Ohio State men’s tennis to face a familiar foe as it advances to final eight of NCAA tournament

The Ohio State men’s tennis team will head to the final eight of the NCAA tournament once again.

Despite notching two indoor titles, the outdoor national championship has been an elusive one for the Buckeyes. After beating No. 13 seed USC in a super-regional of the 2022 NCAA tournament on Saturday, No. 4 seed OSU will get another chance, this time in Champaign, Illinois.

It wasn’t against the Trojans for Ohio State. After starting things off by securing the doubles point, OSU’s Justin Boulais dominated in the first singles match, winning 6-4, 6-1 to put the Buckeyes up 2-0.

USC cut it to 2-1 with the next singles finish, and OSU found itself trailing in all three of the final sets but was able to orchestrate comebacks to clinch the match with a Jake Van Emburgh three-set win. The Buckeyes won the match 4-2 to head to their 14th quarterfinal in program history.

To make things even more interesting, Ohio State will face off against its arch-rival, No. 5 seed Michigan, which got by Texas to also punch its ticket to Champaign. The two have met three times this year with OSU winning one of the matchups and the Wolverines two. The Buckeyes were the regular-season Big Ten champions, while Michigan knocked off OSU to win the tournament title.