Ohio State graduate Matej Vocel pumps his fist in celebration after winning a point in his singles match against Tennessee graduate Adam Walton at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center Feb. 5. Ohio State won 4-0. Credit: Casey Smith | Assistant Lantern TV Sports Producer
Now over 20 matches into its season, No. 2 Ohio State collected two more victories this weekend, topping both Indiana and Purdue 4-0.
The victories kept the Buckeyes (19-2, 4-0 Big Ten) in rhythm, marking four-straight matches they’ve gone without dropping a point, a far cry from the 0-4 loss against Michigan March 18. However, some close calls made the match closer than the score showed.
Sporting new doubles lineups, Ohio State came close to dropping doubles against the Hoosiers (5-11, 0-3 Big Ten) as sophomore Ilya Tiraspolsky and senior Patrick Fletchall gave senior James Trotter and redshirt junior Andrew Lutschaunig their first loss as a duo.
Graduate Matej Vocel and junior Justin Boulais took care of business against senior Carson Haskins and sophomore Jagger Saylor 6-3, and coming down to court three, junior Robert Cash and sophomore JJ Tracy escaped with a close one against sophomore Michael Andre and junior Luka Vukovic 7-5 to give the Buckeyes the point.
That would be the end of scares for Ohio State on the day, as No. 7 Vocel, No. 11 Tracy and Boulais all won courts in straight sets for the sweep.
The Buckeyes then made it look easy to close out the weekend against the Boilermakers (8-9, 1-2 Big Ten), rearranging the doubles lineups yet again but yielding more success than the match prior. Graduate Jake Van Emburgh and Lutschaunig pulled away for a 6-2 victory, and Tracy and Boulais finished soon after 6-3.
Tracy would play close to flawless Sunday, not dropping a single game to win 6-0, 6-0 against junior Tomasz Dudek. Boulais came close to a perfect scoreboard as well, playing a 6-0, 6-1 match against sophomore Milledge Cossu.
Rounding out the win was Vocel, securing the win with a 6-3, 6-1 performance against freshman Rohan Sachdev.
The Buckeyes play one more match on the road before returning home, traveling to Penn State Saturday for a date with the Nittany Lions at noon, streaming on the Ohio State Buckeyes website.
