By Stephanie Smith
Fourteenth ranked Ohio State pulled a 4-1 win from the U of L fighting men’s Cardinal tennis team on April 3 at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
The match started out well in doubles play with only one U of L doubles team losing to the Buckeyes. Cody Conley and Octavian Nicodim defeated Adrian Bohane and Paul Workentin 8-6 at No. 1, while second team Matt Mayer and Brent McCombe lost to Phil Metz and Brenton Contini 8-6. At No. 3, Paulo Carvalho and Sebastian Aspillaga crushed Jeremy Wurtzman and Conor Casey 8-5.
“I’m very happy with our number three doubles team, who beat Jeremy Wurtzman and his partner,” U of L Head Coach Rex Ecarma said. “Jeremy is well known around the country as one of the top players in the NCAA. This was the first time that team had played together and they scored a huge win.”
Unfortunately, the singles teams weren’t able to keep up their momentum to win any matches. “We seem to not have enough steam mentally to pull ahead at the finish line,” Ecarma said.
Conley lost to Wurtzman 6-4, 6-4; Carvalho was defeated by Metz 6-0, 6-3; McCombe lost 6-4, 6-4 to Workentin; and Sivertsen was defeated by Vince Ng 6-4, 6-3. Nicodim and Mayer’s games were suspended after the other matches had ended and U of L was guaranteed a loss.
Ironically, the two unfinished sets had the Cards making a run. The sets between Nicodim and Bohane were 6-4, 3-6, 1-2, before the game ended and the No. 4 singles game between Mayer and Casey was 5-7, 6-4, 1-0, before being called off.
“We have not solved the mystery of getting this team to play with killer instinct and to end off the match,” Ecarma said.
Conley shared the same concern as Ecarma. He felt Ohio State’s greatest strength was its “big plays.” He mentioned how many of the games were 4-4, and that Ohio State won because they pulled through.
Smiling, he said, “But we’ll beat them next year.”
Ecarma said: “I haven’t given up on this team. We can still be a very dangerous team at the end of the season, but we’ve got to solve that mystery on how we’re going to finish off top 20 teams. When we solve that, we’re going to be a really good team.”
The loss leaves the men’s team with a record of 8-14. The Cards close out the regular season this week at home against Indiana State on Tuesday (1 p.m.), Vanderbilt on Saturday (1 p.m.) and Virginia Tech on Sunday (10 a.m.). U of L hosts the C-USA Tournament beginning Thursday, April 18.
