No. 3 Buckeyes Defeated by No. 25 Michigan State in SIx Hour Thriller

COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 2 seed Ohio State was edged by No. 1 Michigan State, 4-3, in the Big Ten Tournament finals match at Libbey Park in Ojai, California.

It marks Ohio State's second consecutive losses against Michigan State after the Spartans defeated the Buckeyes 4-3 at Ty Tucker Tennis Center earlier this dual season.

Ohio State has made the finals of the Big Ten Tournament 22-consecutive times, all with Ty Tucker as head coach..

The Buckeyes dropped the doubles point for the first time since their March 20th match against Indiana where they defeated the Hoosiers 4-1. Ohio State has only lost four total doubles points in the dual season.

In singles competition, Aidan Kim, Nikita Filin and Alexander Bernard all earned a victory on courts one, four and six. The match was tied at 3-all and came down to a tiebreaker where Jack Anthrop was defeated to give the Spartans a 4-3 win.

The Buckeyes will now focus on the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The tournament selection show will be held at 4 p.m. on Monday. The show will be streamed on NCAA.com.

Doubles

The Buckeyes were downed in doubles with losses on courts one and two.

Nikita Filin and Brandon Carpico were defeated for the first time in nine matches in a 6-2 set on court one.

On court two, Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima were tied at 3-all before the Spartans pulled ahead to take a 6-3 win and clinch the doubles point for Michigan State.

Alexander Bernard and Alex Okonkwo were on a 40-0 game point, while trailing 3-4 on court three when the doubles point was clinched.

Singles

Nikita Filin tied the match at 1-all on court four, earning his third singles victory of the tournament and maintaining an undefeated record against Big Ten opponents through the dual season.

On court three, Preston Stearns was defeated 2-6, 4-6 to put the Spartans up 2-1.

To knot the match, Alexander Bernard earned a three-set victory over Michigan State's Mitchell Sheldon, putting the score at 2-2 and tying the match for the second time of the night.

The Spartans pulled ahead after Taym Alazmeh edged Bryce Nakashima in a 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 thriller match, leaving Michigan State up 3-2.

Aidan Kim was next for the Buckeyes earning a three-set win on court one for his second singles win of the tournament, the victory evened Ohio State and Michigan State at 3-all with a match between #29 Jack Anthrop and #15 Matthew Forbes on court two to decide the match.

Jack Anthrop quickly fell behind early after suffering a 6-2 set one loss before he came back for a tight 7-5 second set win to force the third set. Anthrop and Forbes battled to a 6-all tiebreaker that was for the Big Ten Tournament Championship, which saw Forbes defeat Anthrop 7-3.

#3 Ohio State 3, #25 Michigan State 4

Singles

1. #12 Aidan Kim (OSU) def. #33 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5

2. #15 Matthew Forbes (MSU) def. #29 Jack Anthrop (OSU) 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3)

3. #57 Ozan Baris (MSU) def. #30 Preston Stearns (OSU) 6-2, 6-4

4. #85 Nikita Filin (OSU) def. Danial Rakhmatullayev (MSU) 6-4, 6-4

5. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) def. #118 Bryce Nakashima 3-6, 6-0, 7-5

6. Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

Doubles

1. Ozan Baris/Matthew Forbes (MSU) def. #5 Brandon Carpico/Nikita Filin (OSU) 6-2

2. Taym Alazmeh/Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) def. #39 Alexander Bernard/Alex Okonkwo (OSU) 6-3

3. #53 Aidan Kim/Bryce Nakashima (OSU) vs. Aristotelis Thanos/Danial Rakhmatullayev (MSU) 3-4, unfinished

Match Notes:

Michigan State 18-8 ; National ranking #25

Ohio State 29-4; National ranking #3

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,3,6,5,1,2)

T- 6:26

#GoBucks

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