Ty Tucker's men's tennis team lost their first match in over a month last night, falling to UCLA again in the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals. After the Buckeyes won two of the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead, Peter Kobelt came through with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Clay Thompson - the nation's top-ranked singles player. Ohio State then dropped the next four singles matches on the way to a 4-2 loss to No. 6 UCLA.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Tucker said. “We had a couple of opportunities to have a shot to win this match. We have talked the last couple of days about only having one or two opportunities at the most, and we have to take advantage of them. We had some chances. UCLA has a lot of talent. They are a good, well-coached team, and they are good enough to win this tournament. Hats off to UCLA.”
- Ty Tucker via OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Ohio State concludes the season with a 33-4 record, including an ITA Indoor National Championship, Big Ten Regular Season and Tournament Championships, and another undefeated Big Ten season. Not too shabby, especially considering the Buckeyes had to replace five of their seven starters from last year's team that reached the NCAA Championship Semifinals.
Tucker's squad graduates only one senior, and figure to once again be one of the top teams in the country next year. Still, that one senior will be tough to replace. It's been a magical run for senior Peter Kobelt over the past couple of years, but it's not quite over. Kobelt will be competing in the individual singles and doubles NCAA Tournaments along with Kevin Metka beginning later this week.
It was a historic season for the Ohio State tennis team, and while the season didn't end the way they hoped it is still one that will forever be remembered by Buckeye fans. And oh by the way, these guys aren't going away any time soon - six of Ohio State's 10 players are freshmen.
Kudos to another great season, gentlemen.
