COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's tennis team (8-1) traveled to Seattle, Wash. Tueday to participate in the 2013 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship. The Buckeyes are the fourth seed in the tournament and will meet California, the No. 13 seed, at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) Friday in the first round at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. Additional matches will be held at the Seattle Tennis Club and the entire tournament, hosted by the University of Washington, will run through Feb. 18.

 

Tournament Central

The University of Washington is serving as hosts of the 2013 ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship. Live scores, as well as updated brackets and times, can be found HERE.

 

First-Round Match Ups (Times in pacific standard)

8 a.m.

No. 12 Ole Miss vs. No. 6 Georgia

No. 14 Tennessee vs. No. 3 UCLA

 

11 a.m.

No. 10 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Kentucky

No. 15 Texas A&M vs. No. 2 USC

 

2:30 p.m.

No. 5 Pepperdine vs. No. 11 Florida

No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 13 California

 

5:30 p.m.

No. 8 Oklahoma vs. No. 9 Duke

No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 16 Washington

 

Ranked Rivals

Ohio State and Cal square off for just the second time. It is the first meeting between the programs since the 2003 NCAA tournament when the Buckeyes fell to the Golden Bears 4-0 in the round of 16. This time out, both teams sport a handful of ranked players in singles as well as doubles. For No. 4 Ohio State, No. 2 Peter Kobelt paces the Buckeyes with a spring season singles record of 6-1. Kobelt's lone loss came to No. 8 Ku Singh of Georgia. The next highest ranked Buckeyes are No. 30 Connor Smith with a record of 7-1 and No. 37 Chris Diaz with a 5-1 record. No. 62 Blaz Rola, 5-0 on the spring season, looks to remain undefeated. The Buckeyes ranked doubles team consists of Kobelt and Smith who are No. 36 and 3-1 when paired together.

 

No. 13 California boasts four singles players and two doubles teams ranked in the ITA polls. Making up this group of ranked student-athletes is No. 48 Christoffer Konigsfeldt, No. 61 Campbell Johnson, No. 82 Ben McLachlan and No. 102 Chase Melton. Additionally Johnson and Konigsfeldt are No. 14 when playing doubles together, while McLachlan and his older brother Riki McLachlan are No. 22.

 

Buckeyes Historically

The Buckeyes' appearance in the 2013 championship marks their seventh-consecutive. Ohio State has finished as runner-up three times, including its 2012 loss to USC, the eventual NCAA Champion. The other years, the Buckeyes finished second were in 2007, when the Scarlet and Gray lost to eventual national champion Georgia and 2008, with a finals loss to Virginia. From 2005 to 2006, Ohio State advanced to the semifinals and in 2009 to the quarterfinals.

 

The ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship is the ITA's longest running national championship, which dates back to 1973. Stanford has won the most titles with 12 and is followed by UCLA with seven. The team that has reached the final has gone on to win the NCAA crown 16 times since 1973.

The University of Washington, who is serving as hosts for the seventh time, has never won the tournament.

 

How Did They Get There?

As one of 15 host teams during the ITA Men's Kick-Off Weekend, Ohio State defeated ETSU 7-0 and Miami 7-0 Jan. 26-27 at the Varsity Tennis Center. During the weekend, the Buckeyes were perfect in the singles lineup, going 12-0. For complete stories on each match, visit OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

 

Did You Know?

Three of the teams that qualified for the team indoor championship are on the 2013 Buckeye schedule. Ohio State already has faced No. 6 Georgia, winning 5-2 in Columbus, and No. 15 Texas A&M, losing 4-3 in College Station. The Scarlet and Gray will face No. 5 Pepperdine March 12 in Malibu, Calif.

 

Next Time Out

Ohio State will come back to Columbus for two home matches against Notre Dame at noon on Feb. 23 and LSU at noon Feb. 24. Both matches will be held in the Varsity Tennis Center.