The No. 4 Ohio State men’s tennis team beat No. 63 Purdue, 7-0, in its last match of the season, giving the Buckeyes their sixth consecutive Big Ten title.
The Buckeyes technically clinched the title Friday when they beat Indiana, 5-2, but the victory against Purdue allowed the team to claim the title outright.
“It was a good match,” coach Ty Tucker said afterward. “We played very well today. They knew Purdue was a dangerous team.”
The afternoon began with doubles, and OSU was able to win all three of the matches, earning it the doubles point and its first point of the match.
Junior Chase Buchanan and freshman Blaz Rola, the No. 11 doubles pair in the nation, won their match, 8-4, while teammates senior Balazs Novak and freshman Ille Van Engelen went on to win their match, 8-2.
Seniors Matt Allare and Shuhei Uzawa also contributed to the Buckeyes’ doubles success by beating their Purdue opponents, 8-3.
“I think I did pretty well today,” Uzawa said of his last regular-season match as a Buckeye. “I was happy to play with my teammates, and I’m going to miss the tennis team.”
After the doubles matches, the two teams moved on to singles, in which the Buckeyes were able to continue their shutout of the Boilermakers.
Buchanan was the first to finish his match, quickly winning both of his sets, 6-2, 6-1. Following close behind was Allare, who gave the Buckeyes another point with his match win of 6-2, 6-3.
Also earning points for OSU were Novak, who beat his opponent, 6-3, 6-3; Rola, who won, 6-0, 6-1; and redshirt sophomore Devin McCarthy, who won, 6-2, 6-1.
The longest match of the day was Van Engelen’s, which was the only singles match to go into a third-set tiebreaker.
Van Engelen had a slow start, losing his first set, 6-3. He came back in the second to shut out his opponent, 6-0, and win the third set, 10-6.
The Buckeyes will compete in the Big Ten Championships beginning April 28, and will then move on to the NCAA Championships two weeks later on May 14 and 15.
