Tag: Cannon Kingsley

Three Ohio State men’s tennis players earn All-American status

More accolades for the Ohio State men’s tennis team. #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s tennis program has been one of the most consistently high-achieving programs over the last fifteen years or so. The Buckeyes seem to have the Big Ten in a stranglehold and almost annually find their way to Orlando for the last 16 teams alive in the NCAA Championships.

This year was no different with OSU winning both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, then finding its way into the national championship match where it fell short to defending champion, Virginia.

To make it that far, Ohio State had to have some outstanding individual players, and that was certainly the case. So much so, that three of those players made it far enough in the individual portion of the NCAA Championships to garner All-American honors.

Freshman Alexander Bernard continued his late-season rise by making it all the way to the quarterfinals despite coming into the bracket as the No. 41 ranked player. He beat No. 53 Raphael Perot from Texas A&M, and No. 56 Sanir Banerjee of Stanford to secure his All-American status. Bernard went on to defeat No. 65 Andre Ilagan of Hawaii before succumbing to No. 9 Chris Rodesch of Virginia.

James Trotter also earned All-American status by getting by No. 18 Alafia Ayeni of Kentucky in a tough three-setter, then winning over No. 16 Connor Thomson of South Carolina before falling to No. 20 Andrew Fenty of Michigan.

Cannon Kingsley also became an All-American for the third time in his career despite a tough three-set loss to No. 42 Murphy Cassone of Arizona State.

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Ohio State’s Cannon Kingsley named ITA National Rookie of the Year

Ohio State men’s tennis player Cannon Kingsley got some outstanding news Monday, being named the ITA’s National Freshman of the Year.

The Ohio State men’s tennis season may not have been canceled as a byproduct of the measures put in place to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, but that didn’t stop Ohio State men’s tennis payer Cannon Kingley from getting some rather significant recognition Monday. He was announced as the ITA’s National Freshman of the Year during a virtual ceremony according to a release from an Ohio State athletics spokesman.

Kingsley is the first Buckeye freshman to be named national rookie of the year, and he is just the fourth OSU freshman to earn All-America honors.

“My first year at Ohio State was everything I could have asked for,” Kingsley said in the release. “We didn’t get an opportunity to achieve our team goals, but for me personally, I achieved some things that I will remember for the rest of my life. Receiving this award shows me that I’m right there with the top tennis players in the country, but also that I need to improve so much more in order to maintain that status. I can’t wait back to work with the coaches and my teammates and make strides to become the best team in the country next season. Also, I would not be where I am without my seniors and captains, who pushed me to put in work every single day no matter what. There’s no better feeling then playing for the “O” on my chest.”

“Cannon was having a tremendous season when it ended due to the virus,” said director of tennis Ty Tucker. “This big-time award will soften the blow of a lost season. Cannon certainly deserves this award because he played well from start to finish. He won in his very first tournament in September and also had a top-10 win in March just before the season ended. He had a number of wins over ranked opponents this year and he’s only going to get better.”

Here are some more impressive accomplishments from Kingsley during his freshman season:

  • Singles All-American
  • ITA National Rookie of the Year
  • ITA Midwest Region Rookie of the Year
  • Big Ten Freshman of the Year
  • Unanimous first team All-Big Ten
  • ITA All-American Championship Consolation Bracket Champion
  • ITA Fall Championship Round of 16
  • Only freshman invited to the USTA Winter Wild Card Playoff
  • 22-1 combined record in dual matches (12-1 singles, 10-0 doubles)
  • Nine wins over ranked opponents including two over top-10 foes
  • Defeated No. 1 Daniel Cukierman in Ohio State’s 4-2 win over No. 1 Southern Cal
  • Spent the entire season ranked in the top-25 and finished the year ranked No. 14

Ohio State has been the dominant tennis program in the Big Ten for a decade and a half now, and having Kingsley on board will only further solidify the Buckeyes’ chances of keeping that going into the future.

 

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Buckeyes go 0-4 in opening round of Columbus Challenger

Four current Ohio State Buckeyes competed at the Columbus Challenger professional tennis tournament this week.

The Columbus Challenger is taking place at the Ohio State University this week. As I’ve explained before, the Columbus Challenger series is an excellent opportunity, both for American tennis players in general, Ohio State’s tennis program, and tennis fans around Columbus.

Ohio State hosts multiple Challenger Tour events throughout the year. The Challenger Tour is the second-highest professional men’s tennis tour, right below the ATP World Tour. Challenger tournaments are usually filled by players ranked from 100-400 in the world. Ohio State uses the Challengers in Columbus to increase fan interest, to help with recruiting, and to give current (and former) Buckeyes the chance to compete against some of the best in the world.

Four current members of the Men’s Tennis team were given entry to the Challenger. Unfortunately for them, none managed to advance to the second round this time. However, all of them performed admirably against some of the top opponents–certainly a higher-caliber opponent than you’ll see in most college matchups.

