For the fourth-straight year, the Big Ten Men’s Tennis Tournament Championship trophy is coming back to Columbus. The Buckeyes cruised to a 4-1 victory Sunday to earn both a share of the regular season title and tournament title.
Unlike the semifinals, Ohio State got back to its ways of winning the doubles point to go up 1-0. J.J. Wolf and Martin Joyce won their match 6-4, and Alex Kobelt and Ryan Seelig took care of business in theirs 6-3.
From there, the Illini mounted a bit of a challenge in the singles matches, but OSU responded. Alex Kobelt was the first to take victory, beating Illinois’ Keenan Mayo 6-4, 6-2 to put the Buckeyes on top 2-0. OSU’s John McNally dropped his match against Alex Brown 2-6, 4-6, to give the Illini their only point of the contest for a tight affair, but then the Buckeyes took care of business.
Martin Joyce came through shortly after, beating Illinois’ Zeke Clark easily 6-2, 6-4 to put OSU on the brink 3-1, then Ryan Seelig sealed it with a 7-6, 6-2 win that resulted in his teammates rushing the court.
It’s the ninth Big Ten Tournament Championship in school history. The team will next prepare for the NCAA Tournament that will take place in Orlando, Florida from May 16-25.
