Michigan State Wins 2026 Big Ten Men’s Tennis Tournament

Photo by Jeffrey Liang

BOX SCORE

OJAI, Calif. – Weather delays and the third-ranked team in the country couldn’t stop No. 25 Michigan State from winning its first Big Ten Men’s Tennis Tournament title in 59 years on Saturday at the 124th Ojai. Top-seeded Michigan State held off second-seeded Ohio State, 4-3, as the Big Ten co-champions battled late into the night at Libbey Park. With the win, MSU earned the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State (18-8) was a point away from a clinch when rain halted play for two hours. When action resumed, Ohio State’s Aidan Kim prevailed at No. 1 singles to even the score, 3-3, setting up a dramatic finish on court two. Matthew Forbes pushed MSU over the top by winning a third set tiebreaker, 7-3, as the Spartans hoisted the tournament trophy for the first time since 1967 and for the third time in program history. Forbes was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

MSU started the match by claiming the doubles point. The tone was set early when Forbes and Ozan Baris defeated OSU’s Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin, 6-2, on center court to hand the nation’s fifth-ranked doubles team just its sixth loss in 41 matches. Baris went 5-0 overall on the week to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.

Ohio State (29-4), which was making its 22nd-consecutive appearance in the finals, placed Filin and Kim on the all-tournament team. The Buckeyes brought a 15-match win streak into the match before dropping their second decision to the Spartans this season.

The Big Ten will find out how many of its teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced on Monday at 4 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.

Tournament Most Outstanding Player:
Matthew Forbes, So., Michigan State

All-Tournament Team:
Gabriel Debru, Fr., Illinois
Ozan Baris, Sr., Michigan State
Matthew Forbes, So., Michigan State
Nikita Filin, So., Ohio State
Aidan Kim, Jr., Ohio State
Aadarsh Tripathi, Sr., UCLA