Tuesday was a great day for Ohio State with the Buckeyes taking care of business on the court against USC while also being named as the top seed at this weekend’s Men’s National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago. Ohio State ran its record to 9-0 after posting its sixth shutout of the young season with a 5-0 win over No. 5 USC. It looked like the Buckeyes might start off in a 1-0 hole after going down breaks at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles but they managed to get both back on serve. Alex Kobelt and James Trotter came back from 3-5 down to clinch the doubles point with a 7-6(4) win at No. 2 and Hunter Tubert and John McNally picked up a late break to win 7-5 at No. 3. Ohio State dominated in singles and took five opening sets (only dropped 3 games total at 3, 5, 6) and ended up with four straight set courtesy of JJ Wolf, John McNally, Alex Kobelt, and Hunter Tubert at No. 1, No. 3, No. 5, and No. 6. 

The loss was the third straight for USC which is the Trojans longest losing streak since April 2006.  

#2 Ohio State 5, #5 USC 0
Feb 12, 2019 at Columbus, Ohio (Varsity Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #2 JJ Wolf (OSU) def. #56 Brandon Holt (USC) 6-4, 6-1
2. #12 Kyle Seelig (OSU) vs. #4 Daniel Cukierman (USC) 6-3, 2-3, unfinished
3. #62 John McNally (OSU) def. Jack Jaede (USC) 6-1, 6-3
4. Martin Joyce (OSU) vs. #31 Laurens Verboven (USC) 4-6, 1-2, unfinished
5. #86 Alex Kobelt (OSU) def. Riley Smith (USC) 6-1, 6-4
6. Hunter Tubert (OSU) def. Mor Bulis (USC) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. JJ Wolf/Martin Joyce (OSU) vs. Brandon Holt/Riley Smith (USC) 6-6, unfinished
2. Alex Kobelt/James Trotter (OSU) def. Jack Jaede/Laurens Verboven (USC) 7-6 (7-4)
3. Hunter Tubert/John McNally (OSU) def. #21 Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith (USC) 7-5
Match Notes:
USC 5-3; National ranking #5
Ohio State 9-0; National ranking #2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,5,3,1)
Official: Marcus Lee T-1:52 A-361

Davidson improved to 4-2 after a come from behind 4-3 win over winless Gardner-Webb. The Wildcats rolled through the doubles point only dropping 3 games total but the Runnin’ Bulldogs came back in singles and took a 3-2 lead. Davidson tied the match at 3-3 with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 win from Sam Kavarana at No. 3 and Douglas MacIntosh clinched at No. 6 with a 6-3, 7-5 win. 

GW Head coach Mike Griffith 
“We had a tough night in doubles play, but we stepped up and turned the momentum in our favor in singles,” said Griffith. “We had several match points and we’ve got to finish those consistently. If we did that tonight, we would have come away with a hard fought win, but we’ve just got to move on to the next match and keep getting better.”

Davidson 4, Gardner-Webb 3
2/12/2019 at Davidson, NC
Singles competition
1. SCHOLL, Maximilian (GWU) def. Axel Fries (DAV) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
2. #90 HURRION, Millen (GWU) def. Yash Parikh (DAV) 6-1, 6-0
3. Sam Kavarana (DAV) def. PLENTZ, Breno (GWU) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5
4. Camden Mazzoni (DAV) def. GILBERT, Ross (GWU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
5. FORS, Joahn (GWU) def. Brooks Green (DAV) 6-3, 1-6, 6-2
6. Douglas MacIntosh (DAV) def. HARRIS, Sebastian (GWU) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles competition
1. Axel Fries/Yash Parikh (DAV) vs. #49 SCHOLL, Maximilian/HURRION, Millen (GWU) 5-1, unfinished
2. Camden Mazzoni/Douglas MacIntosh (DAV) def. PLENTZ, Breno/PUGA, Stefano (GWU) 6-1
3. Matthew Rose/Alexander Loope (DAV) def. DURALL, Bonaventura/HARRIS, Sebastian (GWU) 6-1
Match Notes
Gardner-Webb 0-5
Davidson 4-2
Order of finish: Doubles (); Singles (2,1,4,5,3,6)

The draws were officially released for this weekend’s Men’s National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago with Ohio State named as the top seed. Wake Forest dropped to the No. 3 seed after falling last week to Virginia while the Cavaliers climbed up the No. 8 seed after being ranked No. 13 last week. 

Men’s National Team Indoor – Friday Schedule (Times ET)
#7 North Carolina vs. #10 Baylor (10 am)
#2 Mississippi State vs. #15 TCU (10 am)
#3 Wake Forest vs. #14 Columbia (1 pm)
#6 UCLA vs. #11 Notre Dame (1 pm)
#1 Ohio State vs. #16 Tulane (4:30 pm)
#8 Virginia vs. #9 Stanford (4:30 pm)
#4 Florida vs. #13 USC (7:30 pm)
#5 Texas vs. #12 Illinois (7:30 pm)

Below were last week’s rankings and notable results so you can see who moved up and down in this week’s unpublished rankings. 

#1 Wake Forest lost to #13 Virginia (def. #9 Baylor via forfeit)
#2 Ohio State def. Arizona State & #24 Georgia
#3 Mississippi State def. #19 Tulane and Texas Tech
#4 Florida def. #15 TCU
#5 USC lost to #10 Stanford & Cal
#6 Texas def. Tulsa & Arkansas
#7 UCLA def. Cal
#8 North Carolina def. #14 Illinois
#9 Baylor (forfeit loss to #1 Wake Forest)
#10 Stanford def. #5 USC
#11 Notre Dame lost to #14 Illinois
#12 Columbia def. St. Jonn’s
#13 Virginia def. #1 Wake Forest
#14 Illinois lost to #8 UNC; def #11 Notre Dame
#15 TCU lost to #4 Florida
#19 Tulane lost to #3 Mississippi State & Texas Tech

Slam.Tennis will have updated schedules throughout the weekend.