Men’s Tennis: No. 4 Ohio State battles past No. 14 Texas A&M 4-2

Noah Barnett
Sat, 08 Feb 2025 20:28:37 +0000
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Ohio State doubles pair Aidan Kim and Will Jansen celebrate after a point during the match against Texas A&M Friday. The Buckeyes defeated the Aggies 4-2. Credit: Heidi Chang | Lantern Photographer

After suffering its first loss of the season last week, No. 4 Ohio State needed to bounce back against No. 14 Texas A&M.

They did just that Friday night as the Buckeyes got back in the win column.

After dropping the doubles point to begin the match, Ohio State (6-1) recovered and beat the Aggies (3-2) 4-2 at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.

“That team is very strong, so I’m very pleased that we were able to bounce back after [the loss] and going down the doubles point,” Buckeye junior and 2024 All-American Jack Anthrop said. “It’s not easy going down a doubles point, especially at home, but [we] took care of business.”?

The doubles action began with a matchup between Ohio State’s Preston Stearns and Bryce Nakashima, who previously won the 2023 Big Ten doubles title,and Texas A&M seniors JC Roddick and Luke Casper.?

Both teams held serve until the match was tied at 4-4. From there, Nakashima and Stearns took over and broke Aggies’ duo, holding their own serve one last time to win the match 6-4.?

But on the third court, Texas A&M evened the playing field as Tiago Pires and Ritesh Patil handled Ohio State’s Nikita Filin and Brandon Carpico to earn a 6-4 win for the Aggies. The loss marked just the second of the season for Filin and Carpico in doubles.?

With the doubles point lying in the hands of the match on court one, both teams lined up on court two to cheer on their respective group. For Ohio State, that group was two first-year transfers in Will Jansen and Aidan Kim. Across from them for this decisive doubles match was Togan Tokac and Theo Papamalamis for the Aggies.

The match was neck-and-neck and led to a tie-break.

Each duo exchanged a break of the others’ serve, but in the end, it was Tokac and Papamalamis that escaped 7-5 to give the Aggies 1-0 advantage to start.

But the Buckeyes never flinched as the singles matches began.

Chris Li got the ball rolling for Ohio State against Togan Tokac. Li took the first set 6-0 before the second set saw much of the same dominance, as the Buckeye senior won 6-2 to even the playing field for Ohio State at 1-1.

One court over, Anthrop found similar success.

Anthrop broke his opponent Pires’ serve in the first game of the second set and the rest was history as he won 6-3, 6-1 as he earned a decisive straight-sets victory.

Anthrop credited Buckeye Nation and added there’s no other crowd that he’d rather play for.

“I love being here,” he said. “I love everybody that comes and supports us. This team would not be what it is without them.”

On court six, the first set between Ohio State’s Preston Stearns and Texas A&M’s Ritesh Patil was close throughout before it went to a tie-break. Stearns played a near-flawless 7-2 tiebreaker, though, claiming the first set.

Stearns held onto the momentum from the tie-break and cruised to a 6-0 second set to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead and brought them to one point away from the rebound win they needed.

The Aggies, however, didn’t roll over. Texas A&M’s JC Roddick kept it alive with a 6-4, 6-3 win, toppling Ohio State 2024 All-Big Ten second-teamer Alexander Bernard.

Shortly after, Buckeye Aiden Kim put an end to any Aggies hopes of pulling off a comeback.?

Kim stifled Texas A&M’s Theo Papamalamis, who he had just fallen to in doubles. This time he defeated Papamalamis 6-3, 6-4 on court one to cement a 4-2 Buckeye triumph.?

“We all know [Texas A&M] is a top 10 team and it was really important for us [to get this win],” Li said. “We are heading to indoors, we needed some confidence. We know we can win. We know we can win the whole thing.”

The Buckeyes will quickly get back on the court as they get ready to face the Baylor Bears noon Sunday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.