Category: Men’s Tennis

Ohio State men’s tennis beats Michigan to advance to final four of NCAA Tournament

Revenge is a dish best served with an ace. #GoBucks

The Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry endured another chapter on Thursday, but this time on the tennis court. As luck would have it, the No. 4 seed Buckeyes and No. 5 seed Wolverines met in Champaign, Illinois, in a round of eight matchup of the men’s NCAA tennis tournament.

The two have played three times this year, with Michigan taking two out of three. Ohio State won the Big Ten regular-season title, while the Wolverines got revenge by beating the Buckeyes in the championship match of the Big Ten tournament. OSU has long been the dominant program in the conference, but Michigan was working hard to change that this season.

That same revenge Michigan recently was turned upside down on Thursday though with Ohio State taking down its rival 4-2 to advance to the final four of the NCAA tournament. And boy was it entertaining.

The Buckeyes started off on the wrong foot by giving up the doubles point to Michigan and had to battle back in the singles matches. OSU took the first two singles matches after some weather tried to ruin their momentum when JJ Tracy evened things up 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-2 win, followed by Justin Boulais’ 6-2, 6-3 match victory. Cannon Kingsley then won 6-4, 6-4 moments later, but Jake Van Emburgh lost his match to make it 3-2 in favor of Ohio State.

From there, it was a nail-biter, with Andrew Lutschaunig clinching a 7-6, 6-4 victory on an ace serve to send the Buckeyes into the final four for the first time since 2018.

Ohio State will next be in action Saturday at 11 AM ET against No. 8 seed Kentucky after the Wildcats upset No. 1 seed TCU.

Ohio State men’s tennis to face a familiar foe as it advances to final eight of NCAA tournament

The Bucks are moving on in the NCAA men’s tennis tournament and will face a familiar foe. #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s tennis team will head to the final eight of the NCAA tournament once again.

Despite notching two indoor titles, the outdoor national championship has been an elusive one for the Buckeyes. After beating No. 13 seed USC in a super-regional of the 2022 NCAA tournament on Saturday, No. 4 seed OSU will get another chance, this time in Champaign, Illinois.

It wasn’t against the Trojans for Ohio State. After starting things off by securing the doubles point, OSU’s Justin Boulais dominated in the first singles match, winning 6-4, 6-1 to put the Buckeyes up 2-0.

USC cut it to 2-1 with the next singles finish, and OSU found itself trailing in all three of the final sets but was able to orchestrate comebacks to clinch the match with a Jake Van Emburgh three-set win. The Buckeyes won the match 4-2 to head to their 14th quarterfinal in program history.

To make things even more interesting, Ohio State will face off against its arch-rival, No. 5 seed Michigan, which got by Texas to also punch its ticket to Champaign. The two have met three times this year with OSU winning one of the matchups and the Wolverines two. The Buckeyes were the regular-season Big Ten champions, while Michigan knocked off OSU to win the tournament title.

If you are so inclined and interested, the two will do battle at either 3 PM or 4 PM ET in Champaign, Illinois.

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Ohio State men’s tennis clinches 15th straight Big Ten title

Champs again!

The Ohio State men’s tennis program has been on one of the most impressive rolls you’ll see in any sport at any level and it just continued over the weekend. The team’s final two matches of this season were canceled because of COVID-19 precautions, but it still managed to win all seven matches to take home its fifteenth straight Big Ten regular-season title.

The Buckeyes did it convincingly too, sweeping six matches and yielding just one point in the match-by-match scoring system. Overall, it’s Ohio State’s eighteenth overall conference title, speaking volumes for what head coach Ty Tucker has done since arriving in Columbus.

The Buckeyes have won two indoor titles during the run (2014 and 2019), but have yet to bring home an elusive outdoor title under Tucker despite coming achingly close. The team is currently ranked No. 2 in the country and will undoubtedly give it another run this postseason.

But, first things first, the Big Ten tournament is set to take place in Madison, Wisconsin on Friday. Ohio State is clearly the prohibited favorite and we’ll be on top of it for you.

