The No. 4 Ohio State men’s tennis team was victorious in a 7-0 sweep of Notre Dame Saturday in Columbus. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
The No. 4 Ohio State men’s tennis team kicked off its first Big Ten matchup of the season against Notre Dame Saturday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus.
The Buckeyes competed in the Indoor Tennis Association Tournament in Chicago, besting unranked Illinois and No. 5 Virginia, but falling to No.7 Texas, who the Buckeyes had beaten earlier in the season.
“Cannon Kingsley’s back and he seems to be healthy,” head coach Ty Tucker said. “Alexander Bernard wasn’t able to play in the last Texas match but was able to play in the first Texas match. We’ve been banged up a little bit, but that’s what happens in a long season.”
The doubles matches commenced with redshirt seniors Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter against Notre Dame senior Connor Fu and freshman Sebastian Dominko. Kingsley and No. 6 junior JJ Tracy matched up against senior Matt Che and sophomore Yu Zhang, and seniors Robert Cash and Justin Boulais faced senior Matt Halpin and junior Jean-Marc Malkowski.
The duo of Lutschaunig and Trotter bested the duo of Fu and Dominko 6-3, the first duo to win a set. Subsequently, the duo of Cash andBoulais beat Halpin and Malkowski, giving the Buckeyes two wins to start out their match. The match between Kingsley/Tracy and Che/Zhang was left unfinished.
The match saw the Buckeyes take a 1-0 lead over the Fighting Irish.
“Conference play is like playing any other team, but it’s our conference, and we’re one of the two top-ranked teams in our conference, so there’s a little bit of pressure on us to be kind of one of the bigger dogs,” redshirt freshman Jack Anthrop said. “I think everyone today, though, was locked in and ready to play.”
The singles matches commenced shortly after the doubles matches, with Kingsley going up against Dominko, Tracy against Che and Trotter against graduate student Addy Vashistha. The rest of the matchups saw Boulais against Malkowski, Bernard against Fu and Anthrop against Zhang.
Boulais and Kingsley were the first Buckeyes to get on the board, both besting their respective opponents. Bernard, Trotter, and Anthrop followed suit, jumping out to 1-0 leads in the single bouts.
Kingsley beat Dominko 6-3, Boulais beat Malkowski 6-1 and Tracy beat Che 6-2. Bernard followed up, beating Fu 6-2, Trotter beat Vashistha 6-3 and Anthrop beat Zhang 6-0.
Anthrop was the first Buckeye to win a second set of singles, beating Zhang 6-1. Boulais followed suit, beating Malkowski 6-2 in the second as did Bernard, propelling the Buckeyes’ overall score to 4-0.
Kingsley, Tracy and Trotter all defeated their opponents in two sets, cementing the Buckeyes’ final score of the match, 7-0.
The Buckeyes will have a two-week break from games, but Tucker stressed the importance of ensuring that his players remain active during the team’s time off.
“We’re gonna try and practice outside, maybe go on a little trip somewhere south for three or four days and try to hit some balls outside,” Tucker said.
The Buckeyes will face South Carolina March 8 in Columbia, South Carolina.
