@OhioStateMTEN’s Andrew Lutschaunig & James Trotter advanced to the #NCAATennis finals with a 3-6, 7-6(2), 10-4 win over Pepperdine’s de Jonge/Zeitvogel. pic.twitter.com/YU1s4v6m0E
— Jean (@JTweetsTennis) May 26, 2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State doubles team of Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter doesn’t seem to be running out of gas! After leading the team to the NCAA Championship Game last weekend, the duo moved through the doubles table this week and will play for the NCAA Doubles Championship on Saturday.
The Buckeyes defeated Pepperdine’s Daniel De Jonge and Tim Zeitvogel 3-6, 7-6(2), 10-4 in the semifinals Friday night at the USTA National Campus. Both teams struggled to hold serve in the first set, but the entire second set was down to service. In the second set tiebreaker, the Buckeyes took a 7-2 victory. They kept that momentum going into the super-breaker and would ride to a 10-4 victory.
Trotter and Lutschaunig are looking to become the second Buckeye duo to win an NCAA doubles title, joining Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola, who won the title in 2012. They are the fifth Buckeyes doubles team to reach the championship game since 2012. Matej Vocel and Robert Cash finished second last year, Mikael Torpegaard and Martin Joyce were second in 2018 and Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka were second in 2014.
The final game will feature a showdown between Ohio State and Texas for the second consecutive season. Vocel and Cash lost to Cleeve Harper and Richard Ciamara in a super-breaker last year. Lutschaunig and Trotter will face Harper and Eliot Spizzirri this year. Similar to the tag team championship between Ohio State and Virginia, the doubles championship contenders have already met twice this season. Trotter and Lutschaunig defeated Harper and Spizzirri 6-3 on Feb. 5 inside the Ty Tucker Tennis Center and then won 6-4 at the ITA Indoor Tag Team Nationals on Feb. 18.
#GoBucks