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Ohio State men’s tennis falls in ITA indoor semifinals

It was a good run. Now go get that outdoor title. #GoBucks

It was beginning to look like the No. 1 ranked Ohio State men’s tennis team was poised to take home the ITA indoor crown, but it was not to be. After winning its first 11 matches this year while only losing two points along the way, the Buckeyes weren’t able to get it done against TCU on Sunday, falling in a tight 4-3 affair.

Things did not start out well for the Buckeyes. They fell behind 0-1 early by not being able to secure the doubles point. They rebounded to take three-straight points in singles matches with Cannon Kingsley, JJ Tracy, and James Trotter all notching victories in their matchups, but lost the next two before James Van Emburgh lost in a close three-setter to give the Horned Frogs the 4-3 win.

Ohio State already has two ITA indoor national titles to their credit (2014 and 2019) but has yet to win that elusive outdoor title. That quest will now begin with a disappointing end in Seattle.

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Ohio State men’s tennis takes over No. 1 spot in polls

The Ohio State men’s tennis team has completed the climb to the top. #GoBucks

Fresh off two top ten wins, including an upset of then No. 1 Tennessee, the Ohio State men’s tennis team has moved to No. 1 themselves according to both the ITA and the Tennis Channel / USTA College Tennis polls this week.

OSU has been among the best programs in the country over the last several years and consistently fought for that No. 1 spot, but it’s the first time since February 20 of 2019 that the Buckeyes have held the top spot. OSU fell short of a national title that season though, finishing at No. 3 in the polls.

This past weekend, Ohio State swept No. 1 Tennessee 4-0 before also taking care of No. 6 Virginia by the same score. The Buckeyes haven’t dropped a point in five matches.

OSU will next be in action against No. 10 Kentucky at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center on Friday. It’ll then be a quick turnaround to host No. 6 Wake Forest on Sunday.

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Roundtable: The best Florida Gators sports moments from 2021

Take a look at what the Gators Wire staff thinks looking back on 2021.

We have officially crossed over into the new year, leaving behind a tumultuous 2021 while heading into a hopefully more optimistic 2022. While the sports world bounced back from the effects of COVID the year prior, the pandemic still continued to plague many aspects of life, hardly giving any sense of a return to normalcy.

It was a pretty tough year for the University of Florida as well, as I laid out in an opinion column back in early November. Aside from all of the political issues the institution dealt with, the athletic program saw the loss of the legendary soccer coach Becky Burleigh to the pros, the dismissal of its women’s basketball head coach Cam Newbauer amidst accusations of abuse from his players, and of course, the grand finale of head football coach Dan Mullen getting sacked.

But it was not all bad.

Florida still remains the preeminent school for collegiate athletics and had plenty of memories to celebrate as well. Here is a look at the Gators Wire staff’s favorite moments from 2021.

Looking back at the 10 top stories from Florida sports in 2021

Take a look at the 10 top stories from the past year, as told by Pat Dooley.

It was a nice winter’s day when the two men stepped into the sun at one of the entrances that lead downstairs at the Swamp. They were waiting for a press conference where Urban Meyer would be introduced as the Florida football coach.

But before that would happen, Meyer and Dan Mullen wanted to stand there and look at the stadium, visions of championships dancing in their heads. This was where they would make history happen.

And they did and the success flowed for those two coaches, even after they split up. Who could have predicted what would happen to both of them in 2021?

That moment has always stuck with me because I was sitting in the bleachers waiting to go to the third floor for the presser that day in late 2004. I thought about it a lot this year when I wasn’t binge-watching “The Mandalorian” or hammering out stories (“semi-retired”) or enjoying the two-TV set up in my office.

We thought 2020 in a full-blown pandemic was strange, but 2021 made a pretty good run at it.

The year has passed and most Gator fans are happy to see it go. It wasn’t what they hoped for, but there were some highlights.

Here are the top 10 stories of the year involving Gator sports for the year that was.