Men’s Tennis: No. 1 Buckeyes dominate Michigan, remain atop Big Ten standings

Caroline Hebert
Wed, 17 Apr 2024 01:47:29 +0000
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Fifth-year Justin Boulais returns a volley from the Michigan Mens Tennis team on April 14th, 2024. Ohio State won 4-0.
Credit: Sam Cipriani | Lantern Reporter

The Ohio State men’s tennis team is now the lone remaining undefeated team in Big Ten play after posting a 4-0 victory against Michigan (13-11, 7-1 Big Ten) to close out a perfect weekend.

After a 6-1 sweep against No. 18 Michigan State (21-4, 7-1 Big Ten) Saturday, the No. 1 Buckeyes (25-1, 7-0 Big Ten) continued their momentum into Sunday’s match at the Auer Tennis Complex. Despite the day’s heavy winds, Ohio State managed to handle the doubles point and held strong through singles as they won all six opening sets.

“It feels amazing to be undefeated,” fifth-year Justin Boulais said. “It’s always a great feeling to beat these guys, especially Michigan.”

Doubles started slow for the Buckeyes as all three courts traded breaks back and forth throughout their matches.

Fifth-year Cannon Kingsley and redshirt sophomore Jack Anthrop kicked off their doubles match with a 3-0 lead, then lost the next three games before coming back and sealing a 6-3 win over sophomores Mert Oral and Bjorn Swenson on court three.

Michigan followed on court three by getting even with the Buckeyes after juniors Will Cooksey and Patorn Hanchaikul won their doubles match 6-4 over Andrew Lutschaunig and Jack Anthrop on court two.

With doubles in a tie, the point was left to court one to be decided. The No. 2 pair of fifth-year Robert Cash and senior J.J. Tracy rolled a 7-1 win over seniors and No. 24-ranked Gavin Young and Jacob Bickersteth to clinch the match and put the Buckeyes in a 1-point lead going into singles.

The wind began to pick up once singles started, making it difficult for some courts to control the match.

“The wind was blowing 30 miles an hour out there today, it was crazy,” Tracy said.

However, that didn’t stop No. 16 Tracy as he was the first Buckeye to finish his singles match, taking both his first and second sets, 6-2, 6-2, over Hanchaikul on court four.

“It’s always important to put pressure on the scoreboard when you’re playing a big rival like Michigan,” Tracy said. “We had it close in doubles, but it felt good to get my team to an early lead.”

To put Ohio State in a 3-point lead, No. 25 Anthrop topped Swenson with a 6-3, 6-4 victory on court three.

The match was clinched when sophomore Alexander Bernard beat Cooksey 7-5, 6-4 on court five. Bernard will remain undefeated this spring with this win being his 52nd career singles win.

“This win feels great,” Tracy said. “I mean Michigan, Michigan State, you know, we always have those matches marked on our calendar.”

Boulais was in his third set against Bickersteth when the match was clinched. The Buckeye won his first set 6-4 but fell short of winning the second after Bickersteth topped him 6-3.

“The biggest thing that mattered today was just keeping the right head and competing as hard as you can,” Boulais said. “I felt like there were some moments in the match where I did really well with that, but there were some others that could have gone better, overall happy that the guys were able to get it done.”

This win is now the second time Ohio State has beaten Michigan this season, as it last defeated the Wolverines in another 4-0 sweep in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 17.

After their two wins from the weekend, the Buckeyes are now just one win away from clinching their 18th consecutive Big Ten title.

“We have to take all these guys super seriously because everybody’s good, so we’re just gonna do our best to prepare as hard as we can, have a good week of training and see what happens,” Boulais said.

Before heading to their conference championship, they will head to Nebraska on Friday and Wisconsin Sunday with matches to cap the regular season.

“We have two big matches next week to close out the Big Ten title, then we’ll get back and watch some film and obviously prepare to see these teams again,” Tracy said.