Metka’s experience under pressure helps OSU advance
A day later, it still hadn’t totally sunk in for Kevin Metka.
With Ohio State’s fate in the NCAA men’s tennis tournament on his shoulders, the redshirt junior rallied late Friday night for a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8) victory over Mike Alford of Florida in the round of 16 in Athens, Ga.
“It was a crazy match,” Metka said yesterday afternoon. “I’m still taking it all in.”
Metka trailed 4-1 in the third set of his No. 6 singles match. He faced two match points before prevailing 10-8 in the tiebreaker to give Ohio State a 4-3 victory.
The third-seeded Buckeyes will play sixthseeded UCLA in the quarterfinals this afternoon. UCLA defeated Ohio State 4-3 in last year’s semifinals.
If today’s match comes down to Metka’s spot, the Buckeyes have reason to feel confident. Metka, from Worthington Kilbourne, has proved clutch in that spot.
In February, he won a 12-10 third-set tiebreaker over Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia to give Ohio State a 4-3 victory in the semifinals of the national indoor championships. He did the same at No. 10 Notre Dame and also won a third-set tiebreaker against Michigan.
“All those tiebreakers helped prepare me for (Friday) night, and helped me stay relaxed,” Metka said.
After falling behind Alford 4-1 in the final set. Metka broke Alford and tied it at 4-4 before the match went to the tiebreaker.
With the score tied at 8, Metka said, “I think I hit the best backhand return I’ve ever hit for a clean winner.”
Metka clinched the match on his serve when Alford hit a backhand into the net. The Buckeyes immediately swarmed the court and engulfed Metka.
“He was our fourth point in a couple other victories,” Buckeyes coach Ty Tucker said. “You’re always nervous, but I was glad he was the one out there.”
Ohio State won the doubles point and got victories from Peter Kobelt at No. 1 singles and Hunter Callahan at No. 5 before Metka pulled out his match.
The Buckeyes didn’t have much time to celebrate. Although they are the higher seed, Tucker said he considers UCLA, Virginia and Southern California to be the tournament’s leading contenders.
Ohio State won’t lack motivation, especially considering what happened last year against the Bruins.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” Metka said. “It’s going to be a dogfight. We had a close match last year against them in the NCAA tournament. We have to win the doubles point and take advantage of our opportunities because we’re not going to get many chances out there.”