The Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry endured another chapter on Thursday, but this time on the tennis court. As luck would have it, the No. 4 seed Buckeyes and No. 5 seed Wolverines met in Champaign, Illinois, in a round of eight matchup of the men’s NCAA tennis tournament.
The two have played three times this year, with Michigan taking two out of three. Ohio State won the Big Ten regular-season title, while the Wolverines got revenge by beating the Buckeyes in the championship match of the Big Ten tournament. OSU has long been the dominant program in the conference, but Michigan was working hard to change that this season.
That same revenge Michigan recently was turned upside down on Thursday though with Ohio State taking down its rival 4-2 to advance to the final four of the NCAA tournament. And boy was it entertaining.
The Buckeyes started off on the wrong foot by giving up the doubles point to Michigan and had to battle back in the singles matches. OSU took the first two singles matches after some weather tried to ruin their momentum when JJ Tracy evened things up 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-2 win, followed by Justin Boulais’ 6-2, 6-3 match victory. Cannon Kingsley then won 6-4, 6-4 moments later, but Jake Van Emburgh lost his match to make it 3-2 in favor of Ohio State.
Buckeyes win!!! Beat TTUN 4-2!!! pic.twitter.com/o1SflQ97bh
— Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioStateMTEN) May 20, 2022
From there, it was a nail-biter, with Andrew Lutschaunig clinching a 7-6, 6-4 victory on an ace serve to send the Buckeyes into the final four for the first time since 2018.
Ohio State will next be in action Saturday at 11 AM ET against No. 8 seed Kentucky after the Wildcats upset No. 1 seed TCU.
