1

2. Patrick Maloney/Nino Ehrenschneider(MICH) d. Bradley Frye/Learner Tien(USC) 6-1

3. Ondrej Styler/Jacob Bickersteth(MICH) v Ryan Colby/Stefan Dostanic(USC) 5-2, unf.

Order of finish: 2,1

SINGLES:

1. Ondrej Styler(MICH) d. Stefan Dostanic(USC) 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5)

2. Learner Tien(USC) d. Patrick Maloney(MICH) 6-3 6-4

3. Andrew Fenty(MICH) d. Peter Makk(USC) 6-3, 6-4

4. Wotjek Marek(USC) d. Nino Ehrenschneider(MICH) 6-4, 7-5

5. Gavin Young(MICH) d. Bradley Frye(USC) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2

6. Lodewijk Weststrate(USC) d. Jacob Bickersteth(MICH) 6-3, 6-2

Order of finish: 6,2,3,4,5,1

Below are the box scores for the five women's Super Regionals, all decided by 4-1 scores, although some were definitely closer than others. 

The only quarterfinal matchup determined so far, with three more women's Super Regionals tomorrow, is between No. 7 Stanford and No. 2 Texas A&M.

Stanford[7] 4 Ohio State[10] 1

DOUBLES:

1. Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina(STAN) d. Irina Cantos Siemers/Sydni Ratliff(OSU) 6-1

2. Sara Choy/Alexandra Yepifanova(STAN) d. Shelly Bereznyak/Isabelle Boulais(OSU) 6-2

3. Connie Ma/Valencia Xu(STAN) d. Kolie Allen/Lucia Marzal(OSU) 6-2

Order of finish: 2,3,1(simultaneous finish on 3 and 1)

SINGLES:

1. Alexandra Yepifanova(STAN) d. Sydni Ratliff(OSU) 6-2, 6-1

2. Irina Cantos Siemers(OSU) d. Connie Ma 6-1, 6-4

3. Angelica Blake(STAN) d. Isabelle Boulais(OSU) 6-0, 6-0

4. Alexis Blokhina(STAN) v Lucia Marzal 0-6, 7-6(5), unf.

5. Valencia Xu(STAN) d. Shelly Bereznyak 7-5, 6-0

6. Sara Choy(STAN) v Danielle Willson(OSU) 6-4, 4-5, unf.

Order of finish: 3,1,2,5

Texas A&M[2] 4 Tennessee[15] 1

DOUBLES:

Rebeka Mertena/Esther Adeshina(TENN) d. Jayci Goldsmith/Salma Ewing(TAMU) 6-4

Mary Stoiana/Mia Kupres(TAMU) d, Catherine Aulia/Lauren Anzalotta(TENN) 6-4

Gianna Pielet/Jeanette Mireles(TAMU) d. Eleonora Molinaro/Daria Kuczer 7-6(5).

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

 

SINGLES:

Mary Stoiana(TAMU) d. Elza Tomase(TENN) 6-2, 6-1

Salma Ewing(TAMU) v Rebeka Mertena(TENN) 7-6(2), 3-6, 3-5 unf.

Mia Kupres(TAMU) v Daria Kuczer(TENN) 6-3, 2-6, 5-6 unf.

Jayci Goldsmith(TAMU) d. Eleonora Molinaro(TENN) 6-3, 6-4

Daria Smetannikov(TAMU) d. Esther Adeshina(TENN) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4

Lauren Anzalotta(TENN) d. Jeanette Mireles(TAMU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0

Order of finish: 4,1,6,5

Iowa State[11] 4 UCLA 1

DOUBLES:

1. Kimmi Hance/Elise Wagle(UCLA) d. Anna Supapitch Kuearun/Thasaporn Naklo(ISU) 6-0

2. Xinyi Nong/Ange Oby Karjuru(ISU) d. Ava Catanzarite/Sasha Vagramov(UCLA) 6-0

3. Sofia Cabezas/Miska Kaleckova(ISU) d. Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer/Fangran Tian(UCLA) 6-2.

Order of finish: 2,1,3

SINGLES

1. Thasaporn Naklo(ISU) d. Fangran Tian(UCLA) 7-6(3), 6-0

2. Ange Oby Kajuru(ISU) d. Kimmi Hance(UCLA) 6-4, 6-1

3. Ava Catanzarite(UCLA) d. Miska Kaleckova(ISU) 6-4, 7-5

4. Anna Supapitch Kuearum(ISU) v Elise Wagle(UCLA) 6-3, 2-6, 2-2 unf.

5. Sofia Cabezas(ISU) d. Sasha Vagramov(UCLA) 6-2, 7-5

6. Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) v Chie Kezuka(ISU) 7-6(4), 2-1, unf.

Order of finish: 2,3,1,5

North Carolina[1] 4, Florida[16] 1

DOUBLES:

1. Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee(FLA) d. Fiona Crawley and Abbey Forbes(UNC) 7-6(4)

2. Carly Briggs/Rachel Gailis(FLA) d. Elizabeth Scotty/Carson Tanguilig(UNC) 6-3

3. Reese Brantmeier/Reilly Tran(UNC) d. Emma Shelton/Sophie Williams(FLA) 6-3

Order of finish: 2,3,1

SINGLES:

1. Reese Brantmeier(UNC) d. Sara Dahlstrom(FLA) 6-3, 6-1

2. Fiona Crawley(UNC) d. Carly Briggs(FLA) 6-2, 6-3

3. Carson Tanguilig(UNC) v Alicia Dudeney(FLA) 7-6(4), 3-0, unf.

4. Elizabeth Scotty(UNC) v Rachel Gailis(FLA) 6-4, 4-3 unf.

5. Reilly Tran(UNC) d. Emily De Oliveira(FLA) 6-3, 6-3

6. Anika Yarlagadda(UNC) d. Bente Spee(FLA) 6-3 6-2

Order of finish:

1,5,6,2

Georgia[4] 4 Oklahoma[13] 1

DOUBLES:

1. Dasha Vidmanova/Mell Reasco(UGA) v Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley(OKLA) 5-3 unf.

2. Guillermina Grant/Mai Nirundorn(UGA) d. Layne Sleeth/Alexandra Pisareva(OKLA) 6-1

3. Meg Kowalski/Lea Ma(UGA) d. Julie Garcia Ruiz/Dana Guzman(OKLA) 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 3

SINGLES:

1. Layne Sleeth(OKLA) d. Lea Ma(UGA) 6-3, 6-0

2. Dasha Vidmanova(UGA) d. Dana Guzman(OKLA) 7-6(5), 6-4

3. Mell Reasco(UGA) v Carmen Corley(OKLA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-6 unf.

4. Alexandra Pisareva(OKLA) v Anastasiia Lopata(UGA) 3-6, 6-3, 4-3 unf.

5. Meg Kowalski(UGA) d. Julie Garcia Ruiz(OKLA) 6-7, 6-1, 6-1

6. Guillermina Grant(UGA) d. Emma Staker(OKLA) 6-0, 6-4

Order of finish: 6,1,5,2

Cracked Racquets will continue its coverage of the Super Regionals Saturday on their YouTube channel beginning at noon. They are also providing coverage of the D-II and D-III Team Championships on their second channel.

College Tennis Ranks has recently introduced a Live Scores page to make it easy to find results of all matches throughout the day.