NCAA Men's Tennis: Big Ten 4-0 in First Round Action

Photo courtesy of Michigan Athletics

Big Ten schools went undefeated on the first day of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship as the field was narrowed from 64 to 32 teams at 16 regionals held across the country. No. 1-ranked Ohio State, No. 22 Michigan State, No. 26 Michigan and No. 29 Illinois won matches on Friday afternoon, defeating champions from four different conferences.


COLUMBUS, Ohio — With three trophies already in its possession (ITA Indoors, Big Ten regular season, Big Ten Tournament), Ohio State began its quest for a fourth, knocking off Cleveland State, 4-0, at the Auer Tennis Complex. The Buckeyes (31-1) improved to 36-0 at home in NCAA action.

Justin Boulais and JJ Tracy dropped just two games each at No. 1 and No. 4 singles respectively as OSU shutout the Horizon League champions.

Ohio State will meet No. 34 Oklahoma State tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the regional final.


NEW YORK — Michigan rebounded from its loss in the Big Ten Tournament Final with a 4-0 win over Binghampton at the Milstein Family Tennis Center on the campus of Columbia University.

Will Cooksey earned victories at No. 2 doubles and No. 5 singles, clinching championship point for the Wolverines (17-12). The Bearcats (16-10) received an NCAA berth after winning the Northeast Conference in their first year of competition.

Michigan will face No. 8 Columbia at 1 p.m. ET Saturday in NCAA second round action.


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It was an historic day on the campus of Harvard University (and that's saying something) as Michigan State rolled past No. 43 Denver by a 4-0 count. The NCAA victory was the first for the Spartans in school history.

Michigan State (23-6) handed the Summit League champions their first loss of the season by winning the doubles point and following wins at No. 4, No. 6 and No. 2 singles.

MSU encounters No. 12 Harvard at 2 p.m. ET Saturday in the regional final.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Illinois downed Mid-American Conference champion Toledo 4-1 at the Boone Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Kentucky. It was the second win for the Illini over the Rockets this season.

Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois defeated 65th-ranked Pawit Sornlaksup 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 singles as the Illini improved to 16-9 on the season.

Illinois takes on No. 5 Kentucky at 4 p.m. ET tomorrow in NCAA second round play.