Nov. 6, 2011

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Blaz Rola and Chase Buchanan, members of the Ohio State men's tennis team, captured the 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Doubles Championship in stunning form Sunday at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The Buckeye duo defeated Tulsa's Clifford Marsland and Ashley Watling 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to win the highly acclaimed title. It was the second-consecutive match the Buckeye duo had to come from behind to win.

Buchanan, a senior, and Rola, a sophomore, were the No. 2 seed in the draw, while the Tulsa tandem was right behind as the third-seeded team.

"It was a great win," Buckeye head coach Ty Tucker said. "Chase and Blaz played well and won their second national event of the season. I think only four or five teams have won both events in the history of college tennis. We are looking forward to getting better and starting the [dual] season in January."

Buchanan and Rola previously won the D'Novo/ITA All-American Doubles Championship Oct. 9 in Tulsa, Okla. They beat Georgia Tech's Kevin King and Juan Spir (the top-seed in the tournament) in the event to earn the automatic bid to compete in the National Indoors this weekend.

Scott Green and Ross Wilson were the last Buckeye team to reach the National Indoors Doubles Championship. The pair defeated Marco Born and Andreas Billjestrom of Middle Tennessee State 9-7 in the 2005 final. Like Buchanan and Rola, Ross and Green were the No. 2 seed in the event. Green and Wilson also won the National Indoors title in 2004, the same season they won the ITA All-American Championship.

It is the sixth time in ITA history that the same doubles team has captured both the All-American and National Indoors in the same season. The previous times were Virginia's Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey (2007), Georgia's John Isner and Luis Flores (2006) and the aforementioned Green and Wilson (2004). Daniel Courcol and Laurent Miquelard of Mississippi State (1992-93) and Doug Eisenman and Matt Lucena of Cal (1988-89) also accomplished the impressive feat.

Buchanan (New Albany, Ohio) and Rola (Ptuj, Slovenia) handed California's Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to earn the opportunity to compete in the final. Watling and Marsland defeated Florida's Billy Federhofer and Nassim Slilam 6-3, 7-5 in their half of the bracket to finalize the doubles finale.

Buchanan and Rola earned a bye in the first round before defeating Matt Siow and Matt Spindler of Princeton 8-5 in the second round. Buchanan and Rola advanced to the semifinals with an 8-6 victory against Duke's Henrique Cunha and Chris Mengel Friday.