Men’s tennis falls to No. 6 Ohio State in second round of NCAA Championship

Box Score
Men’s tennis falls to No. 6 Ohio State in second round of NCAA ChampionshipMen’s tennis falls to No. 6 Ohio State in second round of NCAA Championship
Zach Kelly

AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn earned the doubles point over No. 6 Ohio State, but faltered in singles to drop the match by a 4-1 score and bow out of the NCAA Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio. The match began on the outdoor courts at the Auer Tennis Complex, but the match was suspended due to rain and moved indoors prior to singles.

The match began 30 minutes after its originally scheduled time of noon ET to allow the courts to dry before the second round matchup began. On the top doubles court, Auburn’s Will Nolan and Alex Frusina turned an early lead into a 6-1 victory over Will Jansen and Aidan Kim for their third straight win as a pair.

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With the match tied at three on court three, Auburn’s Jake Kennedy and Hamza Nasridinov earned a crutial break in the match to take a 4-3 lead and went on to hold serve and win 6-4 to secure the doubles point for the Tigers. At the end of the doubles point, rain began to fall in Columbus, forcing the match to be suspended and moved to the indoor courts of the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.

When the match resumed for singles, the Buckeyes had all the momentum with an opening set win on all six singles courts. Ohio State turned two of those opening set victories into straight set wins at the No. 6 and No. 5 singles positions to take the lead 2-1.

The Tigers showed life on the remaining three courts, as Nolan forced a third set against Aidan Kim, who is ranked No. 11 in the nation in singles, by winning his second set 6-3. After dropping his opening set in a tiebreaker, Alex Frusina went back-and-forth in his second set against Alexander Bernard, leading to a tie at five games each before Bernard claimed each of the next two games to claim the tight win and give the Buckeyes a 3-1 advantage.

On court three, Auburn’s Billy Blaydes won a tiebreaker in his second set for force a third set against No. 120 Jack Anthrop. Nasridinov overcame an early 2-0 deficit in his second set to also force a tiebreaker in his match on court four, which he claimed to force a third set.

On the top singles court, Kim jumped out to an early lead in the decisive third set to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 over Nolan, which clinched the match victory and the NCAA Regional title for Ohio State.

Auburn finished its 2025 campaign with a 20-11 overall record. The Tigers earned 20 match wins for the 10th time in program history and reached the second round of the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive season.

 

#6 Ohio State 4, #31 Auburn 1

Singles Results:

  1. #11 Aidan Kim (OSU) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
  2. #61 Alexander Bernard (OSU) def. #68 Alex Frusina (AUB) 7-6 (7-2), 7-5
  3. #120 Jack Anthrop (OSU) vs. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-3, 6-7, 1-2, unfinished
  4. Chris Li (OSU) vs. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 4-1, unfinished
  5. #97 Bryce Nakashima (OSU) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-4, 6-1
  6. Preston Stearns (OSU) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles Results:

  1. #78 Will Nolan/Alex Frusina (AUB) def. Will Jansen/Aidan Kim (OSU) 6-1
  2. Nikita Filin/Brandon Carpico (OSU) vs. Joey Phillips/Billy Blaydes (AUB) 5-4, unfinished
  3. Hamza Nasridinov/Jake Kennedy (AUB) def. Jack Anthrop/Bryce Nakashima (OSU) 6-4

 

Time of match: 3:31; Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 6,5,2,1; Official: Julio Colon