 "Photo: Michael J. Wyen")
Big wins usually end in celebration, but a sense of unfinished business filled the Jesse Owens West Tennis Center Sunday afternoon following Ohio State's victory against rival Illinois.
Until there are trophies being hoisted, expect this feeling to stick around.
"Beating (Illinois) 7-0 is nice for the guys but it doesn't mean anything for next weekend when we go to Penn State and Michigan," said OSU coach Ty Tucker.
The toughest test seems to be behind the No. 3 Buckeyes (22-1, 8-0), who are on a roll and have beaten two top-10 opponents - No. 9 Illinois (14-7, 6-2) and No. 5 Notre Dame (21-3, 7-0) - in the last four weeks.
Their performance against the Fighting Illini showed the Buckeyes have grown since their 4-0 loss to No. 1 Georgia (22-0, 10-0) Feb. 19 and seem better prepared to win close matches.
The Illinois duel featured several competitive and close contests.
The only player who seemed in control of his singles match at all times was sophomore Bryan Koniecko, who defeated Ruben Gonzales 6-3, 6-0.
"We knew we had to come up playing well today. Illinois is our rival," he said. "They'll always come up fighting with us. We knew we had to play our best tennis to beat them today and we did."
On Saturday, OSU took down intra-conference opponent Purdue 7-0.
"We're in the driver's seat for the Big Ten championship and we're going to enjoy this today," Tucker said. "But we've got to come back this week and get ready for a tough road trip next weekend."
There's no place like home The win over Illinois wrapped up OSU's fourth-consecutive undefeated season at home and stretched the streak to 53.
The Buckeyes have not lost at home since their 2003 tangle with the Fighting Illini.
Fan support is one reason for the Buckeyes' home success. At Sunday's match, Jesse Owens West Tennis Center was filled to capacity, including the standing room only sections.
Four top-25 opponents left Columbus with their heads down this season. No. 18 Washington (15-6, 3-3), No.13 Florida State (8-5, 1-2), Notre Dame and Illinois were all defeated by 7-0 scores. Five of the six key singles players were undefeated at home and the winning streak could go well beyond 53 matches with a young team.
Road to the title In addition to putting the Buckeyes in a good position to defend their Big Ten regular-season title and move on to the NCAA team tournament, OSU advanced to the quarterfinals of last season's NCAA team tournament before losing to Texas 4-3.
Individually, several players are on track to qualify for the NCAA tournament for singles and doubles.
"Devin (Mullings) and Steven (Moneke) both got pretty big wins today in singles," said Koniecko. "It puts a few of us in the tournament, so it's really good."
Other likely qualifiers for the tournament include Koniecko and the doubles tandem of Mullings and Chris Klingemann, both seniors.
What's Next? The Buckeyes hit the road this weekend for matches against Penn State (15-4, 5-3) Friday and No. 18 Michigan (17-4, 7-1) Sunday. Michigan is coming off of a victory against Illinois and is currently second in the Big Ten. In two weeks, OSU heads to Purdue (8-11,1-7) for the Big Ten Championships.
Zack Timmons can be reached at timmons.60@osu.edu.
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