Around the Oval: Ohio State’s Tennis Teams Dominate Ranked Slate, Men's Lacrosse Breaks in Its New Stadium and the Hockey Teams Split With Top-10 Foes

By Chase Brown on February 6, 2023 at 1:05 pm
OSU Women's Tennis
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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The first week of February was full of dominant performances from Ohio State's Olympic sports.

In this edition of Around the Oval, Eleven Warriors' one-stop shop for coverage of Ohio State's Olympic sports programs, we offer a rundown of the past seven days for men’s and women’s tennis, men's and women’s ice hockey, wrestling and some news and notes on several other teams.

Let's dive in.

Men's Tennis

Ohio State men's tennis looked like a national championship contender over the weekend with shutout victories against No. 23 Texas A&M on Friday and No. 6 Texas on Sunday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus.

The No. 2 Buckeyes began their dominant weekend against the Aggies. In doubles, Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter, plus Robert Cash and Justin Boulais, defeated their opponents to secure the first match's first point. After that, fifth-ranked JJ Tracy, Cannon Kingsley, Lutschaunig, Trotter, Cash and Boulais each won their singles matches to help Ohio State claim a 7-0 victory.

Two days later, Ohio State secured its second marquee victory with a sweep of the Longhorns. The pairings mentioned above defeated their Texas counterparts 6-3 and 6-2 to win the first point. The Buckeyes then won three singles points as Trotter, Cash and Alexander Bernard secured the 4-0 team win.

With the wins, Ohio State improved to an impressive 9-0 this season. The Buckeyes hit the road this week to face Wake Forest on Thursday and Virginia on Saturday before returning to Columbus for a battle with Baylor on Feb. 14.

Women's Tennis

Ohio State women’s tennis also looked like a team with national championship aspirations this weekend after defeating No. 19 Oklahoma, 4-3, on Thursday and sweeping No. 5 Georgia, 4-0, on Saturday.

The No. 11 Buckeyes secured their fourth win of the year on Thursday with a narrow victory over the Cowgirls. After dropping the doubles point, Ohio State took the lead with three straight sets wins from Sydni Ratliff, Irina Cantos Siemers and Shelly Bereznyak. In a winner-take-all match, Kollie Allen's three-set victory sealed her team's 4-3 ranked win.

On Saturday, Ohio State took out the broomsticks in a sweep of the Bulldogs, a top-five program with national championship hopes. The Buckeyes started this matchup differently than the one two days prior, quickly claiming the doubles points with victories from Cantos Siemers and Ratliff, plus Allen and Danielle Wilson. Cantos Siemers, Ratliff and Bereznyak defeated their opponents in singles to provide Ohio State with its 4-0 final score.

This weekend, Melissa Schaub's squad will travel to Seattle for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, which will be held Thursday through Monday. Ohio State will close out February with matches against No. 23 Arizona State, No. 10 NC State and No. 3 Texas A&M.

Men's Lacrosse

Ohio State’s men’s lacrosse team broke in the new Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium with a win Saturday, as the No. 11 Buckeyes defeated Air Force 15-7 behind a trio of hat tricks from Jack Myers, Scott White and Kyle Borda.

Myers led the way for Ohio State with four goals and five assists. White added four goals and Borda contributed three. It was Myers who broke the ice with the game's first goal, but it was White and Borda who put the game out of reach with two goals each as the Buckeyes jumped out to an early 6-1 lead.

From there, Ohio State continued to pour it on Air Force and cruised to its 15-7 win over the Falcons. En route to the victory, Ed Shean scored twice, while Connor Mitchell and Jason Knox each put one in the net.

The Buckeyes will return to the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium this weekend as they host Cleveland State on Feb. 11.

Men's Hockey

Ohio State men's hockey (17-10-1, 10-8-0 Big Ten) fell to Penn State, 4-3, on Friday in a packed Value City Arena. With another great crowd on Saturday, the Buckeyes responded.

In front of a season-high attendance of 8,439 fans, No. 7 Ohio State, which never led on Friday, turned the tables against No. 9 Penn State with a late game-winner from Tate Singleton and an empty net goal from Cole McWard to secure a 4-2 win in Game 2 and split the series.

