The Ohio State men’s tennis team heads to Lexington, Ky. this weekend with one goal in mind – to make it to the sweet 16 in the NCAA championships for the first time in school history.
By beating Arkansas in the first round and either Kentucky or Hampton in the second round the team can reach this goal.
This is the fourth-consecutive appearance for OSU in the NCAA and the fourth in its history, all of which have been under the direction of coach Ty Tucker, who first came to OSU four years ago.
“Our goal is to end the year as the highest ranked team ever at Ohio State,” Tucker said. “The best team ever was last year’s team, and they were ranked No. 21. We are right now at No. 22, so we need to win to even have a chance.”
The matchup between the Buckeyes and the Razorbacks will be the first ever meeting between the two teams. No. 36 Arkansas has a record of 11-14 in the regular season, which fell short of No. 22 Ohio State’s 20-6.
“Obviously they are ranked below us, so we all have the mentality that if we go and play solidly then we will pull it out,” said senior co-captain Vince Ng. “We can’t be overanxious or overconfident though.”
OSU will use the upper ranking as an advantage but still has to work on certain things in practice. It will be playing on SEC courts, which are outdoors and tend to be slow. Weather in Ohio forces the Buckeyes to play indoors 90 percent of the season, while Arkansas is an outdoor team.
“When you play outdoor tennis you must be very athletic. You have got to be able to run well and run for a while,” OSU coach Ty Tucker said. “We need to be in shape and be able to play for three to four hours or however long it takes to get the job done.”
An important factor for the team will be pulling out the doubles point, which would happen if the Buckeyes win two of three doubles matches at the beginning of competition. This will not be easy, as OSU has struggled with these matches all season.
“I think we have got six good singles players, so if we can get the doubles point it would be a big advantage to us,” said junior Jeremy Wurtzman. “We have been about 50-50 with our doubles this year, some good and some not so good. We have been working a lot on it, and it is something we have really put our focus on.”
“It is very important because it is a momentum booster to be up 1-0,” said team member Brenton Contini. “It doesn’t seem like it is that big of a deal being up only one point, but whenever you are out there playing and you get that first point it is a big boost of confidence.”
The doubles teams for OSU is tentatively scheduled to be Ross Wilson and Scott Green, Wurtzman and Ng, and Phil Metz and Contini. Court position has not yet been determined. Wurtzman and Ng will be in their first doubles appearance together.
As with the doubles, the players in the singles do not know which court they will be placed on or which Razorback they will face. Ng, Wurtzman, Metz, Dennis Mertens, Contini and Wilson figure to be the singles players.
“It is better to play the unexpected and have no expectations. I think it is more exciting that way,” Metz said. “Going into the match you just have to do what you have been doing all year long and hopefully that will be enough.”
While the players do not know much about Arkansas other than it is a solid team, Tucker has spent time looking at its season and players. The Razorbacks are led by Nathan Price, who has been out for the past six weeks but is back on the lineup for the tournament, Tucker said.
“They have gotten some nice wins – some top 20 wins – but have pretty much, without Price, gone downhill,” he said. “They are solid at courts one and two and very good at three through six.”
If the Buckeyes can surpass Price and the rest from Arkansas, they are all certain they will face No. 13 Kentucky in the second round. Kentucky is ranked first in the region and well above Hampton, who it will be facing in the first round.
OSU and Kentucky have not seen each other in play since 2001 when the Buckeyes pulled off a win 4-3. Had OSU made it past the first round in NCAA championships last season, it would have faced the Wildcats then as well.
“I think this team is looking towards getting past Arkansas and playing Kentucky, where we will be the underdogs,” Ng said. “It is a great position for us to be in – the underdog spot – where we can play with nothing to lose.”
