Olympic Sports Recap: Women’s T&F Wins B1G Title, Men’s Tennis Advances To NCAA Quarterfinals
While the spring semester is over and 169 student-athletes graduated from Ohio State, many continue to compete among their respective teams. The men’s tennis team kept its national title hopes alive, while the women’s track team made history. What follows are brief recaps to the past week of events for Ohio State’s Olympic-sport student-athletes with links to the press releases.
Track & Field (Men’s and Women’s)
After winning the indoor conference title in Feb., the Ohio State women’s track and field team completed the second indoor-outdoor sweep in program history when it won the outdoor Big Ten Championship on May 12.
The Buckeyes last swept both the indoor and outdoor Big Ten championships in 2011.
Junior specialist Taylor DeLoach leaped 6.18m in the long jump to take gold, earning her first Big Ten title.
The women’s 4×100-meter team of Bliss Soleyn, Anavia Battle, Karimah Senior and DeLoach took first place with a time of 43.99.
Battle continued her impressive weekend by winning a Big Ten title in both the 100m dash (11.32) and the 200m dash (22.73).
Nick Gray helped the Buckeyes sweep the men’s and women’s 200-meter dashes, clocking in at 20.23 to set the Cretzmeyer Track facility record and finished his conference career as an 11-time Big Ten Champion.
Abby Nichols ran a phenomenal 5,000m run, breaking the Ohio State record and claiming her first Big Ten title, with a 15:56.52, clinching the title for the women.
Men’s Tennis
The No. 1 Ohio State men’s tennis team defeated No. 16 Columbia, 4-1, in front of a home crowd to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament May 11.
The Buckeyes continued their excellent season, with big-time performances from J.J. Wolf, Martin Joyce, John McNally and Hunter Tubert giving them an advantage in doubles play.
“We had a quick start in doubles and I think that was really big for us,” Wolf said. “Martin Joyce and I have had a couple tough matches the past few, and I think it was good. We worked hard this week and really showed we got better.”
In singles play, No. 26 McNally fell behind early in his match, but made a strong comeback, rallying behind the home crowd. Despite trailing 2-4 in the second set, McNally clinched the Scarlet and Gray victory with a win (6-3, 7-5) against No. 22 Jack Lin.
No. 2 Wolf struggled against No. 37 Victor Pham, losing the first set 4-6, but bounced back with consecutive 6-1 sets for the win.
“J.J.’s the best player in the country, so he’s a little tight out there,” Ohio State head men’s coach Ty Tucker said. “I didn’t think he played his best tennis in the first set, but he stepped it up and started playing 90 percent of his level, and we needed it.”
McNally’s comeback win clinched the match against Columbia, improving the Buckeyes’ record to 32-2 and propelling them to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
Despite the adversity, the sophomore from Cincinnati knew he and his teammates were not going out at the hands of Columbia.
“The crowd man, we tried all week to try to get a big crowd here,” McNally said. “I’ve never played a match at Ohio State with that many people here. I mean, when you have that many people screaming your name and cheering you on and ‘O-H-ing and I-O-ing,’ you can’t give up.
“J.J. had a tough first set, I had a little bit of resiliency in the second set, but we’re never going to give up on this team. We work too damn hard and we work way, way too hard to give up. And J.J. and I have grown up together, we have really big dreams, and winning a national title for the Buckeyes is one of them.”
Ohio State will take on No. 9 UNC in the NCAA Quarterfinals on May 16 in Orlando, Fla., at the USTA Tennis Campus.
Women’s Golf
The Ohio State women’s golf team came up short in its NCAA Championships bid, finishing seventh at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional on May 8 at Tumble Creek Golf Club.
The Buckeyes, who shot one-under par as a team in the final round, came on strong on the back nine. Ohio State finished the tourney at 11-over, just one behind UCF, who claimed the last spot at the NCAA Championships next in Fayetteville, Ark.
