Buckeye Women Take Down No.1 UNC, OSU Men Beat No.1 Virginia; Antonius and Preston Claim ITF J300 Titles in Ecuador; Smith Returns to Cleveland Challenger Final; Day vs Scott for W50 Orlando Title; Quinn Gives US Davis Cup Team 2-0 Lead in Hungary

Saturday was a good day to be an Ohio State tennis fan, with both the women and the men taking down the No. 1 teams in the country.

Although the North Carolina women were not technically No. 1 in the last coaches poll released, they were the No. 1 seeds in this weekend ITA Division I women's Team Indoor Championships, but their pedigree did not intimidate the fifth-seeded Buckeyes. 

After getting absolutely blitzed in doubles, Ohio State won five of six first sets in singles and closed out two of those matches to take a 2-1 lead. UNC's Tatum Evans finished her match in straight sets to tie it, and Ohio State closed out another straight sets win to go up 3-2. But Reese Brantmeier at line 1 and Thea Rabman at line 6 had won second sets to give North Carolina a chance for a memorable comeback. Rabman had trailed 4-1 in the second set before winning five straight games, so the momentum was definitely with the Tar Heels, but Hephzibah Oluwadare of Ohio State closed out her big lead in the third set, putting that second set behind her and clinching the upset.

Ohio State will play another surprise winner in Monday's semifinals, after No. 3 seed Texas A&M defeated No. 2 seed Oklahoma 4-2. 

The Northwestern site's quarterfinals went as seeded, with No. 1 Auburn beating NC State 4-1 and No. 2 seed Georgia shutting out No. 3 seed LSU.

ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor Quarterfinals, February 7, 2026

Illinois Site:

Texas A&M[3] d. Oklahoma[2] 4-2

Doubles:
1. Mia Kupres and Lucciana Perez(TAMU) d. Roisin Gilheany and Evialina Laskevich(OKLA) 7-5
2. Salakthip Ounman and Julia Garcia Ruiz(OKLA) d, Anna Perelman and Violeta Martinez(TAMU) 7-5
3. Laura Brunkel and Oyiniomo Quadre(OKLA) d. Daria Smetannikov and Lexington Reed(TAMU) 6-2

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

Singles:

1. Evialina Laskevich(OKLA) v Mia Kupres(TAMU) 3-6, 6-2, 4-3, unf

2. Julia Garcia Ruiz(OKLA) d. Lucciana Perez(TAMU) 6-3, 6-4

3. Lexington Reed(TAMU) d. Chloe Noel(OKLA) 6-3, 6-3

4. Edda Mamedova(OKLA) d. Violeta Martinez(TAMU) 7-6(4), 6-3

5. Daria Smetannikov(TAMU) d. Salakthip Ounmang(OKLA) 6-1, 6-3

6. Anna Perelman(TAMU) d. Oyinlomo Quadre(OKLA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 

Order of finish: 3, 5, 2, 4, 6

Ohio State[5] d. North Carolina[1] 4-2

Doubles:

1. Ange Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby(UNC) d. Hephzibah Oluwadare and Teah Chavez(OSU) 6-2

2. Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier(UNC) d. Luciana Perry and Floria Johnson(OSU) 6-2

3. Tatum Evans and Anna Frey(UNC) v Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer(OSU) 4-4, dnf

Order of finish: 1, 2

Singles:

1. Reese Brantmeier(UNC) v Luciana Perry(OSU) 3-6, 7-5, 4-5, unf

2. Teah Chavez(OSU) d. Ange Oby Kajuru(UNC) 6-3, 6-2

3. Tatum Evans(UNC) d. Nao Nishino(OSU) 6-4, 6-3

4. Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev(OSU) d. Anna Frey(UNC) 7-6(4), 6-1

5. Audrey Spencer(OSU) d. Alanis Hamilton(UNC) 7-5, 6-3

6. Hephzibah Oluwadare(OSU) d. Thea Rabman(UNC) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1

Order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 5, 6

Northwestern site:

Georgia[2] d. LSU[3] 4-0

Doubles:

1. Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert(UGA) d. Kenna Erickson and Ella McDonald(LSU) 6-2

2. Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte(UGA) d. Cadence Brace and Addison Lanton(LSU) 6-1

3. Anastasiia Gureva and Emma Dong(UGA) v Carolina Kuhl and Alexia Marginean(LSU) 5-2, unf

Order of finish: 2, 1

Singles:

1. Cadence Brace[LSU} v Aysegul Mert(UGA) 6-1, 5-4, unf

2. Ella McDonald(LSU) v Anastasiia Lopata(UGA) 6-1, 4-6 1-0, unf

3. Deniz Dilek(UGA) d. Carolina Kuhl(LSU) 6-3, 7-5

4. Anastasiia Gureva(UGA) d. Florentine Dekkers(LSU) 6-0, 6-0

5. Emma Dong(UGA) v Addison Lanton(LSU) 6-3, 1-6, unf

6. Sofia Rojas(UGA) d. Kenna Erickson(LSU) 6-0, 6-2

Order of finish: 4, 6, 3

Auburn[1] d. NC State[5] 4-1

Doubles:

1. Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe(NCST) d. Stefani Webb and DJ Bennett(AUB) 6-0

2. Angella Okutoyi and Ava Esposito(AUB) d. Jasmine Conway and Anna Zyryanova(NCST) 6-4 

3. Ekaterina Khayrutdinova and Ashton Bowers(AUB) v Mia Slama and Lavinia Tanasie(NCST)

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles:

1. DJ Bennett(AUB) d. Mia Slama(NCST) 6-2, 6-4

2. Gabriella Broadfoot(NCST) v Ekaterina Khayrutdinova(AUB) 2-6, 6-1, 4-3, unf

3. Angella Okutoyi(AUB) v Anna Zyryanova(NCST) 6-4, 4-6, unf

4. Ashton Bowers(AUB) d. Victoria Osuigwe(NCST) 6-4, 6-2

5. Lavinia Tanasie(NCST) d. Eva Ionescu(AUB) 6-3, 6-3

6. Ava Esposito(AUB) d. Jasmine Conway(NCST) 6-4, 6-4

Order of finish: 6, 1, 5, 4

In Columbus, the Ohio State men, No. 2 in the recent coaches poll, No. 1 Virginia 5-2, although the match was 4-1 at the clinch. Ohio State won the doubles point and got wins from Alex Bernard at line 5, Loren Byers at line 6 and the clinch from Preston Stearns at 2. Virginia got its points from freshman Andres Santamarta at line 3 and Dylan Dietrich at 1, with Bryce Nakashima getting the Buckeyes' fifth point at line 4.

Ohio State has now beaten No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 1 Virginia, so I expect that they will be the top seeds at next week's Men's Team Indoor in Texas. Both Virginia and Ohio State will be at the SMU site, with Wake Forest at the Baylor site for the first two rounds.

For the complete box score, see this article from ohiostatebuckeyes.com.

Janae Preston and Michael Antonius have gotten off to great starts this, with the pair, both born in 2010, picking up their second ITF J300 titles of the year today in Salinas Ecuador.

Preston, who doesn't turn 16 until August, defeated Sarah Ye, playing in her first J300 final, 6-1, 6-1 in the all-USA final. Preston, who did not lose more than three games in any set this week, now has a 10-match winning streak at J300s, after winning the Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica two weeks ago.

As impressive as Preston has been, Antonius has gone undefeated in 2026, winning both singles and doubles last week at the J300 in Colombia and this week in Ecuador. Antonius, who turned 16 last month, defeated Ecuador's Lucas Yunez 6-0, 6-3 in the final for his tenth consecutive singles victory. With his eight doubles wins, Antonius is 18-0 so far this year.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Cleveland, No. 2 seed Colton Smith(Arizona) will defend his title against unseeded Borna Gojo of Croatia. Smith defeated Keegan Smith(UCLA) 7-6(4), 6-1 in today's semifinal, with Gojo beating qualifier Joshua Sheehy(Abilene Christian), who was playing in his first Challenger semifinal at age 29, 6-3, 7-6(8).

The unseeded team of Cannon Kingsley(Ohio State) and Jody Maginley(Northern Kentucky) won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds George Goldhoff(Texas) and Colum Puttergill of Australia 6-3, 6-4 in today's final.

The final of the USTA Pro Circuit M50 in Orlando will feature two unseeded Americans with Kayla Day taking on wild card Katrina Scott. Day defeated fellow left-hander Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada, the No. 5 seed, 6-4, 6-4. Scott breezed past qualifier Eryn Cayetano(USC) 6-0, 6-1.

Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria and Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) of Ukraine won the doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds defeating the unseeded team of Thaisa Pedretti of Brazil and Noelia Zeballos Melgar of Bolivia 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

At the M15 in Palm Coast Florida, Ryan Colby(USC, Georgia), who won his first Pro Circuit title in November, will play for his second Sunday. The unseeded 22-year-old will face No. 2 seed Tommaso Compagnucci of Italy in the final. Colby defeated unseeded Joao Vitor Goncalves Ceolin of Brazil 6-4, 6-2, while Compagnucci beat unseeded Fermin Tenti 6-3, 7-6(4).

The doubles title went to No 2 seeds Tenti and Ignacio Monzon of Argentina, who beat top seeds Compagnucci and Argentina's Manuel Mouilleron Salvo 7-6(4), 6-4. 

At a Davis Cup First Round Qualifying match in Hungary, the US team took a 2-0 lead, with Tommy Paul winning the first singles match over Zsombor Piros 7-6(3), 6-3 and Ethan Quinn(Georgia) saving four match points in the final set tiebreaker to beat Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(11).

Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) will attempt to close it out Sunday morning when they play Piros and Marozsan in the doubles match.