It was another busy week for Ohio State's major athletic programs – spring football is winding down, student appreciation day was a hit and Thad continues his search for a big man.
Meanwhile, it was an impressive week for many non-revenue teams, featuring multiple dominating wins over Michigan. It's been a great spring in general for Ohio State sports, as seven spring sports teams rank in the top 25 of their sport, including three teams ranking in the top two nationally.
This week we'll be checking in on the No. 1 men's tennis team, the No. 2 women's rowing team and the men's and women's lacrosse teams.
Tennis
The men's tennis team re-claimed the national No. 1 ranking last week and didn't miss a beat defending it this week. The Buckeyes handled Minnesota (5-2) and Wisconsin (7-0) with relative ease this week in a pair of road matches. With the wins, the Buckeyes extended their Big Ten winning streak to 90 consecutive matches.
Herkko Pollanen, Kevin Metka, Ralf Steinbach and Hunter Callahan all went undefeated in singles matches on the week. Peter Kobelt and Chris Diaz split their matches on the week.
Ohio State travels to No. 14 Kentucky this afternoon before returning home to host Tulsa on Friday, when they will look to extend their NCAA record 186 consecutive home matches. The Buckeyes faced Kentucky back in early February, when they defeated the Wildcats 4-0.
Rowing
The second-ranked Ohio State women's rowing team had another strong weekend, taking six wins at the Oregon State Classic. The Buckeyes picked up multiple wins over No. 9 Michigan, No. 20 Oregon State, No. 11 Stanford and Duke. Perhaps even more impressively, the Buckeyes finished higher than Michigan in seven out of the eight events they both competed in, now giving Ohio State ten wins over Michigan to only one loss – a record that would make even Jim Tressel proud.
Next up for Ohio State is a trip to Iowa City to take on Iowa and No. 17 Louisville this weekend. The Buckeyes currently sit at No. 2 in the national rankings behind California, though that could change with an impressive weekend performance.
Lacrosse
Both Ohio State lacrosse teams had strong weeks, with the No. 19 men's team defeating Delaware and the No. 17 women's team knocking off Michigan and Vanderbilt.
The Lady Buckeyes traveled to Ann Arbor this week for the first-ever Ohio State-Michigan lacrosse game. The Buckeyes made quite a statement, defeating the Wolverines 18-3. Junior Kelsea Ayers led Ohio State with five goals and an assist, while senior Katie Chase added four goals.
On Sunday, the Lady Bucks followed up the win by destroying Vanderbilt 16-5 in Nashville. Eight Buckeyes had at least one point, led by junior Jennifer Porretto who had four goals and two assists. Next up for the Lady Buckeyes is a home match on Sunday against Penn State.
The men also won convincingly, knocking off Delaware 15-9 behind Jesse King's seven assists and one goal. King just missed tying the Ohio State single-game assist record of eight, set by Joel Dalgarno in 2008.
Next up for the men: the "Showdown in the Shoe" against Michigan on Saturday before the spring football game.
