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Ohio State Men's Tennis (2014/2019/2024 ITA Indoor National Champs, 17 Straight B1G Titles)

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Wolf never lost a set at the ITA All-American Championships and became the first Ohio State Buckeye to ever take the singles title in the competition. Ohio State previously had winners in doubles in 2004 and 2011.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Buckeyes are returning home with silverware! For an update on Monday&#39;s final results from Tulsa <a href="https://t.co/e9Aup5Qi6b">&mdash;">https://t.co/e9Aup5Qi6b</a></p>&mdash; Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioStateMTEN) <a href="">October 8, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
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The 2019 Recruiting haul for the Buckeye team is talented and absolutely loaded with Blue chip athletes.
I Just noticed that Tennis Recruiting site has updated and included a Oct. 15, commitment from New Albany blue chip senior Robert Cash. He is listed as the #22 ranked 2019 Senior in the USA. According to RPI Cash is ranked nationally at #15. https://www.tennisrecruiting.net/player.asp?id=726987
He will be joining at OSU two other top 25 recruits, #3 Cannon Kingsley from New York. https://www.tennisrecruiting.net/player.asp?id=763184
New Buckeye commitment #23 ranked #13 RPI, from WV is John Mercer. https://www.tennisrecruiting.net/player.asp?id=733151
 
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Welcome to the Buckeye family!
OSU tennis fans will enjoy reading this Tennis Recruiting article on the commitment of Cash and JJ Mercer.
https://www.tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=276882635
Mercer, Cash Make Double Commitment for Ohio State
by Rhiannon Potkey, 18 October 2018
After getting home from a workout and showering, Robert Cash sent a text message to J.J. Mercer just to check in.
The doubles partners were coming down to the final days before making their college commitments. Cash and Mercer had discussed playing at the same college, but didn’t want to force anything. The blue chip seniors wanted to find the right fit for each individual.

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Robert Cash and J.J. Mercer Are Signing With Ohio State
Mercer texted back saying he had committed to Ohio State earlier in the day. As fate would have it, Cash was preparing to have dinner with the Ohio State coaches that night to let them know he wanted to be a Buckeye.
“It was really just a coincidence we committed on the same day. It wasn’t planned at all,” Cash said. “We decided we were going to look at different schools, but it turned out Ohio State worked out best for us both.”
Born and raised in New Albany, Ohio, Cash’s attraction to Ohio State was nearly a birthright.
“Growing up, I always dreamed of playing there. I went to all the matches and saw those guys playing on the first two courts and pictured myself there,” said Cash, who also considered Stanford. “I guess it’s kind of fulfilling one of my childhood dreams.”
Mercer’s connection to college tennis runs deep in the bloodlines. His father, John Mercer, is the women’s head coach at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. His mother, Laurie, was previously the head coach at Marshall.
John played at Penn State and Laurie played at Furman. Mercer’s uncles starred at TCU, Texas and West Virginia, and his older sister, Cassie, plays at Virginia.
Mercer solicited advice from his entire family as he narrowed down his own college options to Ohio State, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia.
“My parents had a good sense of communicating with the coaches and setting up visits, but the men’s side only having 4 ½ scholarships was kind of a new world to them,” Mercer said. “The girls side is a lot easier because you either get a full scholarship or not. They were helpful, but they really let me do my own thing and figure the best choice for me.”

Blue Chip Senior J.J. Mercer from Huntington, West Virginia
© Paul Ballard
Despite his family’s lineage in tennis, Mercer didn’t fully commit to the sport until he was older. He played travel baseball through age 14, and was a member of his high school baseball team as recently as last spring.
“I realized I finally had to retire my baseball dream now to be ready to play tennis in college,” Mercer said. “I really enjoy playing baseball, but I felt like tennis provided the best opportunity for me and I developed more of a love for it the more I got attached to it.”
Along with his older sister, Mercer’s younger siblings - A.J. and Sammie - also play tennis. A.J. is a blue chip seventh grader. Their parents have always been their coaches.
“As you can imagine, there are not many people in Huntington, West Virginia to practice with so it’s basically just us and my parents,” J.J. Mercer said. “There are a lot of practices where it’s a little family gathering and we practice together every single day.”
Like Mercer, Cash was drawn into tennis by his family. His older siblings, C.J. and Alexandra, both played.
“Growing up, I remember traveling to all their tournaments and all I wanted to do was be able to be there one day and be able to hang with them,” Cash said. “That was a big factor for me in picking up the sport by age 3 or 4.”

Blue Chip Senior Robert Cash from New Albany, Ohio
© Paul Ballard
Cash considers his brother, a senior at Loyola University Maryland, as an integral part of his success over the years.
“He was a huge, huge influence and a role model for me. I always loved to play with him, and he pushed me to become better,” Cash said. “We had a brotherly rivalry. I always wanted to beat him, but he was four years older than me. I only thought I could compete with him, but he was bigger and stronger than me.”
Even off the court, Cash’s siblings are still trying to motivate him to strive for more.
“They are both trying to become doctors, so they always push me to become smarter rather than being all athletic,” he said. “If anything happens with tennis, I can still have my backup plan if I do that.”
Mercer plans to study business at Ohio State, and wants to work in collegiate athletics. He’s interested in the compliance side, but is open to other options as well.
Mercer and Cash are hoping to remain doubles partners once they join Ohio State’s team next fall, but they don’t want to assume anything.
“Maybe they have plans for keeping us together. But ultimately we have to be ready for whatever is best for the team whenever it comes around,” Mercer said. “The main goal is winning team championships, and if we can do that playing doubles together, great.”
 
