After three rounds, both the men's and women's tennis teams are still dancing.
Thursday night, the No. 4-seed women's team battled No. 17 Georgia Tech in a match that was delayed over two hours. The Buckeyes took the doubles point with relative ease and went up 2-0 thanks to junior Sandy Niehaus, but the Yellow Jackets battled back getting wins on courts two and three to tie the match at two.
It was the freshman phenom No. 3 ranked Francesca Di Lorenzo who put the Buckeyes back on top for good, winning on court one and also extending her winning streak to 14 straight matches. Then junior Miho Kowase rallied from a 4-1 deficit to clinch a 4-2 victory for Ohio State.
Kowase clinches a 4-2 Buckeye win with a 6-4, 7-5 victory on court 4! #GoBucks #NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/3GpKE7SXkx
— Ohio State W Tennis (@OhioState_WTEN) May 20, 2016
The Buckeyes will now face No. 12 Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals Saturday at 5 p.m.
The men's team also got the win, but in far more dramatic fashion.
Ohio State won the doubles point for the 17th straight match, but Texas made things interesting in singles play. The Buckeyes' top-ranked players in No. 1 Mikael Torpegaard and No. 45 Hugo Di Feo each took losses. For Torpegaard, the nation's top player, it was his first dual meet loss of the season. Junior Ralf Steinbach was also defeated on court four, and the match was tied at 3-3 with all eyes on court six.
Freshman Martin Joyce is undefeated on the season, but appeared to be in trouble after dropping the first set 6-3. He battled back, however, winning the second 6-3. The pivotal third set went back and forth, eventually ending in a tie breaker with the match on the line.
The Buckeye freshman hopped out to a quick 4-0 lead and never looked back, winning the tie breaker 7-3 to clinch the match and send Ohio State to the quarterfinals.
Joyce wins it for the Buckeyes!!! On to the quarters. What a match. pic.twitter.com/zefUIjDanR
— Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) May 20, 2016
The Buckeyes will face No. 13 seed California in the Elite Eight, Sunday at 1 p.m. with a trip to the final four on the line.
NCAA Title hopes are still very much alive for both of these squads. Eleven Warriors will have updates to follow.
