The Ohio State men’s tennis team has done nearly everything under head coach Ty Tucker except for win a national outdooor championship. It’ll have to wait yet again because the Buckeyes got bounced earlier than expected from the NCAA Championships in Orlando at the hands of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
For just the third time this season, OSU lost the doubles point to go down by one team point early. J.J. Wolf and Martin Joyce took care of business easily 6-1, but the two other teams of Alex Kobelt/Ryan Seelig and John McNally/Hunter Tubert lost 2-6 in both cases.
From there it was up to the singles matches to reel things back in. However, Joyce fell quickly 2-6, 0-6 to put the Buckeyes in a 2-0 hole. Kobelt then lost his match 1-6, 3-6 to dig a 3-0 hole that would be too deep to come out of.
But it wasn’t without trying.
Both Seelig and Wolf rallied the team by beating their opponents 6-3, 6-4 and 7-5, 6-4 to pull within 3-2, but moments later John McNally fell 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 to seal it for the Tar Heels and end the season for the Buckeyes.
It was still a great season for OSU — one that resulted in an indoor national championship, Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, and an appearance yet again in the NCAA Championship Finals.
Now it’s off to another off-season to train harder and try to get it done next year.
