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The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s tennis squad is moving on in the NCAA Tournament, as their 4-1 win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers sends them onward to the quarterfinal stage.
In the Scarlet and Gray’s Round of 16 victory over the Gophers, things looked good from the start. The Bucks had an early lead in all three doubles matches, however, the Gophers managed to claw their way back in one of them.
On the singles courts, OSU dominated. Mikael Torpegaard, the No. 6 ranked player, defeated No. 53 Felix Corwin by a score of 7-6(5), 6-0. Torpegaard is the highest ranked player for the Bucks; Corwin is the highest ranked player for his squad. The players also squared off in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, with Corwin getting the best of Torpegaard.
Torpegaard’s NCAA win, combined with the victories from Hunter Tubert and No. 96 Kyle Seelig, set the course for the Buckeyes third win of the season against Minnesota. Seelig took down Josip Krstanovic, the third time that’s happened this season as well. For Tubert, he’s off to a 4-0 record in dual matches
No. 41 JJ Wolf, No. 92 John McNalley were also in action—and were winning—before the match was called in favor of Ohio State.
Now in the quarterfinals, the Buckeyes have momentum. They are riding a 20-match winning streak, and have a 32-2 record this season to go along with their No. 3 seed.
Mississippi State awaits the Buckeyes on Sunday. The match is scheduled for noon ET, and will take place in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Women’s golf update
The Buckeyes women’s golf team is also taking part in their NCAA Tournament. After the first round concluded on Friday at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., the Scarlet and Gray sit in 19th place at 22-over-par.
Just three strokes behind Oklahoma for 15th place, Ohio State is in the middle of things as second-round play tees off at 2:21 ET. While just on the fringe of a top-20 spot, the Buckeyes are shooting well on par-3 holes—they have the third-best scoring at 2-over. Senior Rio Watanabe and junior Niki Schroeder were both tripped up on the 17th hole (a par-4) on Friday, and will look to get back on track on Saturday afternoon. Watanabe notched four birdies en route to an 80 on the scorecard in first-round action, and Schroeder tallied an 82.