Around the Oval: Men's Tennis Claims Two Top-10 Road Wins, Men's Volleyball Continues Its Hot Start and Women's Lacrosse Opens Its 2023 Season With Two Victories

By Chase Brown on February 13, 2023 at 1:12 pm
Men’s tennis
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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Ohio State's Olympic sports had another great week of competition to continue the month of February.

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 tennis, men’s volleyball and women’s lacrosse and several other sports.

Let's dive in.

Men's Tennis

Ohio State men's tennis continued its dominant start to the 2022-23 season with road victories against No. 9 Wake Forest and No. 5 Virginia this past week, backing up the Buckeyes’ standing as the No. 1 team in the ITA Team Rankings.

Wake Forest

After starting the season undefeated at home, Ohio State claimed its first road victory on Thursday in comeback fashion, defeating Wake Forest 4-3 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

For the first time this season, the Buckeyes lost the doubles point as the Demon Decon duo of Juan Lopez and Filippo Moroni defeated Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter, 6-4, while Jurabek Karimov and Luciano Tacchi beat Robert Cash and Justin Boulais, 6-4.

In singles, Wake Forest extended its lead with a victory on court three to take a 2-0 team lead. Then Ohio State's comeback bid began as it earned wins from Lutschaunig on court six, Trotter on court four and Cash on court five. The top-10 battle came down to a matchup between Boulais and Moroni on court two, with Boulais claiming a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory to clinch the match for the Buckeyes.

Virginia

Just like Thursday, Ohio State dropped the doubles point to its opponent on Saturday, allowing Virginia to take a 1-0 lead after the duos of Lutschaunig and Trotter along with Cash and Boulais fell 6-4 and 7-5 to their Cavalier counterparts.

But again, like Thursday, the Buckeyes showed resilience to come back from an early deficit as Boulais, Trotter, Jack Anthrop and Cash claimed victories to give Ohio State its 4-1 team victory that improved the squad to 11-0.

Up Next

Ohio State returns home this week to take on No. 10 Baylor on Tuesday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus. After that match, the Buckeyes will travel to Champaign, Illinois, to compete in the ITA Indoor National Championship as one of the top seeds and favorites to hoist the trophy – a feat Ty Tucker's squad last accomplished in 2019.

Men's Volleyball

Ohio State men's volleyball, the No. 11-ranked team in the AVCA Poll, claimed its eighth and ninth wins of the season this past week with wins over McKendree on Thursday and Lewis on Saturday.

McKendree

Ohio State opened Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) play with a 3-1 win (25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 25-21) over McKendree at the Covelli Center on Thursday. The Buckeyes were led by Samuel Clark, who collected a team-best 21 kills against the Bearcats. Jacob Pasteur added 14 kills, while Noah Platfoot paced his team in both digs (14) and assists (43).

Lewis

The Buckeyes earned their second MIVA win with a 3-0 sweep (25-23, 25-22, 25-19) of Lewis in Columbus on Saturday. Clark once again led Ohio State with a team-high 14 kills as Jack Stevens added 11 and Pasteur had 10. Platfoot was also sensational and led the Buckeyes with digs (nine) and assists (38) for the second game in a row.

Up Next

Ohio State will travel to face Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday, which will be the start of a four-game road trip that also includes matches with Loyola Chicago (Saturday), Quincy (Feb. 24) and Lindenwood (Feb. 25). The Buckeyes will then return home to face Charleston at the Covelli Center on March 4.

Women's Lacrosse

Ohio State women's lacrosse opened its season with two victories in their first contests at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium over the weekend. The first was an 18-6 win against Robert Morris on Friday, and the second was a 10-9 win against Temple on Sunday.

Robert Morris

The Buckeyes christened their new stadium with a 12-goal victory over Robert Morris to start the weekend. Head coach Amy Bokker, now in her fourth year with the program, said the atmosphere for the contest was phenomenal and provided a fantastic boost for her team and its performance.

