Ohio State excellence is not exclusive to the football field or the basketball court. Around the Oval is our way of keeping you informed of the amazing things happening with the other 34 varsity sports on campus.
We made a decision to move Around the Oval to Mondays instead of Fridays because it makes more sense considering most events take place over the weekend. Monday is the perfect day for a recap, and Friday was too late. I hope the schedule change didn't affect anybody too much.
Men's Tennis wins 10th straight B1g Title
The Buckeyes have had a couple of streaks snapped this year, but one of them will still stand. For the 10th season in a row, the Buckeyes have won a share of the regular season conference title.
The Buckeyes have been on a sort of hot streak of late, dominating their past 7 matches, and even getting playing time for some younger players. Redshirt-freshmen Riley Reist won an impressive 20 straight games stretching over two matches against Purdue and Wright State, and fellow redshirt-freshman Matt Mendez won the first Big Ten singles match of his career against Iowa this past weekend.
As hot as they've been, the Buckeyes still needed help to clinch a share of the conference title, and that help came in the form of a Minnesota win over Illinois. The Illinois loss meant that to claim a share of the regular season title, all the team needed to do was beat Nebraska; they did just that. Ohio State won the match 4-1, ending their regular season on a winning note.
The No. 11 Buckeyes begin postseason play Friday as the 2-seed in the Big Ten Tournament where they will play the winner of Thursday's Michigan State vs. Nebraska match. If they can make it to the championship match Sunday, they would likely meet third-ranked Illinois, who has already beaten them twice this year. A conference tournament win against a top ranked team would do wonders for the confidence of the team heading into the NCAA tournament.
Baseball silences doubters
Any remaining doubts that the baseball Buckeyes can compete nationally were put to rest this past week. The Buckeyes went toe-to-toe with fourth-ranked Louisville Tuesday night and walked away with a 2-0 shutout victory. The team proved this win was no fluke when they traveled to Lincoln to face No. 24 Nebraska and won the series two games to one.
To put it simply, this team has been fun to watch. Lefty ace Ryan Riga has been nothing short of magnificent, pitching over 30 straight scoreless innings earlier this season and currently has a season ERA of 1.76. On the offensive side, the team has become known for their late inning heroics, winning seven games in walk-off fashion with a few more ninth-inning rallies on the road. Defensively, the Buckeyes regularly make stellar plays, even landing the Top Play on ESPN's Top 10 Plays with third-basemen Nick Sergakis's diving stop and throw against Louisville Tuesday night.
These Buckeyes are for real. Greg Beals's team has now proven that they can hang with anybody in the country, establishing themselves as legitimate NCAA Tournament contenders. Of course, the team still has a month's worth of games to play before that point, starting with Morehead State on Tuesday, but they are currently in the driver's seat to win the conference and appear to be well equipped for a post-season run.
Two Teams Fell Just Short
The women's tennis team and the men's lacrosse team both had opportunities to clinch Big Ten regular season titles this weekend, but both teams fell short.
Friday, the women's tennis team played No. 14 Michigan at home in a de facto regular season championship game. The Wolverines dominated the match, winning 4-0, and locked up both the regular season conference title and the top-seed in the conference tournament. The Buckeyes could have their chance at revenge if the two teams meet in the conference championship Sunday.
Saturday, No. 11 Ohio State faced third-ranked Maryland in the annual Showdown in the Shoe game that takes place immediately before the football team's spring scrimmage. The winner of the game clinched the regular season conference championship. In front of between 20,000 and 40,000 people, the Buckeyes gave it everything they had. Senior and leading scorer Jesse King scored 4 goals and tallied 2 assists, and the team was in control for nearly the whole game. The Buckeyes held the lead the entire game until just over a minute left in the game when a Maryland goal tied it and sent it to overtime. Maryland scored the only goal of overtime, giving them their first lead of the game and ultimately the 10-9 win.
The team closes their regular season with a game against Rutgers Saturday before beginning the first ever Big Ten tournament next week.
Women's Hockey Names a Coach
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Jenny Potter has been named the head coach of the Ohio State women's hockey team, Shaun Richard, associate athletics director for sport administration, announced Sunday. One of the most decorated female hockey players of all time, Potter brings the experience of four Olympic medals, including one gold, to Columbus as the third head coach in program history.
"We are extremely excited to welcome Jenny Potter to the Ohio State family as the head coach of the women's hockey program," Richard said. "Her experience in the sport of hockey as a highly decorated player both at the NCAA and Olympic level will give the student-athletes an instant `winners' mentality.
This announcement is a bit of good news for the program following the resignation of Coach Nate Handrahan last month due to sexual harassment complaints. Jenny Potter may not have the most head coaching experience, but this appears to be a home-run hire.
Other Scores and News
- Men's Tennis's Kevin Metka and Women's Track's Katie Borchers won 2014-2015 B1G Medal of Honor
- Ohio State Baseball OF/DH Tre Gantt named Co-B1G Freshman of the Week
- Softball swept Michigan State 3-0, got swept by Penn State 0-2, and won 2 of 3 against Rutgers
- Women's Lacrosse fell to Maryland 13-8 and beat Rutgers 17-7 on Senior Day
- Rowing won 13 out of 15 races at the Clemson Invitational
- Men's Track finished 1st in the All-Ohio Championship
- Women's Track finished 2nd in the All-Ohio Championship
- Men's Golf finished 4th of 15 in the Boilermaker Invitational
- Women's Golf finished 2nd of 12 in the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational
- Men's Volleyball beat Ball State and IPFW 3-0, and lost to Lewis and Loyola 3-0
What's Happening This Week
- Men's Tennis is the 2-Seed in the B1G Tournament this weekend
- Women's Tennis is the 2-Seed in the B1G Tournament this weekend
- Men's Lacrosse faces Rutgers on the road Saturday
- Women's Lacrosse faces Northwestern on the road Saturday
- Baseball hosts Morehead State Tuesday and Wednesday, then travels to Illinois for a weekend series
- Softball hosts a double header against Ohio Tuesday, then travels to Northwestern for a series
- Rowing has last home race of the season facing Michigan, Michigan State, and Syracuse Saturday
- Men's Volleyball hosts conference quarterfinal match in Columbus Friday
- Women's Golf heads to the B1G Championship tournament as the 2-seed
- Men's Golf heads to the B1G Championship tournament as the 4-seed
2014-15 'Ship Count: 4
- Football
- Wrestling
- Pistol
- Synchronized Swimming
