Two teams played for a championship in the past week, and Ohio State will add one trophy to the case after an impressive showing in women's tennis doubles.
Women's Tennis
The women's tennis squad entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed as a team and boasted the No. 1 seeded singles player which certainly gave the team some very high expectations.
However, it was neither the whole squad nor a singles player that brought home the program's first national championship. The duo of sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo and senior Miho Kowase were the ones to do it in doubles on May 29.
Both Kowase and Di Lorenzo are very talented singles players, but they went under the radar as a doubles team and were unseeded for the tournament. Once they got going, though, everyone started paying attention.
The duo certainly didn't have an easy path to winning, either. After going down in the first set of the national championship match, the Buckeyes had to battle to draw even with Alabama's duo which included two-time doubles national champion Erin Routliffe. In the final set, the Bucks were once down 6-4 before scoring five straight points and ultimately winning 10-7 over the Crimson Tide.
The win marked the first national championship for the women's tennis program and the first time to have an All-American doubles team since Monica Rincon and Kristy Dascoli in 2001.
2017 Buckeye Seniors
— Ohio State W Tennis (@OhioState_WTEN) June 2, 2017
102 team wins
389 singles & 369 doubles wins
4 B1G
4 NCAAs
2017 NCAA semifinalists; 2016 NCAA quarterfinalists pic.twitter.com/lEtVmjf7BB
Men's Lacrosse
Women's tennis wasn't the only program to go for their first national championship this week, the men's lacrosse team took on Maryland in the NCAA Finals. This team, however, didn't reach the same fate and fell at the hands of the Terrapins 9-6.
The Bucks played from behind for a lot of the match, and perhaps the most exciting stretch of the entire game was when the Scarlet and Gray caught fire and made things interesting in the final period, scoring three goals in eight minutes.
The final push proved to fall short, though, and the Bucks were defeated. The team set new records for wins in a season with 16, and USILA All-Americans with six. Three of those All-Americans will be returning to the squad in 2018, including first-team defenseman Ben Randall.
Additionally, six Buckeyes were drafted in the Major League Lacrosse draft, including faceoff specialist Jake Withers who went ninth overall and attackman Eric Fannell who went 13th.
Goalie Tom Carey, who was drafted to the Denver Outlaws, and rising sophomore Tre Leclaire were both named to the NCAA All-Tournament team after their performances throughout the tourney.
Buckeye Lacrosse in 2017
— Ohio State Men's LAX (@OhioState_MLAX) June 2, 2017
Program record 16 wins
First NCAA Final Four
First NCAA Championship Game #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/QM2Z2r3IuH
Upcoming
- June 7 - June 10, Track & Field National Championships (Eugene, Oregon)
