Ohio State beats Virginia, Texas beats Baylor to advance to the finals of the ITA Men’s Division I Team Indoor Championships on Tuesday

Top seed Ohio State avoided a third straight 4-3 decision to beat No. 2 seed Virginia 4-2 in the 3:30 p.m. match, with a sharply played doubles point going the way of the Buckeyes. Aidan Kim and Bryce Nakashima earned the point with a 6-3 win on Line 3, defeating Andres Santamarta and Keegan Rice, after the Cavaliers won on Line 1 and Ohio State took Line 2.

Four first sets in singles went to the Buckeyes, but a Virginia surge seemed inevitable despite senior Jack Anthrop’s routine 6-2, 6-3 victory over former ITF world No. 1 Andres Santamarta Roig, who is just a few weeks into his college career.

Three matches went to the third set, and in the two completed sets the player who lost a first set secured a point for his team.

After Jangjun defeated Kim Nakashima 7-6(3), 6-4 on the line, he put Virginia on the board, with Ohio State taking a brief 3-1 lead as Nikita Filin claimed a 7-5, 7-5 win over Mans Dahlberg on line 6. But a minute later, Virginia’s Stiles Brockett completed his comeback, beating Loren Byers 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to close the gap to 3-2.

Two games remained, both in third sets, with Kim trailing Dylan Dietrich 3-0 on line 1 and Preston Stearns and Keegan Rice serving early in their third set on line 2.

Kim, coming off Ohio State’s 4-3 quarterfinal victory over Stanford, said he couldn’t let himself become discouraged or passive despite falling behind early in the third set.

“I was struggling to start that third set and negative thoughts were going through my head,” the Michigan junior said. “I just had to shut them all down and not really think too much because in those moments, knowing it came down to me or Stearns, I knew I just had to step up, just believe and commit to my shots.”

Kim did just that, breaking Dietrich on a decisive point to regain the early break, and holding on for 3-all. Dietrich held on to a 4-3 lead, but that was the last match he would win. Kim held 4-all and then forced a decisive point as Dietrich served, and when the senior from Switzerland double-faulted with his second serve at least two feet long, Kim suddenly served for a trip to the final.

Kim had served the doubles point and made all five of his first serves in that match, and he continued that trend by serving at 5-4, making his first three and swinging freely to move to 40-0. He sailed a backhand long on his first match point, but another first serve, a forehand approach and a backhand volley proved too much for Dietrich, whose defensive lob floated long, sparking another celebration remarkably similar to Saturday’s end against Stanford.

“I try not to think too much about needing this first service,” Kim said. “Again, I try to shut my brain off a little bit in those tighter moments, and I was happy to be able to commit and execute while trusting myself. I was basically down the whole game and being cautious, but talking to the coaches, changing the game plan here and there and just believing.”

Head coach Ty Tucker expressed his appreciation for Kim’s ability to come up with first serve to close out matches.

“You want guys to hold serve the first time they serve for a set, and when they serve for the match, that’s what you need,” Tucker said. “It’s men’s tennis, it’s played indoors and you have to be able to serve.”

Ohio State, which won Indoor titles in 2014, 2019 and 2024, will have three players on the 2024 team competing for a title again: Anthrop, Alex Bernard and Stearns, with Stearns not playing in the finals.

Tucker doesn’t think this will provide much benefit to the Buckeyes.

“Stearns, Bernard and Stearns were there,” Tucker said. But when asked if it could be helpful, he replied, “I think it helps hold the serve.” I think it helps to get the doubles point. But of course. But everyone will be nervous, everyone will be a little tight.”

No. 3 seed Texas last played in a Team Indoor final in 2023, falling to TCU, but after beating No. 5 seed Baylor 4-0, the Longhorns are ready for another shot at their first Indoor title.

Although the 4-0 scoreline seems routine, the Longhorns never really established any dominance over the Bears, even after collecting the doubles point and four first sets in singles. Although Texas had more paths, they had no luck expanding that 1-0 lead, while Baylor also couldn’t close out any of the matches where they took the first sets.

Texas finally got their second point, with Sebastian Eriksson beating Alexandru Chirita 6-4, 7-5 on line 4. Texas made it 3-0 as Kalin Ivanovski bounced back for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Zsombor Velcz on line 2, but Baylor’s Devin Badenhorst had forced a third set by taking a tiebreak over Sebastian Gorzny on line 1 and Lucas Marionneau from Texas. had saved a set point serve at 4-5 against Louis Bowden on line 6. Had Marionneau lost that point there would have been at least 30 minutes of tennis left to play, but Marionneau broke Bowden on a second service return winner on the decisive point to take a 6-5 lead.

On serve for the match, Marionneau went down 30-40, but once again held his nerve, with the freshman from France grabbing his third straight decisive point, while Bowden scored a backhand, to seal the win.

“When I was serving for the match, I said I had to go for it,” said Marionneau, who played in the Longhorns’ 4-2 win over Texas A&M in the round of 16 but did not play in the 4-3 quarterfinal win over TCU. “At 30-40 I hit a backhand line, a super good shot, and then on the deuce point I was a bit tight, to be honest I missed my first serve and after that I was just grinding, and I’m very happy to bring this point for the team.”

Texas head coach Bruce Berque said he hoped to leave with a few wins and a healthy team, without expecting to advance to the program’s second finals.

“Honestly, my goal in this tournament was to win two games and not get hurt worse than us,” Berque said. “That was my goal. We don’t seem too hurt, we haven’t gotten any worse and we’ve won three games already, so I’m excited and I know my boys won’t be happy with that… I’m happy with the result and happy that the boys seem to be holding up physically.”

Oliver Ojakaar, who was injured last season and didn’t play after March, suffered a setback this fall, so Texas is being extremely cautious as he attempts to return to the league for a second time. After earning the 4-3 victory over TCU in the quarterfinals, Ojakaar played doubles today, which is a match-time decision for the finals.

“We thought he could play a maximum of two singles matches this week,” Berque said. “Tonight didn’t seem like the right night for it, but tomorrow we’ll see, depending on how he feels. But he’s holding up really well, and after his long game (against TCU) he’s recovered well and we’ll see if he feels good enough to do it.”

Texas and Ohio State played in Columbus late last month, with the Buckeyes claiming a 4-1 victory.

“We were a little soft last time,” Berque said. “You know they’re not soft. Singles, doubles, on every court they’re going to compete against each other. They’re really good tennis players, but they’re tough and we have to at least match that. We’re going to have to play a high level of tennis, but from what I saw here today, I think we have a fighting chance, but anything less than our best competitive effort will result in a trip home with a 3-1 record.”

The finals are scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 PM Central Time, with the inaugural collegiate version of the famed “Taste of Tennis” event being held in conjunction with the finals.