Sophomore Bryce Nakashima celebrates after winning a rally during No. 3 Ohio State’s 5-0 win over No. 14 Michigan on Wednesday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center. Credit: Ben Zetocha | Lantern Reporter
After a disappointing first-round exit in the ITA Men’s National Team Indoor Championship, the Buckeyes looked to bounce back in emphatic fashion.
With its rival Michigan ahead, Ohio State had the perfect opportunity to make a statement — and the Buckeyes did just that.
No. 3 Ohio State (10-2) rolled past No. 14 Michigan (5-6) with a 5-0 victory Wednesday for its 8th consecutive win against the Wolverines. The win moved men’s tennis head coach Ty Tucker’s all-time record against the Wolverines to 38-5.
The doubles action was tight to start.
Alex Fuchs and Will Jansen won their match 6-2 over Michigan’s pair of Mert Oral and Bjorn Swenson on court three.
On court one, however, Michigan evened the score behind a 6-3 victory, courtesy of Will Cooksey and Alex Cairo, who defeated Ohio State’s Preston Stearns and Bryce Nakashima.
With the doubles point on the line, the Buckeyes’ Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin faced off against the Wolverines’ Benjamin Kittay and Patorn Hanchaikul.
Both teams held their serves for the entire match, leading to a tie-break that would prove to be tightly contested. Carpico and Filin held two match points at 6-4 in the tie-break, but Michigan’s duo fought off both match points and even produced three of its own against the Buckeyes.
After Ohio State saved all three of Michigan’s match points to keep the doubles point alive, Carpico and Filin sealed the deal with an 11-9 victory in the match tiebreaker, securing the doubles point for the Buckeyes.
In singles, every Buckeye won the first set of their match and Ohio State took care of business.
On court three, Jack Anthrop — who is ranked No. 64 in the most recent ITA rankings — earned a straight-set victory over Swenson, 6-1, 6-3.
This marked Anthrop’s 97th career win and pulled him just three wins away from the illustrious 100-win milestone.
Nakashima, like Anthrop, won his match in straight sets. He won the first set 6-2 and followed it up with a 6-3 second set where he maintained control throughout.
Nakashima’s doubles partner, Stearns, won his first set against Oral, 6-1.
The second set was more of a battle. Stearns fell behind at break, but he quickly turned the set around and came back to win 6-4.
As Stearns won the final point in his match, Jansen did the same, clinching both his match and the overall sweep for the Buckeyes.
Jansen worked his way past Hanchaikul decisively, 6-3, 6-1 to give Ohio State a 5-0 sweep over Michigan.
Ohio State will be back on its home courts in one week to face Illinois at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
