Ohio State
Purdue
Buckeyes Beat Purdue, Clinch Big Ten Championship
4/21/2023 9:06:30 PM | Men's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – With a dominant 4-0 win over visiting Purdue, No. 2-ranked Ohio State clinches a share of its 17th consecutive Big Ten title. The Buckeyes remain undefeated in Big Ten play and are now 25-2 on the season.
Ohio State controlled the match from the first serve of the night, quickly handling the doubles point in just 24 minutes. Three singles match wins by Cannon Kingsley, James Trotter, and Alexander Bernard would follow to secure the sweep over the Boilermakers.
The Buckeyes are now a perfect 16-0 at home this season and will look to improve to 17-0 on Sunday at noon against Indiana. With a win, Ohio State will be outright Big Ten.
Doubles
- The Buckeyes jumped out to early court two and three leads up 2-0. Trotter and Kingsley were the first to break on court three, and No. 12-ranked Andrew Lutschaunig and Tracy broke next on court two.
- On court two, the Buckeyes kept their lead to 5-0 before surrounding one game to Michal Wozniak and Milledge Cassu, Lutschaunig and Tracy finished on serve to help the Buckeyes move towards clinching the doubles point with a 6-1 win.
- On court three, the lead for Trotter and Kingsley would move to 4-1, but the match would go unfinished at a score of 5-1 against Julen Morgan and Mujtaba Ali-Khan.
- The No. 32-ranked pair of Robert Cash and Justin Boulais broke the serve of Boilermakers Daniel Labrador and Tomasz Dudek to take a 3-2 lead, then remained on the gas pedal. Cash and Boulais would clinch the doubles point for the Buckeyes with a 6-2 win on court one.
Singles
- Ohio State kept the momentum of the match into the singles matches, needing just over an hour to secure three wins to clinch the win on Friday night.
- Trotter would finish first for the Buckeyes after utilizing his serve to ease to victory over Ali-Khan. The No. 29-ranked player in the country serviced a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win on court three to add another tally for the Buckeyes.
- Alexander Bernard finished his match in similar fashion to Trotter, overpowering Cassu on his way to a 6-2, 6-2 win. Bernard moved up to No. 46 in the country this past week and now improves to 16-3 in singles matches with his sixth win in a row.
- Kingsley, the No. 20-ranked singles player in the country, handled his business on court one against Labrador. The Buckeye started the match with a 6-1 dominant first set win, then would win the second by a 6-4 margin to close out the Boilermakers.
- Reece Yakubov played in his first career Big Ten match for the Buckeyes on court six. The redshirt-freshman would take a 3-2 lead in the first set after breaking the serve of Hassan Baroudi. Yakubov would drop the hard-fought first set 7-5 and trail 3-1 in the second, but the match would go unfinished.
Up Next
- Ohio State will look to win the Big Ten title outright on Sunday when they host Indiana at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center. The first serve is set for noon.
#2 Ohio State 4, Purdue 0
Singles
1. #20 Cannon Kingsley (OSU) vs. Daniel Labrador (PUR) 6-1, 6-4
2. #16 JJ Tracy (OSU) vs. Michal Wozniak (PUR) 6-3, 4-3, unfinished
3. #29 James Trotter (OSU) vs. Mujtaba Ali-Khan (PUR) 6-1, 6-0
4. #46 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. Milledge Cassu (PUR) 6-2, 6-2
5. Jack Anthrop (OSU) def. Tomasz Dudek (PUR) 6-2, 4-2, unfinished
6. Reece Yakubov (OSU) vs. Hassan Baroudi (PUR) 5-7, 1-3, unfinished
Doubles
1. #32 Robert Cash/Justin Boulais (OSU) def. Daniel Labrador/Tomasz Dudek (PUR) 6-2
2. #12 Andrew Lutschaunig/JJ Tracy (OSU) def. Michal Wozniak/Milledge Cassu (PUR) 6-1
3. James Trotter/Cannon Kingsley (OSU) vs. Julen Morgan/Mujtaba Ali-Khan (PUR) 5-1, unfinished
Match Notes:
Ohio State 25-2 (8-0 B1G); National ranking #2
Purdue 2-18 (0-8 B1G)
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1); Singles (3,4,1)
T-1:45 A- 221
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