Men's Tennis Takes on No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus on Sunday

Sunday, January 20

Columbus, Ohio

2 PM

Xavier University

Ohio State

Men's Tennis Takes on No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus on Sunday

01.17.19 | Men's Tennis

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier men's tennis continues a road stretch to begin the spring season, taking on the No. 2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday, January 20 at 2:00 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio.

THE OPPONENT: OHIO STATE

OSU was ranked No. 2 in the latest ITA Team Rankings, recieving one of the 12 vote for first.
Five Buckeyes were ranked in top 125 in the the latest ITA rankings singles release, in November. J.J. Wolf leads the team, ranked No. 3 in singles, and Kyle Seelig is also ranked in the top 20. John McNally, Tim Seibert and James Trotter are also nationally ranked in singles.
OSU also has a pair of top-10 ranked doubles pairs, No. 6 ranked duo Kyle Seelig and Alex Kobelt, and the No. 9 ranked Hunter Tubert and Martin Joyce.
Ohio State hasn't started dual play for the season, opening with Cleveland State just ahead of the match with Xavier, at 10:00 a.m.
Ohio State went 34-3 last season, finishing the season ranked No. 2 in the country
Xavier fell against the Buckeyes, 7-0, last season.
The Musketeers will look for early-season momentum in facing a tough non-conference opponent.

LAST TIME OUT: CHICAGO STATE

Xavier was last in action last Saturday, picking up a win over Chicago State in the second game of a double-header at Michigan State.
CSU took the 1-0 early lead after taking wins in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in doubles to claim the doubles point.
Xavier pulled back into a 1-1 draw after Jack Dykema won the No. 2 singles spot in two sets, 6-2, 6-4, over Jakov Suler.
In the No. 1 singles spot Brett Winters won, 6-1, 7-5, over Felix Savard to put the Musketeers ahead 2-1.
Chicago State pulled back into a draw, 2-2, with a win in the No. 3 spot for George Botha over Matthew Graft, 6-2, 6-4.
After a second set that went to multiple tiebreakers in the No. 5 spot, CSU pulled back ahead 3-2, with Gontalo Martinez's 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over Michael Lee.
Xavier pulled even 3-3, with a win in the No. 6 spot for Dominic Macaluso, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
The Musketeers claimed the win in the No. 4 spot after Connor LaFavre came back from falling 6-3 in the first set, to win, 6-1, 6-4, in the final two sets.

UP NEXT

The Musketeers return to the action on Saturday, January 26 when Xavier hosts Belmont at the Eastern Hill Indoor Tennis Club at 4:30 p.m.

THE MUSKETEERS

Xavier's roster is deep with upper-classmen, with three seniors and two juniors. Returning seniors include Jack Dykema, Connor LaFavre, and Trent Smith. Juniors Matthew Graft and Michael Lee also return.
Sophomores Brett Winters and Jan Vrba return for the Musketeers.
Xavier also added freshmen Dominic Macaluso and Oliver Weaver.

FALL HIGHLIGHTS

Xavier opened the fall invitational tournament at the Greater Cincinnati Invitational at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Brett Winters posted a strong performance, sweeping the No. 1 flight. Overall, Xavier went 12-9 in singles play and won six doubles matches.
At the Dayton Hidden Duals, the Musketeers came away with team wins over two of the three teams, picking up dominant wins over NKU, 7-1 and Wright State, 6-1, while falling 7-2 to the Flyers.
Four Musketeers competed in the ITA Ohio Valley Regionals at Tennessee, with Jack Dykema and Brett Winters advancing to the round of 32 in the 128-person main draw. Connor LaFavre and Matthew Graft also competed in the main draw in both singles and doubles. In doubles, the pair took Vanderbilt's Ross and Srabert to five tiebreakers before falling narrowly.
Xavier closed the fall at the Louisville Invite, where the Musketeers collected 23 wins and had a competitor advance to the consolation final in all four singles flights.