John McNally, likely the most pro-ready Buckeye, took World No. 275 Roberto Quiroz to two tiebreaks. However, the Cincinnati couldn’t win either of them, so he lost 7-6 7-6. Freshman phenom Cannon Kingsley also took Lloyd Glasspool to a first-set tiebreak, but Kingsley lost the tiebreak and the second set as well. Redshirt freshman Andrew Lutschaunig was given a qualifying spot, and he had to take on World No. 208 Zhe Li. Lutschaunig was also able to force a first-set tiebreak, but he lost it and the second set as well. This morning, Justin Boulais fell to World No. 270 Guilherme Clezar in straight sets as well.

So while current Buckeyes might not have won a single set against their four opponents, they all played tough and impressed against top-caliber competition. They might not have earned any ranking points and I’m sure all would have loved to have advanced, but this is a great experience and they played really well.

Former Buckeyes J.J. Wolf and Mikael Torpegaard–each former champions of Columbus Challengers–received first-round byes and are still in the tournament. Wolf begins his tournament today (Tuesday) against World No. 273 James Ward, while Torpegaard begins tomorrow.

Ohio State Men’s Tennis survives battle with No. 6 Wake Forest

The Ohio State Men’s Tennis team keeps on being challenged with Top 10 opponents, and the Buckeyes keep coming up with the answers. First it was against then-No. 1 Texas, then it was then-No. 1 USC. The Buckeyes followed that up with a win over No. …

The Ohio State Men’s Tennis team keeps on being challenged with Top 10 opponents, and the Buckeyes keep coming up with the answers.

First it was against then-No. 1 Texas, then it was then-No. 1 USC. The Buckeyes followed that up with a win over No. 7 Texas A&M, and then they knocked off No. 6 Wake Forest in a gritty battle Saturday night.

Wake Forest beat Ohio State for the 2018 National Championship, and the Buckeyes were out for revenge. Ohio State got off to a good start by winning the doubles point, but the Demon Deacons got quick wins by Bar Botzer and Taha Baadi to take a 2-1 lead. After that, this turned into an incredible match.

The Buckeyes got an important come-from-behind third-set victory by Cannon Kingsley on Court 2. Kingsley keeps on taking down tough opponents, and this match was no different.

The Buckeyes and Demon Deacons split Courts 4 and 6 with runaway third sets in each (6-1 win by Ohio State’s Kyle Seelig and 6-3 by Wake Forest’s Sid Banthia). So it all came down to the final set between James Trotter and Eduardo Nava on Court 5.

Trotter earned a break for a 5-3 lead with a huge forehand pass, but he couldn’t serve out the match. He fought back from 0-30 while serving at 5-5, and then celebrated victory when a Nava forehand went long on the deuce point in the next game.

The Buckeyes will face North Carolina in the ITA National Indoor semifinals on Sunday afternoon. North Carolina, last season, upset then-No. 1 Ohio State in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Tar Heels are currently ranked No. 4, and the Buckeyes will be out for revenge in this battle.

The winner faces the winner of USC vs No. 13 Michigan in the Monday final. The ITA rankings haven’t updated in over a week because of the ITA National Indoors this week, so USC is still technically No. 1. That top spot will almost certainly change to Ohio State when the rankings do update, but it would be nice to cap off earning with with a second consecutive National Indoors title.

Ohio State Men’s Tennis continues march to top with win over No. 1 USC

The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s tennis team upset the No. 1 USC Trojans in Columbus on Sunday.

A week after taking out then-No. 1 Texas, the Ohio State Men’s Tennis team took down another No. 1 team in the nation–the USC Trojans.

The Trojans stayed at No. 1 for a good reason–they are a rare team that has six nationally-ranked players. That is a very tough matchup for any team to beat. Even Ohio State last season–when the Buckeyes were a prohibitive No. 1 for most of the season–didn’t have six ranked players. The lowest-ranked player for USC is No. 69 Ryder Jackson, while No. 1 Daniel Cukierman leads the squad.

Ohio State wasn’t daunted by this matchup, and the Buckeyes had a great home crowd behind them. The Buckeyes took the doubles point with a 6-4 win on Court 3 and a tiebreak win on Court 2, while Ohio State’s No. 1 pair of John McNally and Robert McNally didn’t finish their set, as the Buckeyes claimed the point while that court was still in a tiebreaker.

Still, the Buckeyes needed to win three of the six singles matches, all against ranked players. McNally–whose sister Caty is making waves on the professional tour, especially with partner CoCo Gauff in doubles–took down No. 24 Brandon Holt in straight sets. The huge win was on Court 2, though, where rising star freshman Cannon Kingsley took down No. 1 Cukierman in two easy sets. USC won their matches on Courts 3 and 4, and they forced third sets on the other two. However, Buckeye sophomore James Trotter ran away with his third set against No. 65 Stefan Dostanic, and the Buckeyes took home the victory.

The Buckeyes next face No. 7 Texas A&M on Tuesday evening, again in Columbus. After that, it will be the ITA National Indoors Championships–where Ohio State enters as defending champions.

It’s been a tough road back to the top for Ohio State, after a quarterfinal loss in the NCAA tournament and the graduation of J.J. Wolf. Still, the Buckeyes should be right at No. 1 when the rankings update again, and this time the Buckeyes will want to hold on to that even deeper into the NCAAs.