The No. 1 Ohio State men’s tennis team started strong against No. 4 TCU but faltered and fell into a hole that was too big to climb out of in a NCAA Tournament semifinal on Saturday. The loss ends the Buckeyes’ latest journey to try and win an outdoor title despite coming so achingly close several times under head coach Ty Tucker.
The Buckeyes got the doubles point to get on the board and take the early lead at 1-0. From there though several OSU players dropped their first sets and had to climb back. Justin Boulais, Cannon Kingsley, and Alexander Bernard all dropped their first sets to put things in doubt. And while Jack Anthrop was able to get a win for OSU, the other trio couldn’t come all the way back, and the result was a 4-2 loss.
For TCU, it was revenge from when Ohio State got the best of it 4-3 in February during the ITA Indoor national championship match. For the Buckeyes, it’ll be another season of what could have been. OSU dropped just two matches during the season and finishes the year 34-2 with a Big Ten regular season and tournament title.
JACK!!!
Anthrop wins 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Tied 2-2 #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Vb2X2GZUTH
— Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioStateMTEN) May 18, 2024
OSU will try to bring its first outdoor national title home once again next season.
