Thumbnail Photo is Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
URBANA, Ill. ? On this Memorial Day in Urbana, Ill., new NCAA singles and doubles champions were crowned. Ohio State junior Blaz Rola outdueled Virginia?s Jarmere Jenkins 7-6(8), 6-4, as Rola denied Jenkins of his triple-crown bid and a wild-card berth in the U.S. Open. In doubles, Jenkins bounced back along with partner Mac Styslinger to take the title 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 over Camillone/Holiner of Texas. ???
Rola earned his fourth straight set victory out of five matches along the way to his first NCAA Singles championship. In addition, it marked the first NCAA singles championship in program history. Now a two-time national champion and four-time All-American, Rola has 109 career singles wins which moves him into OSU?s Top-10.
It was competitively balanced in the first set, with both players holding serve all the way to the tiebreak where Jenkins fell behind 6-2. Rallying back, Jenkins won the next four points to tie it 6-6. However, Rola pushed back ahead and persevered 10-8 in the tiebreak.?
The first and only break occurred mid second-set and was the championship difference maker for Rola. After breaking Jenkins to go up 4-3, Rola served and advanced the lead to 5-3.? Jenkins then held serve to get within one, but Rola would not be denied, taking the set 6-4 and the championship.?
After 90 minutes of rest between singles and doubles, Jenkins with teammate Styslinger took the court for the doubles championship against Camillone/Holiner, who were the first Texas team to reach the doubles finals since 1995. Midway through the first set, storms rolled in, forcing the remainder to be played indoors.?
The Cinderella unseeded Texas team of Camillone/Holiner, who defeated the one and three-seeds to make it to the title match, stormed ahead to take the first set 6-3.? However, the Virginia duo weathered the storm and retaliated with a 6-2 second set. A drama filled third set ensued where Jenkins/Styslinger pulled away late to take it 6-4 and the championship. The twosome became the third Virginia tandem to take the NCAA doubles crown.??
Blaz Rola, Ohio State
?It?s unbelievable. The past champions that have won this tournament, John McEnroe, the Bryan brothers, for my name to be up there it?s just overwhelming. It?s unbelievable and I?m really happy.?
On the match: ?It was tough. The conditions were humid, it was very hot, the first set lasted over an hour and I think it took a toll on both of us. I?m really happy and relaxed that I won in straight sets, it would?ve been tough to play three.?
On the first set tiebreak: ?I was up 6-2 and I was serving for it, I hit a good serve, I hit a good forehand and unfortunately I missed the second ball. I thought it?s alright, 6-3, he two great shots. On my service game he came up big again so I was thinking ?oh my god, I missed four set points, come on?. I kept my mind relaxed and thankfully I came through in the first set it was a crucial point in the match.?
Jarmere Jenkins, Virginia
On doubles: ?I told Mac no regrets, just swing out. I felt like we had a chance in every one of their service games so even when we got broken in that third set I knew we were going to be fine. We had our set plays that we trusted and they came through for us.?
On singles: ?The last serve was definitely out. It made a mark out-of-bounds. I got to it as soon as he hit the ball but the umpire told me he couldn?t do anything about it. Tough way to go out but congrats to Blaz. He?s a tough competitor. I gave it my all. Don?t have many regrets except not taking one of those break points.?
Trying to get over singles ending: ?I didn?t. I definitely started off pretty slow in doubles because I was still thinking about it. It was my last college match ever. I didn?t want to go out not having control over the things I could have control over. I wanted to fight as much as I could.?
Mac Styslinger, Virginia
Ending freshman year with two trophies: ?It?s incredible. It?s an amazing start and I?m really glad to get this doubles win.?
What he was thinking during third set: ?Just think about one point at a time and not concentrate on winning or losing. Then the rest will take care of itself.?
Talking to Jenkins after his singles loss: ?He?s a competitor. I knew he was going to come out and work hard. He shows that he?s one of the best college players ever. He?s incredible. This tournament he really put it all together.?
Chris Camillone, Texas
?We?ve put everything out there in every match we?ve played. I don?t know how many times you can honestly say that?that you can really say you left everything out there. But I know Dave and I did. It really, really sucks to lose; but if you?re going to lose at that level, then that?s just too good today. We can?t play them tomorrow even though we want to, but it was a hell of an effort, and I am glad I was a part of it. I?m glad I could do this and do it for Texas.?
?If you would have asked us from January up until yesterday if we would have expected this, there?s just no way. It?s not a lack of confidence; it?s just how can you expect this, given our positioning, given our ranking, and given we didn?t really play together in the spring except for four matches? We?re staring down opponents like (top-ranked Tennessee duo Mikelis) Libietis and (Hunter) Reece and (fourth-ranked Virginia duo Jarmere) Jenkins and (Mac) Styslinger and (third-ranked Ole Miss duo Nik) Scholtz and (Jonas) Lutjen. It?s my last season. I would have ended it with a win; that would have been nice. But if I can?t get a win, I?m going to end it like this with Dave and my two coaches, doing this as much as I can for Texas. It sucks to lose 6-4 in the third. Virginia already has one, so we wanted to get one for us. Even the last game, we fought our butts off. It?s hard to put into words. It just sucks. I guess all good things have to come to an end.?
David Holiner, Texas
?We accomplished so much more than we set out here to do. We didn?t even pack enough clothes. We didn?t expect to even make All-American. We fought as hard as we could. We made All-American. We somehow made it to the finals. We almost ratted this match out. We put it all out there; we just came up a little short today.?
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