Ohio State wins super regional, advances to eight-team national championship field
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio State men’s tennis got another step closer to winning an elusive NCAA championship after defeating Mississippi State, 4-1, in a Super Regional at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center on Saturday.
The Buckeyes, the top seed in this year’s tournament, earned the doubles point with wins by the No. 1 team of Robert Cash and J.J. Tracy and the No. 3 team of Cannon Kingsley and Jack Anthrop. Justin Boulais dominated his singles match (6-0, 6-1) while Cash took care of business by beating Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes in straight sets (6-3, 6-2).
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“There’s a lot of things affecting the match but I was just trying to focus on the match. But I knew I had to win to play my best tennis because everybody is good at this round,” Cash said. “So we’re just happy with the win and happy to keep moving on to Stillwater.”
The clinching point came from Jack Anthrop, who was pushed to a second-set tiebreak with Benito Sanchez Martinez. The redshirt sophomore won on his serve to earn the straight sets win and send Ohio State to the national quarterfinals in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
“It’s always a pleasure to clinch, especially a quarterfinal match for this team and it feels really good that we got through that match,” Anthrop said. “This round is never an easy round. We’ve had some wars in the round of 16 here in the past couple of years.”
Ohio State improves to 33-1 and seeks its first-ever NCAA championship after three runner-up finishes, including last season. The Buckeyes will face eighth-seed Columbia in a national quarterfinal on Thursday.
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