Ohio State Asserts Dominance, Blasts No. 20 Illinois 4-0

Wednesday, March 5

Columbus, Ohio

6 p.m.

Ohio State

#20 Illinois

Ohio State Asserts Dominance, Blasts No. 20 Illinois 4-0

3/5/2025 8:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Playing in its final non-conference match of the season, No. 3 Ohio State showed its still the team to beat in the Big Ten as the Buckeyes rolled to a 4-0 victory over No. 20 Illinois on Wednesday night inside the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.

Coupled with last Wednesday's 5-0 win over No. 14 Michigan, the Buckeyes have won both their non-conference matches against Big Ten teams and improve to 11-2 on the year.

This was the 17th win in the last 18 meetings over Illinois and the Buckeyes are now 36-14 against the Illini since Ty Tucker took over 2000.

Doubles

Illinois got the first break on court three and rode that to a 6-4 victory for the first doubles win.
On court two, the lefty duo of Alexander Bernard and Will Jansen broke to take a 5-3 lead after a great winner down the line. Jansen then held for the 6-3 win, booming a big serve on the deuce point.
The match on court one was on serve through 6-5. The Buckeye freshman duo of Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin had a second opportunity for a break leading 40-15 and Illinois battled back to a deuce point. The first time, the Illini were able to hold. The second time, Filin had a great forehand that wasn’t returned, and the Buckeyes won the match and the point 7-5. Carpico and Filin have now won six consecutive matches and are 12-2 on the year.

Singles

No. 10 Aidan Kim got singles off to a great start for the Buckeyes. He played beautifully and dominated the showcase match of the night on court one, blanking No. 12 Kenta Miyoshi 6-0, 6-0.
On court five, Bryce Nakashima raced out to a 6-1 win in the first set but found himself in a 3-1 hole in the second. He regrouped and found as he would rally for a 6-4 win to take the match in straight sets.
The clinching point came from Alexander Bernard on court two. He dropped the opening set to No. 48 William Mroz 6-1 but then bounced back to win the second set by the same score. He then got a break to go up 5-4 and won a deuce point to win the match 6-4 in the third.
The other three sets were all in a third set as well when the match was clinched.

Up Next

The Buckeyes will open Big Ten play this weekend when it hosts Penn State on Saturday, March 8 at noon at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.

#3 Ohio State 4, #20 Illinois 0

Singles
1. #10 Aidan Kim (OSU) def. #12 Kenta Miyoshi (ILLINI) 6-0, 6-0
2. #50 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. #48 William Mroz (ILLINI) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
3. #74 Jack Anthrop (OSU) vs. Tyler Bowers (ILLINI) 2-6, 6-2, 3-3, unfinished
4. Will Jansen (OSU) vs. Jeremy Zhang (ILLINI) 6-2, 3-6, 2-2, unfinished
5. Bryce Nakashima (OSU) def. Mathis Debru (ILLINI) 6-1, 6-4
6. Preston Stearns (OSU) vs. Zach Viiala (ILLINI) 6-4, 5-7, unfinished

Doubles
1. Brandon Carpico/Nikita Filin (OSU) def. Tyler Bowers/Zach Viiala (ILLINI) 7-5
2. Will Jansen/Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. Kenta Miyoshi/William Mroz (ILLINI) 6-3
3. Mathis Debru/Jeremy Zhang (ILLINI) def. Bryce Nakashima/Jack Anthrop (OSU) 6-4

Match Notes:
Illinois 6-4; National ranking #20
Ohio State 11-2; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,5,2)
Official: Marcus Lee T-2:31 A-266

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