With six games left in 2022-23, the Buckeyes' victory puts them at No. 8 in the PairWise rankings, which mimics the selection for the 16-team NCAA field. Including Ohio State, every Big Ten team except Wisconsin ranks inside or near the top 16, with Minnesota ranking first, Michigan fourth, Penn State fifth, Michigan State 14th and Notre Dame 17th.

On Feb. 10-11, Ohio State will face Notre Dame in South Bend with a chance to distance itself from the Irish. After that, the Buckeyes will return home to play Michigan on Feb. 16 and two days later will battle the Wolverines outdoors at the Cleveland Browns’ FirstEnergy Stadium in front of an expected crowd of 50,000. Steve Rohlik's squad will then end its regular season at top-ranked Minnesota on Feb. 24-25.

Women's Hockey

Similarly to the men's hockey team, the women's hockey team lost its first game to Minnesota, 4-2 on Friday, but bounced back in the rematch with a dominant 5-1 victory on Saturday in Minneapolis.

The No. 1 Buckeyes had five different goal scorers in Game 2 while Amanda Thiele stole the show with a 32-save afternoon. The veteran goaltender made several outstanding saves to keep the No. 3 Golden Gophers' relentless attack at bay.

With the win, Ohio State (25-3-2, 20-3-1 WCHA) split the season series with Minnesota after a 4-2 loss on Oct. 28 and a 4-4 shootout win on Oct. 29. Additionally, the Buckeyes improved to an exceptional 14-2 on the road in 2022-23, which should bode well for the program once they reach the WCHA and NCAA tournaments.

Before the postseason begins, Ohio State must take care of St. Thomas in Columbus and Wisconsin in Madison. The Buckeyes will host the Tommies this weekend at the OSU Ice Rink with puck drop set for 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday. Nadine Muzerall's team will then travel to Wisconsin to face the No. 8 Badgers on Feb. 18-19. Ohio State is a combined 4-0 against both opponents this year.

Wrestling

Ohio State wrestling continued the narrative of an Ohio State team losing its first match and winning its second over the weekend. After a blowout defeat at the hands of top-ranked Penn State on Friday, the No. 5 Buckeyes traveled to Evanston, Illinois, and handled No. 14 Northwestern, 21-12, on Sunday.

No. 3 Sammy Sasso headlined Ohio State's seven match victories against Northwestern with a 2-1 win over No. 4 Yahya Thomas in extras. The "Savage" is now 11-2 in duals and 20-3 overall in 2022-23. He also improved to 6-2 in top-25 duals at 149 pounds, one of the deepest weight classes in the Big Ten and NCAA writ large.

Beyond Sasso's win, Ohio State had three true freshmen earn victories in the dual, including Jesse Mendez (133 pounds), Seth Shumate (184) and Luke Geog (197). Mendez was the lone freshman to claim a win over a ranked opponent, which the two-time Big Ten Wrestler of the Week has now accomplished twice in his young career.

Paddy Gallagher, Carson Kharchla and Ethan Smith were the other three Buckeyes to win their bouts on Sunday. Malik Heinselman, Dylan D'Emilio and Tate Orndorff lost matchups to ranked opponents in purple singlets.

Tom Ryan's squad will return to the Covelli Center for a top-10 battle with No. 10 Nebraska on Friday. The match will begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

Other News and Notes

  • Ohio State synchronized swimming continued its 2023 season with the Jessica Beck Memorial Competition on Saturday. The team earned an overall score of 104 points with victories in solo (Nikki Dzurko), duet (Emily Armstrong and Ruby Remati) and team to defeat Texas Woman’s University (65 points) and Michigan (42 points).
  • Ohio State women's gymnastics earned a score of 197.575 to defeat Maryland (196.475) at the Covelli Center on Sunday. The Buckeyes earned season-high results on beam, floor and vault to reach the second-best overall score in program history.
  • Ohio State fencing went undefeated at the Northwestern Duals over the weekend. The No. 6 women's team went 12-0, including wins over No. 5 Northwestern, No. 11 Temple and No. 13 Stanford. The No. 5 men's team posted a 5-0 mark on the opening day and a 3-0 record Sunday.
  • Ohio State pistol saw Katelyn Abeln take first place overall and top honors in the air pistol and sport pistol as Ohio State defeated North Dakota State over the weekend. The Buckeyes had a final team score of 6729, while North Dakota State fired a 5996.
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