The Ohio State men’s tennis team secured a first-round bye in the Big Ten Championship this weekend as it finished off the regular season at home.
The Buckeyes faced off against Minnesota and Iowa, winning both matches. Vince Ng and Jeremy Wurtzman won matches both days, putting them each at a 10-match win streak and undefeated in the Big Ten.
No. 23 Ohio State started the weekend playing No. 11 Minnesota on Saturday. The doubles points went to the Buckeyes when the senior team of Ng and Phil Metz won 8-2 and the freshman team of Ross Wilson and Scott Green won a tiebreaker 9-8.
“It is nice to see freshman coming out here and getting wins that are big,” OSU coach Ty Tucker said.
The doubles points were significant for the Buckeyes, as they went on to split the singles matches 3-3. Dennis Mertens, Ng and Wurtzman got the points in the singles.
Mertens had a close first set, losing 6-7 in a tough tie-break game. As he came into the second set he quickly pulled ahead 2-0. His opponent, Manuel Lievano, got frustrated at this point and began yelling at the judge.
“He was talking in Spanish to the ref, and I understand Spanish,” Mertens said. “He was saying some bad things about the ref.”
After arguing and throwing his racket, Lievano was disqualified from the match. This gave the Buckeyes their second point of the day.
“I am glad about this win,” Mertens said. “I was glad to be part of the beating.”
Ng won his first set 6-0, but fell behind in the beginning of the second set.
Things turned around when Wettengel conversed with the audience. According to college tennis rules, the judge awarded a point to Ng as a penalty against Minnesota.
Ng was able to come back for a 6-2 win and secured the match. This put the Buckeyes on top of the Golden Gophers 3-0, with four matches still in contention.
“He got off to a good start (in the second set) and had a change of strategy,” Ng said. “I was able to keep my focus and make him lose his.”
Wurtzman’s win for OSU was not an easy one. Frustration hurt him as he fell behind in the first set 2-5. Wurtzman’s set took a turn when he was able to break opponent Thomas Haug’s serve. He won two games in a row and went on to win the match 7-5, 6-2.
This took pressure off the other Buckeyes still contending. It allowed Metz to retire from his match after falling behind in the third set 0-2.
“(He) called the match after we had secured the win because of some injuries,” Tucker said.
The 4-3 win put OSU in second place in the Big Ten Conference, bumping Minnesota to third. It gave the team confidence to go into the match against Iowa on Sunday, shuting-out the Hawkeyes 7-0. This was the eighth shutout for OSU this season.
Ng and Metz helped the Buckeyes to three points for the day in their final appearance at the Stickney Tennis Center, as they both won their singles matches and played together to win their doubles match.
“Those guys have had great careers,” Tucker said. “They have a couple hundred singles wins between the two of them.”
Wurtzman, ranked No. 21, won his match 6-1, 6-3. Courts three and five were both close but Wilson and Mertens pulled off the wins in tie-breakers. Brenton Contini defeated Parker Ross in two close sets 7-6, 7-6.
OSU will travel to Illinois April 24-27 for the Big Ten Championship.
