Ohio State
Wake Forest **
Buckeyes Take Down Wake Forest 4-1 to Punch Ticket to Orlando
5/8/2021 8:41:27 PM | Men's Tennis
FINAL RESULTS (PDF) | PHOTO GALLERY
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Don’t call it an upset. Ohio State took control early and dominated throughout in a 4-1 victory over No. 10 seed Wake Forest on Saturday evening in the second round of the NCAA Championship in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The clinching point fittingly came from the Buckeyes’ most experienced player in sixth-year senior Kyle Seelig. He played great during the 2018 NCAA Championship in Winston-Salem, winning every match and being named to the All-Tournament Team. But the team loss in the finals that year stung. And it was on everyone’s mind heading back to Winston this year.
“It felt special to come back down here and get this win,” Seelig said after the match. “Those matches in 2018 down here meant so much to us but we didn’t finish it the way we wanted. Getting a win today, against Wake Forest, was a good way to close out that chapter.”
The Buckeyes are now 9-3 all-time against Wake Forest and 2-1 in NCAA Tournament matches. They have also beaten Wake three times in the ITA Indoor Team Championships, including in 2019 to win the national title.
“We came out with a lot of energy today, the best we’ve had all year, and took the doubles point to get momentum early,” Seelig said. “I think we then took five first sets and we knew they were going to battle back but it was good to close it out before they got anything going.”
“For me, I was glad I could finish my match and help the team advance,” he continued. “I was the last match on in the Big Ten finals and I didn’t get it done. I let the guys down and I didn’t want to do that again. I had a couple of chances with deuce points in the second set and I didn’t play the first one well. But I attacked a little more on the second one and that was the winning point.”
With the win Saturday, Ohio State is now 22-3 on the season and advance to the final site for the 17th time in program history. The round of 16 match will be on Monday, May 17 in Orlando, against the winner of the match between Arizona State and TCU. Those two teams play Sunday afternoon in Fort Worth.
Director of Tennis Ty Tucker has always said the doubles point is the biggest point in collegiate tennis. This year, figuring out the doubles lineup has been tricky for the Buckeyes. They had the right mix on Saturday. OSU got the first break on courts one and two and led 3-1 early while court three remained on serve.
Cannon Kingsley and JJ Tracy finally got a break on court three to go up 5-4 and then came back from 0-40 to hold and win the match on 6-4. John McNally and Robert Cash then sealed the point with a hold on love, capped by a huge ace from McNally, to win 6-3 on court two.
The momentum the Buckeyes built with the doubles point carried over to singles. OSU took five of the six first sets and in the one it didn’t, McNally quickly turned it around with a pair of early breaks and a 4-1 lead in the second.
Tracy put the second point on the board for the Buckeyes as he beat Sid Banthia 6-3, 6-3 on court six. The win was the 25th of Tracy’s freshman campaign.
James Trotter has been on a roll the last month and a half. He is playing great tennis at just the right time and on Saturday, he claimed his 15th consecutive victory. He beat Taha Baadi 6-3, 6-4 on court three to give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead.
Wake Forest got on the board with a 6-4, 7-5 win on court one but the excitement didn’t last long. Seelig squashed any hopes of a comeback by breaking Melios Efstathiou late in the second set for a 7-5, 7-5 win on court five and the Buckeyes were officially headed to Orlando.
Kinglsey had a chance to provide the clinching point but dropped a second-set tiebreak just before Seelig’s win. Boulais was battling in a third set as well, as he and Rrezart Cungu were on serve 4-4 in the deciding set.
#35 Ohio State 4, #9 Wake Forest 1
Singles
1. #13 Henri Squire (WF) def. John McNally (OSU) 6-4, 7-5
2. #40 Eduardo Nava (WF) vs. #120 Cannon Kingsley (OSU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), unfinished
3. James Trotter (OSU) def. #97 Taha Baadi (WF) 6-3, 6-4
4. Rrezart Cungu (WF) vs. Justin Boulais (OSU) 2-6, 6-2, 4-4, unfinished
5. Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. Melios Efstathiou (WF) 7-5, 7-5
6. JJ Tracy (OSU) def. Siddhant Banthia (WF) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
1. #12 Eduardo Nava/Henri Squire (WF) vs. James Trotter/Justin Boulais (OSU) 4-5, unfinished
2. John McNally/Robert Cash (OSU) def. #87 Siddhant Banthia/Matthew Thomson (WF) 6-3
3. Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy (OSU) def. Taha Baadi/Melios Efstathiou (WF) 6-4
Match Notes:
Ohio State 22-3, 15-1 B1G; National ranking #35
Wake Forest 29-7, 11-1 ACC; National ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,3,1,5)
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