Men’s Tennis: No. 2 Ohio State Reaches ITA Finals After Two Top-Five Wins, Falls to No. 7 Texas In Championship

No. 2 Ohio State (10-1) finished off a deep run at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, knocking off SMU (5-5), No. 4 Stanford (7-3), and No. 1 Virginia (8-2) before dropping a close title match to No. 7 Texas (9-3) in Dallas at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at SMU.

The Buckeyes opened the tournament Friday with a 4-3 victory over host SMU. 

Ohio State claimed the doubles point as No. 1 Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin defeated Georgi Georgiev and Vikas Deo, 6-3, before the Buckeyes’ No. 8 Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima defeated the Mustangs’ Jerry Barton and Krish Arora 7-6(5). Ohio State’s No. 7 Alexander Bernard and Alex Okonkwo fell to Alex Finkelstein and Trevor Svajda 7-6(2) in the final doubles match. 

Ohio State then built a 3-0 lead in singles with No. 98 Filin defeating Noah McDonald 6-1, 6-4 and No. 4 Nakashima taking down Arora 6-4, 6-2. SMU rallied with three-straight wins over No. 13 Aidan Kim, No. 22 Preston Stearns and Loren Byers. However, Ohio State clinched a 4-3 victory on the back of No. 24 Jack Anthrop’s 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1) victory over Georgi Georgiev in a third-set tiebreaker, giving the Buckeyes their first all-time victory over the Mustangs and extending Ohio State’s unbeaten start to 8-0.

In the quarterfinals on Saturday, Ohio State trailed No. 4 Stanford 3-1 but rallied to win the final three singles matches and advance to the semifinals. 

After the Cardinal secured the doubles point — marking the first time this season the Buckeyes have dropped it — Ohio State’s Anthrop responded with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Stanford’s No. 80 Alex Chang to even the match at 1-1.

Trailing 3-1, Filin rallied from a second-set loss to defeat Nicholas Godsick, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, and cut the deficit to 3-2 before Carpico cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 straight-sets win to tie the match at three. Though he dropped the opening set 7-5, Aidan Kim surged back with 6-2 and 6-4 victories to clinch the 4-3 comeback and send the Buckeyes to the semifinals.

In the semifinals on Monday, Ohio State claimed a 4-2 victory over No. 1 Virginia, defeating the top-ranked Cavaliers for the second time in 10 days. 

The Buckeyes secured the doubles point with a 6-1 win from Carpico and Filin over the Cavaliers’ No. 23 Mans Dahlberg and Jangjun Kim, as well as a 6-3 victory by Aidan Kim and Nakashima against Andrés Santamarta Roig and Keegan Ric. 

In singles, Anthrop extended the lead with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Santamarta Roig, before Filin followed with a 6-1, 7-5 win versus Dahlberg to make it 3-0. 

Virginia answered with two singles victories over Byers and Nakashima to cut the deficit to 3-2. 

In the deciding match, Aidan Kim fell behind 6-4 in the first set before battling back to win 7-6(5), 6-4 and clinch the victory, sending the Buckeyes to their eight ITA indoor finals. 

The win over Virginia marked the Buckeyes’ fifth straight triumph against a top-five opponent this season and their third over the nation’s No. 1 team.

In Tuesday’s championship match, Ohio State dropped a decision to No. 7 Texas, as the Longhorns avenged the Buckeyes’ 4-2 victory on Jan. 30 at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.

The Buckeyes faltered in the doubles point for the second time in three days as Longhorns’ Sebastian Gorzny and Lucas Marionneau took down the duo of Carpico and Filin 7-6(5), prior to Texas’ No. 27 Sebastian Eriksson and Oliver Ojakaar’s tight win over Aidan Kim and Nakashima 7-6(3). 

Although the Buckeyes fought back with a pair of wins to even the match at two — Anthrop’s 6-3, 6-2 victory against Abel Forger and No. 29 Okonkwo’s 7-6(1), 6-2 win over No. 51 Sebastian Eriksson — it was the Longhorns who would get the last laugh in their home state. 

Though Texas’ Marionneau lost the first set to Filin 2-6, the standout freshman rebounded with a 6-2, 6-3 finish in the final two sets to push the Longhorns advantage to 3-2. 

Texas then secured its first ITA National Team Indoor Championship in program history as Kalin Ivanovski delivered the clincher, defeating Stearns 7-5, 6-4 to seal the title.

Ohio State will return to its home court at noon on Sunday when the Buckeyes face off against Notre Dame (8-1) at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus. 

_{Image courtesy of Ohio State Athletics}