“What a great atmosphere,” Bokker said after the game. “The team was feeling really good, and we wanted to leave a great first impression.”

Ohio State was led by Nicole Ferrara and Brynn Ammerman in the contest, as Ferrara had a team-best five points from five goals and won four faceoffs, while Ammerman scored twice and had two assists for a total of four points.

Beyond them, the Buckeyes saw 10 other players find the back of the net, including Ashley Turner, Jamie Level, Jamie Lasda, Caly O'Brien, Casey Roberts, Annie Hargraves, Am Kimball-Mckavish, Leah Sax, Bryce Pfundstein and Sarah Klein.

Temple

Ohio State had to work harder to beat Temple than it did to take down Robert Morris. Still, the team eventually earned the same result on Sunday as it did at the start of the weekend by claiming a narrow, one-goal win against the Owls.

Ohio State trailed Temple 4-3 after the first quarter and 5-4 at halftime in the contest. However, the Buckeyes scored four goals in the third to tie the match and eventually take an 8-5 lead – one they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. 

The Buckeyes were once again led by Ferrara, who scored five goals as the primary source of the team's offense. However, Ferrara wasn't alone in her stellar efforts. Ohio State also saw goaltender Regan Alexander make 12 saves and thwart the Temple attack on multiple occasions, helping secure the 10-9 win for her team.

Up Next

Ohio State will now head to California for two games this week. The first matchup will be at San Diego State on Friday and the second at USC to close out the weekend on Sunday.

Softball

Ohio State softball has a 2-2 record in the young season after defeating Boise State and UMass and falling to Georgia and UCF at the Black and Gold Classic on the campus of UCF over the weekend.

Pitcher Allison Smith, who picked up her first win of the season on Saturday in an 8-2 victory over Boise State, pitched a 10-strikeout complete game shutout and allowed only four hits against UMass. She also struck out the final UMass batter to end the game with the tying run on base and the go-ahead runner at the plate.

Ohio State's winning run in its 1-0 victory over UMass was scored when Meggie Otte reached the plate from third base on a wild pitch. Otte got on base with a single and eventually ended up on third base after back-to-back singles from Destinee Noury and Taylor Pack, loading the bases with one out in the second inning.

Following its second win of the season, Ohio State will be back on the road next weekend as it heads to Clemson, South Carolina, for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Buckeyes will play Notre Dame and No. 10 Clemson twice, beginning with a single game versus the Irish on Friday. Saturday’s schedule includes another game vs. Notre Dame (12:30 p.m.) and one vs. Clemson (5:30 p.m.) before finishing the weekend with a finale against the Tigers on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

Other News and Notes

  • The No. 6-seeded and No. 11-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team lost to No. 12 Michigan, 4-1, in consolation play at the ITA Indoor Team National Championship at the Seattle Tennis Club on Sunday. The Buckeyes are now 6-2 on the year, with the Wolverines 6-1. The teams will meet in a Big Ten match on April 16 in Ann Arbor.
  • In its final regular-season home games of the 2022-23 season, the No. 1 Ohio State women’s hockey team beat St. Thomas 6-1 on Friday and shut out the Tommies with a 5-0 win on Saturday at the OSU Ice Rink. With the victories, the Buckeyes (27-3-2, 22-3-1 WCHA) earned the regular-season series sweep of the Tommies.
  • The No. 7 Ohio State men's hockey team lost its first matchup with Notre Dame on Friday, 2-1, and tied with the Irish, 2-2, on Saturday. Ohio State is now 17-11-2 on the year and 10-9-1 in the Big Ten.
  • The No. 7 Ohio State men’s gymnastics team completed a comeback against No. 4 Illinois in the Buckeyes’ first home meet of the regular season, earning the 401.000 to 399.200 victory for OSU’s first Big Ten win of the season.
  • The No. 11 Ohio State men’s lacrosse team earned a 19-12 victory Saturday over Cleveland State at a sun-soaked Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium as a fast-starting Buckeye offense scored 10 times in the first half and improved to 2-0 on the young season.
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