COLUMBUS, Ohio– Peter Kobelt and Blaz Rola, members of the Ohio State men’s tennis team, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship Wednesday afternoon at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex/Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill. Kobelt, the No. 7 seed, and Rola will continue action in the singles bracket Thursday.
In addition to his singles match Thursday, Kobelt, a redshirt junior from New Albany, Ohio, will pair with senior Connor Smith in the 32-field NCAA doubles championship. For updated singles and doubles brackets, including updated start times, log on to the official NCAA Tournament Central page.
Rola, a junior at-large selection from Slovenia, started the day of Buckeye wins with a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory vs. Ben McLachlan of California. Rola and McLachlan were headed into a second-set tiebreak before rain suspended play and forced some matches indoors. Despite the break in play, Rola cruised to victory to move his record to 27-1 overall. Up next, Rola will face Malte Stropp of Mississippi State.
Starting nearly an hour behind schedule, Kobelt, the Big Ten Conference’s automatic qualifier, also recorded an impressive opening-round win, beating Duke’s Fred Saba, 6-3, 6-2. Kobelt improves to 35-8 on the season and will face the winner between Rafael Aita of UNC Wilmington and UCLA’s Dennis Novikov next.
