Scarlet Sunrise: Ohio State men's tennis advances to NCAA quarters with win over Mississippi State
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Ohio State men’s tennis advances to NCAA quarters with win over Mississippi State
Ohio State men’s tennis already won its 18th consecutive Big Ten title. Now the Buckeyes have booked their 18th consecutive trip to the finals site of the NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Ty Tucker’s top-ranked squad did so with a 4-1 victory over No. 15 Mississippi State in an NCAA Super Regional showdown Saturday.
It was the last time Ohio State will play at home this season. The Buckeyes are now 38-0 at home in NCAA Tournament matches. What’s more, the Buckeyes improved to 33-1 on the season.
Ohio State’s lone loss so far this year came at Texas, where the Buckeyes suffered a 5-2 defeat. In Big Ten play, however, Tucker’s group dominated. Ohio State didn’t lose a match in conference competition and then won the Big Ten Tournament.
The Buckeyes have built on their league success with three wins to start their NCAA Tournament run: one against Cleveland State, one against Oklahoma State and then one against Mississippi State.
Ohio State took care of business versus its SEC foe Saturday. The Bulldogs, however, locked in a doubles victory quickly, as Carles Hernandez and Dusan Milanovic defeated No. 49 Andrew Lutschaunig and Justin Boulais, 6-1.
That said, the Buckeyes still wound up with the doubles point. Cannon Kingsley and Jack Anthrop downed Mississippi State’s Nemanja Malesevic and Michal Novansky, 6-2. Most notably, in a top-15 doubles clash, No. 3 JJ Tracy and Robert Cash from Ohio State staked themselves to a 5-1 lead and, ultimately, beat No. 11 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez from Mississippi State, 6-2.
Not only did Tracy help Cash and the Buckeyes clinch the doubles point, but the doubles win was Tracy’s 100th of his Ohio State career.
Boulais bounced back from his double setback with a smooth two-set singles victory over Malesevic. He went 6-1, 6-0 while registering his 18th win of the season, and it meant that much more considering it was his last time playing a home match in scarlet and gray.
While Boulais got things done on Court 1, Cash did the same on Court 6. Also in his final home match with the Buckeyes, Cash put away Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Mississippi State followed with its lone singles win of the day, and that came from Jovanovic, who entered the match ranked No. 48 in singles. He pulled a 6-4, 6-2 upset of Kingsley, the No. 17 singles player in the nation heading into the weekend.
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But that Bulldogs resistance was short-lived. Anthrop finished off the match for the Buckeyes with a 6-3, 7-6(3) defeat of the aforementioned Benito Sanchez Martinez. That tiebreaking, match-deciding set gave Anthrop and Ohio State the clinching point Saturday.
Next up, the Buckeyes face No. 8 Columbia Thursday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
RELATED
Former Buffalo punter Anthony Venneri commits to Buckeyes
Ohio State added Buffalo transfer punter Anthony Venneri as a preferred walk-on Saturday. Venneri has two years of eligibility remaining after starting 22 games for the Bulls over the last two seasons.
The Hamilton, Ontario, native took an official visit to Ohio State this weekend. It wasn’t long before he pledged to the Buckeyes.
Venneri won’t take up a scholarship spot, but he will compete for the starting punter job and give the specialist room an experienced option at the position.
For more on Venneri and his commitment, head on over here.
What Buckeyes toughest opponents did in transfer portal this offseason
Ohio State made a massive splash in the winter transfer window with one addition after another, including the successful portal recruitment of AP second-team All-American safety Caleb Downs from Alabama.
Even though the Buckeyes have been less active since the spring transfer window opened and closed, it’s still fair to say they brought in their most talented portal class to date this offseason.
But what about their toughest opponents on the 2024 schedule? How did they fare in the transfer portal?
Lettermen Row tackled that question here.
Counting Down
Buckeyes vs. Akron: 113 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 204 days
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