Men’s Tennis: Four Buckeyes Earn All-American Honors

Ohio State men’s tennis had another tremendous season under head coach Ty Tucker, with a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championship and an Elite Eight appearance at the NCAA Tournament.

The Buckeyes were led by four ITA All-Americans, including Matej Vocel, Cannon Kingsley, JJ Tracy and Robert Cash. It was the second time in program history that four Ohio State players earned that distinction in a single season.

Vocel had the best season of his career with the Buckeyes. After playing his first three seasons with Oklahoma State, Vocel transferred to Ohio State and finished 31-8 in singles play and 39-7 in doubles matches for a combined record of 70-15. His dominance earned him a top 16 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship, and he partnered with Cash to make the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Doubles Championship. He was named an All-American in both categories.

He and Cash were the fifth team to ever win the ITA All-American Championship and the ITA Fall National Championship in the same season and nearly followed that up with an NCAA trophy in the spring. They fell to Texas duo Cleeve Harper and Richard Ciamarra in a third tiebreaking set of the title match.

Cash earned All-American honors with a 45-7 mark in doubles matches, setting a program record for single-season doubles wins. That win total bested Chase Buchanan (2012) and Peter Kobelt (2014), who had 44 wins in their respective years. Cash was also 13-4 in singles matches and was a first-team All-Big Ten selection for the first time in his career.

Kingsley was named the Big Ten’s Male Tennis Athlete of the Year with a 22-7 singles record, including a 15-4 mark at the No. 1 ranking. He was ranked in the top 20 the entire season and earned the No. 8 seed at the NCAA Singles Championship. Kingsley also combined with Tracy in doubles and went 21-2 in 2021-22. His final doubles record was 23-2.

Tracy earned All-American status by winning a pair of matches in the NCAA Singles Championship and reaching the Round of 16. He went 36-6 with a 19-1 mark in dual matches this season. Tracy reached the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Championships and the ITA Midwest Regional Championship finals in the fall.

As an added mark to his strength, both opponents that ended Tracy’s season at the All-American Championship and the NCAA Singles Championship would become the tournament champion at the respective event.