The Ohio State men’s tennis team secured its eighth-consecutive Big Ten regular-season title in dominating fashion, shutting out Michigan, 4-0, Sunday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The win against the No. 26-ranked Wolverines (14-8, 9-2) put the No. 5 Buckeyes (28-2, 11-0) atop the Big Ten conference standings for the 11th time in program history.
OSU won the regular-season conference title in 1915, 1931 and 1943, and eight more times under coach Ty Tucker from 2006-13.
The Scarlet and Gray earned the team doubles point Sunday for the 27th time during the 2013 campaign, led by the No. 38-ranked tandem of junior Blaz Rola and redshirt sophomore Kevin Metka that won its match, 8-3. Shortly following, the No. 18-ranked duo of redshirt junior Peter Kobelt and senior Connor Smith secured a 9-7 victory to clinch the doubles point for the Buckeyes.
In singles play, OSU claimed victories in three consecutive singles matches to clinch the match against Michigan. OSU redshirt freshman Chris Diaz, ranked No. 82 nationally, rallied a 6-3, 6-4 victory followed by No. 11 Rola and No. 62 Smith winning their matches 6-3, 6-2 and 6-4, 7-5, respectively.
The Buckeyes will return to Columbus and play host to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since the 2002 season. OSU will claim the tournament’s No. 1 seed and earn a first-round bye, eventually facing off against the winner of the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. The Buckeyes have been crowned tournament champions eight times in program history (1991, 2001, 2006-11).
The tournament is scheduled to begin on Thursday at the outdoor Varsity Tennis Center. More information regarding the tournament schedule is set to be released later this week.