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Today senior Martin Joyce and freshman James Trotter picked up 2 wins each to advance to the semifinals of the Midwest regional. It will be OSU vs. Illinois tomorrow in both semifinal singles matches.
In doubles Joyce and Tubert have reached the final round. They will face Host Notre Dame pair after the singles final is complete.
 
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Buckeye B1G champions and NCAA runner up team was recognized at the Shoe.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The rings came in this week and the team was honored at halftime in front of 104,000. Great day to be a Buckeye ‍♂️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoBucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#GoBucks</a> <a href="https://t.co/rulTk4T70b">pic.twitter.com/rulTk4T70b</a></p>&mdash; Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioStateMTEN) <a href="">November 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Three Buckeye singles players and two Bucks dubs teams were selected for the prestigious ITA fall national tournament in Arizona.
ITA event link, https://www.itatennis.com/ITA/Events/Oracle_ITA_National_Fall_Championships.aspx
Play begins tomorrow for Martin Joyce, Kyle Seelig and John McNally (who earned a #10 seed)
Singles Draw is here https://www.itatennis.com/ITA/Events/Oracle_ITA_National_Fall_Championships.aspx
In the dubs draw Bucks received the #3 and #4 seeds respectively.
Live score and video available at this link. http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/sb.html?tournid=3927

Not competing at the ITA fall nationals is JJ Wolf who earned a wild card invite to the pro challenger tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee this week.
 
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Two Buckeyes will play their round of 16 matches set to begin at noon et. in the prestigious ITA Fall Nationals.
No. 10 seed John McNally of OSU will face no. 5 seed Tom Laurent of Oregon on court 1.
Unseeded Buckeye Kyle Seelig vs. #6 seed Daniel Cukeirman of USC on court 2.
Quarterfinals are set for 4 pm et...
My humble opinion, prediction...
This tournament structure (as opposed to team play) favors the most well conditioned athlete. McNally vs. Laurent is a prime time match. John is looking for a breakthru year and this would be a big opportunity. However Laurent game is impressive, cruised past a strong player in the round of 32, (6-1, 6-1).
If this were team play format, Kyle Seelig would not be considered a favorite. But in tournament play I would not rule out his chances.
If Seelig can withstand the early pace and survive the power, the "grind" levels the field, long term fatigue will be to Seelig's advantage late in matches.
Livestats of all courts and live video (courts 13 & 14) available at this link.
https://www.itatennis.com/ITA/Events/Oracle_ITA_National_Fall_Championships.aspx
 
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Just wondering: Ohio State should have 6 (decent to very good) single players this year; however, is their "13 straight B1G titles" in jeopardy since they don't appear to have a "true #1 guy" that was dominate like Peter Kobelt, Blaž Rola, and/or Mikael Torpegaard were?
 
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Great question Script!
I like how much development we are seeing in RS jr JJ Wolf.
His win at the ITA all American was against the best in the NCAA.
First time a Buckeye has won that title.
So yes Tucker has an anchor with Wolf at the top of the lineup,
Followed by enough depth to take another title run this spring.
 
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Great question Script!
I like how much development we are seeing in RS jr JJ Wolf.
His win at the ITA all American was against the best in the NCAA.
First time a Buckeye has won that title.
So yes Tucker has an anchor with Wolf at the top of the lineup,
Followed by enough depth to take another title run this spring.

Which spot #1 through #6 do you think Ohio State had the best winning % last year?

Ans: #3 at 87.0% (mostly McNally), now they had a few less matches completed which might have given them an advantage (i.e. don't know who was leading when the matches were called). The #1 spot was at 83.3%. The lowest was #5 at 73.1%. The point being: I do think McNally will be a pretty strong #2 too.

See 2017/2018 stats: http://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/M-Tennis-season_stats.pdf

Another surprise stat: What player had the most doubles wins and best winning %? Ans: Hunter Tubert (31-5). The bad news is that his usual partner was Matt Mendez, who is gone.

Anyway the key to winning the duel meets is as always: Win the doubles point!!!
 
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Which spot #1 through #6 do you think Ohio State had the best winning % last year?

Ans: #3 at 87.0% (mostly McNally), now they had a few less matches completed which might have given them an advantage (i.e. don't know who was leading when the matches were called). The #1 spot was at 83.3%. The lowest was #5 at 73.1%. The point being: I do think McNally will be a pretty strong #2 too.

See 2017/2018 stats: http://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/M-Tennis-season_stats.pdf

Another surprise stat: What player had the most doubles wins and best winning %? Ans: Hunter Tubert (31-5). The bad news is that his usual partner was Matt Mendez, who is gone.

Anyway the key to winning the duel meets is as always: Win the doubles point!!!

Thank you for digging into the results and records. Good insightful research.
Wolf, McNally, Seelig and Joyce will be a force at 1-4!
This Would leave Seibert, Trotter, Kobelt or Tubert in the mix for the 5 and 6 line.
Re. Doubles, Tubert game and style adapts well to success in serve volley climate. He performed very well at 3rd dubs with Mendez. However it appears Tucker wants to pair him with Joyce this year. Joyce and Torp were ncaa runnerups last year.
Kobelt and Seelig look to be a pair and are performing this fall off the charts. McNally and Wolfe have a history of junior success.
Difficult to predict a lineup, but with this many weapons and options it will be fun.
 
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