Top Seed Ohio State Escapes Host SMU’s Upset Bid, Stanford Survives Arizona State in 4-3 Thrillers on Opening Day of ITA Men’s D-I Team Indoor Championships; Johnson Reaches Semis at M15 Sunrise; Chang Faces Preston in ITF J300 Final in Peru

©Colette Lewis 2026–
Dallas TX–

Of the two 4-3 decisions, The more expected of the two 4-3 decision came in the 9:00 am match between No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Arizona State, although the Cardinal looked in control after taking two of the three doubles sets at lines 1 and 3, while the Sun Devils took line 2.

Stanford then proceeded to take the first three sets in singles, but Arizona State took the remaining three, needing just one split to get themselves right back in the match. 

They got that quickly at line 2, with Ofek Shimanov taking the second set from Hudson Rivera, and the battle was joined.

Stanford’s Samir Banerjee, who was playing with a brace on his left wrist and was able to only slice the ball on the backhand, also experienced a back issue in the second set and retired to Bor Artnak at line 1 with the score 7-6(4), 4-1, pulling Arizona State even. 

Alex Chang put Stanford up 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mathias Bondaz at line 3, while Stanford’s Nico Godsick had earned a split over Jelani Sarr at line 6. Rivera then picked up the third point for the Cardinal with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 win at line 2, and a tough but routine win was on the horizon with Jagger Leach in a second set tiebreaker with Shu Matsuoka at line 4 that would seal the win for Stanford. But Matsuoka took that tiebreaker, so the search for the fourth point was still on, with Godsick leading Sarr at 4-2 in the third and Alex Razeghi, who had dropped the first set to Niels Villard at line 5, taking the second and leading 2-0 in the third.

Godsick served for the match at 5-4 and had a match point on the deciding point, but Sarr hit a return winner to deny him the clinch, and Sarr held for a 6-5 lead, as Leach lost his third set to Matsuoka 6-1. Sarr then broke Godsick for the Sun Devils third point, when Godsick was given a point penalty for ball abuse serving down 30-40.

By then Razeghi was up a break in the third set, and he was right where he wanted to be, even though he had no experience in that situation.

“It was a great experience. I’ve always dreamed of having a 3-3 clinch, and this was my first one,” said the sophomore from Texas. “It was something I thought about a lot, so when the moment did come, I wasn’t nervous at all. I felt great out there, body feels good and I’m just happy for the team win.”

Razeghi showed no sign of nerves serving for the match after Villard had held for 5-3, with a backhand pass and then an ace giving him three match points at 40-15. He only needed one, with Villard sending backhand return of a second serve long. 

“Once I got that first point in the last game, it was smooth sailing for me,” Razeghi said. “I always thought about how it would be with all the people watching in the 3-3 match, and I’m very happy how I handled that today.”

Razeghi kept his celebration muted, reasoning that the job’s not finished, and the team needs to start over again in Saturday’s quarterfinal against the winner of Ohio State and SMU.

“What a team victory this was,” said head coach Paul Goldstein. “We got contributions down the line, and we were able to survive today because of everybody’s performance, whether you were technically participating or not, and that was an example of it.”

The match between top seed Ohio State and No. 8 seed SMU was widely expected to be a routine win for the undefeated Buckeyes, who had beaten Wake Forest and Virginia, teams who had been No. 1 at the time of the losses in Columbus. But Ohio State was challenged down to the last points of a third-set tiebreaker with senior Jack Anthrop getting his first career 3-3 clinch over Georgi Georgiev at line 3.

The Buckeyes got a glimpse of their future struggles when SMU pushed them to the limit in the doubles point. Although Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin won comfortably at line 2, SMU’s Trevor Svajda and Alex Finkelstein took line 1 over Alex Bernard and Alex Okonkwo 7-6(2). SMU’s Jerry Barton and Krish Arora saved eight match points before finally succumbing on the ninth to Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima, with the Buckeyes securing what proved to be the deciding point. 

The teams split first sets, but Ohio State got the first two points in singles with Nikita Filin getting a win at line 6 and Bryce Nakashima following a few minutes later with a victory at line 4.

Up 3-0, the attention turned to Anthrop, who had won the first set and was up a break in the second. But Georgiev took the second set, and after Trevor Svajda beat Aidan Kim 6-4, 6-2 at line 1 and Jerry Barton defeated Loren Byers at line 5, it was 3-2 and the finish line was not in sight for either team. Preston Stearns and Alex Finkelstein were in a third set at line 2, with Finkelstein getting a break at 4-4 and serving for the third point, which he secured just as Anthrop and Georgiev were beginning their third set tiebreaker.

Anthrop got a mini-break at 2-0 and was the steadier of the two players throughout the tiebreaker, while Georgiev began to show signs of fatigue with several unforced errors. Anthrop went up 6-1, and brought out his best shot of the match on that point, recovering from being pinned into the backhand corner and scrambling for a dropshot and flicking a sharply angled forehand volley from near the chair umpire to the opposite sideline.

Anthrop had reached several of Georgiev’s drop shots earlier in the match but had not been able to convert any into winners, but he was not letting this opportunity pass him by.

“I think that was like, what, the fifth time I’d been in that spot and not got that,” said the 22-year-old from Florida. “I just saw it and said, nah, I’m not doing it this time, we’re ending it right here. I’m not stressing anybody else out anymore.”

Head coach Ty Tucker said he wasn’t surprised that his team struggled away from their home courts.

“I feel like we’re a top 5 team in the country at home and we’re a top 25 team in the country in a true road match,” Tucker said. “We hope to keep getting a little bit better, inch by inch and find ourselves playing to 90 percent of our level. It’s hard in the first match, and SMU’s very good.”

The two matches in the afternoon and evening were competitive, but went according to seed, with No. 2 Virginia beating No. 7 seed Clemson 4-0 and No. 3 seed Mississippi State defeating No. 6 Florida 4-1.

Virginia[2] d. Clemson[7] 4-0

Mississippi State[3] d. Florida[6] 4-1

The four matches at the Baylor site were much more predictable, with only one mild upset, with host Baylor defeating No. 4 seed Central Florida 4-0.

The schedule for Saturday in SMU features No. 4 Stanford versus No. 1 Ohio State at noon and No. 3 Mississippi State versus No. 2 Virginia at 3:30 pm Central.

In Waco, No. 2 TCU will play No. 3 Texas at noon, with No. 5 Baylor facing No. 1 Wake Forest at 3:30 pm Central.

Preston defeated top seed Canedla Vazquez of Argentina 6-1, 6-4 in today’s semifinals and Chang beat qualifier Londyn McCord 6-2, 6-4.

Chang and Preston, the top seeds in doubles, lost to No. 2 seeds Marianne Angel of Mexico and Camila Rodero of Chile 7-6(2), 3-6, 10-7 in today’s final.

Unseeded Gabriel Jessup and Agassi Rusher lost in the boys doubles final to top seeds Benjamin Azar of Canada and Mathys Domenc of France 6-3, 6-3.