Despite the disappointment as a team, freshman Aneka Seumanutafa carded a one-under 71 in the final round, tying for seventh at the Cle Elum Regional and advancing to the NCAA Championships as an individual.
“I was so proud of the effort of the Buckeyes today,” Therese Hession, Ohio State head coach and director of golf, said. “It was a valiant effort just falling short. We are excited for Aneka’s opportunity at the national championship!”
Baseball
Junior right fielder Dominic Canzone launched a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, propelling the Ohio State baseball team to a 6-5 victory against Wright State on May 8 at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.
Freshman third baseman Marcus Ernst sparked the rally with a two-out single before Canzone’s homer blasted off the batter’s eye in dead center against Raider reliever Tristan Taught.
Right-handed reliever Joe Gahm picked up his first victory as a Buckeye, while left-handed reliever Andrew Magno recorded his eighth save.
“We beat a good baseball team tonight and we played well,” head coach Greg Beals said. “Our pitching staff performed well and we got some big hits from Conner Pohl and Dominic Canzone with two outs. Canzone’s ball was absolutely blistered. To hit the top of the batter’s eye with no wind in our park, that went a long way. He’s always been a great hitter but now he’s developed power this year which makes him a very dangerous player.
“Today was a big game for us and you need your big-time players to step up in big-time games.”
The Ohio State baseball team defeated Penn State, 4-2, May 10 at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.
Freshman right-handed reliever Will Pfennig earned his first collegiate victory, while left-handed reliever Andrew Magno claimed his ninth save of the year.
The Scarlet and Gray rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs on two hits. With the bases loaded, a passed ball allowed Carpenter to score before Pohl took one for the team and gave the Buckeyes a 3-2 advantage.
Brent Todys added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh with a clutch two-out single off of Penn State reliever Mason Mellott, giving Ohio State a 4-2 edge.
The Buckeyes split a doubleheader against Penn State in front of a senior-day crowd of 1,836 fans at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium on May 11.
Redshirt freshman left-handed pitcher Seth Lonsway struck out a career-high 13 batters in eight scoreless innings for Ohio State, who defeated Penn State, 2-0, in game one of the doubleheader.
Redshirt junior Matt Carpenter came up with a timely one-out, two-run double in the bottom of the seventh for the eventual game-winning play. Mango pitched a scoreless ninth to claim save No. 10 on the season. Freshman Nick Erwin had a two-hit game.
In game two of the doubleheader, Penn State jumped out to a quick lead and did not relinquish it on its way to a sweep-avoiding 10-6 win.
The Nittany Lions scored three runs in the second inning, two in the fourth and five in the fifth, taking a dominant lead. Penn State starting pitcher Conor Larkin limited the Buckeyes to just three hits and struck out 10 across six innings to improve to 4-2 on the year. Ohio State starting pitcher Griffan Smith dropped to 5-4 with the loss.
Canzone extended his reached-base streak to a career-high 47 straight games, and Dillon Dingler extended his reached-base streak to a career-high 27 outings. Brady Cherry put together multi-hit game No. 17 for the Buckeyes as a senior.
Softball
The No. 4-seeded Ohio State softball team (34-16) fell, 10-1, to No. 5-seeded Wisconsin (40-11) in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament in a six-inning affair on May 10 at Indiana’s Andy Mohr Field.
The Badgers scored four runs in the first inning on a sacrifice fly, two bases-loaded walks and a wild pitch.
Wisconsin added to its lead in the second and third frames with a solo home run by Taylor Johnson, an RBI single and a two-run shot by Jordan Little.
Lilli Piper broke up a Badger no-hitter bid in the fourth inning, and reached third base on Emily Clark’s single and a fielder’s choice. Then, Niki Carver reached on a fielder’s choice, plating Piper for the Buckeyes’ lone run..
Wisconsin scored two more runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly and an error, giving it a 10-1 victory.
Clark reached base in her 21 consecutive outing, and Piper extended her hitting streak to 10 games.
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