Men’s Tennis: No. 2 Buckeyes sweep No. 6 Longhorns behind strong freshmen showings

Luke Caputo
Tue, 07 Feb 2023 03:00:03 +0000
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No. 2 Ohio State men’s tennis swept the No. 6 Texas longhorns 4-0 in Columbus on Sunday. Credit: Brett Price | Asst. Arts & Life Editor

Ohio State’s youth shined on a stage where it found itself pitted against a top-10 foe at a packed Ty Tucker Tennis Center.

After senior Cannon Kingsley suffered an apparent injury Sunday as No. 2 Ohio State battled No. 6 Texas, the Buckeyes turned to redshirt freshman Jack Anthrop in singles against Longhorns redshirt junior Cleeve Harper — who was part of a 2022 NCAA Championship doubles team.

Anthrop claimed a 6-4 victory in the first set against Harper, then held firm 4-4 in the second before the match went unfinished as Ohio State surged ahead in the team score en route to a 4-0 sweep.

“It was an impressive day with Kingsley going down and having to put in two freshmen against two All-Americans and [having one of the] freshmen beat one of the All-Americans they had,” head coach Ty Tucker said. “Hats off to our freshmen.”

The match kicked off with sets of doubles, featuring redshirt seniors Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter against Texas redshirt juniors Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri, senior Cannon Kingsley and junior JJ Tracy against senior Chih Chi Huang and junior Eshan Talluri as well as seniors Robert Cash and Justin Boulais against sophomore Pierre-Yves Bailly and junior Siem Woldeab.

Kingsley went down with an injury early in the set and was replaced by Anthrop.

The doubles bouts were fiercely competitive, with the duos of Cash and Boulais and Lutschaunig and Trotter both securing victories for the Buckeyes. Kingsley and Tracy’s bout was left unfinished, and the Buckeyes jumped to an early 1-0 lead.

Tucker said there were no significant changes in the preparation aspect of the matchup.

“We prepare the same way every time, we try to give it our best in every practice,” Tucker said. “But it was a quick turnaround from Friday to [Sunday] versus Texas A&M to Texas, so there wasn’t a lot of time to make adjustments in practice.”

The singles matches followed, with Boulais against No. 3 Spizzirri, Trotter against No. 13 Woldeab, Anthrop against Harper, No. 5 Tracy against Bailly, Bernard against junior No. 30 Micah Braswell and Cash against Huang.

Cash, in the first set of the singles matches, bested Huang with a score of 6-0, making him the only Buckeye player to sweep his first set.

The remaining Buckeyes defeated their opponents in the first set, with Boulais and Spizzirri going the distance 7-5.

The second sets of the singles matches commenced with Cash cleanly sweeping Huang, notching the second Buckeyes point. Trotter and Bernard followed suit, pushing the Buckeyes lead to 4-0.

Cash echoed Tucker’s sentiments about the preparation aspect of getting ready to play a top-10 opponent.

“We know they’re coming into our place and we have to play our game, so we stick with what we do best,” Cash said. “The crowd was awesome today, and we just did the little things right and tried to control, and I think everyone did a good job of just listening to the coaches and staying focused throughout the match.”

The Buckeyes made quick work with the Longhorns, with no matches going to a third set and the Boulais-Spizzirri, Tracy-Bailey and Anthrop-Harper bouts left unfinished.

The Buckeyes defeated the Longhorns by a score of 4-0. The Buckeyes have not allowed an opponent score since their match against Illinois Jan. 22.

This marks a five-game streak of not allowing opponents to put up a score against them.

The Buckeyes will play No. 9 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Thursday starting at 5 p.m.