Ohio State's Trotter and Lutschaunig win NCAA men's doubles tennis championship

Ohio State’s James Trotter and Andrew Lutschaunig won the NCAA men’s doubles championship Saturday afternoon with a straight-set victory.

Trotter and Lutschaunig defeated Texas’ Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri 6-4, 6-4 in Orlando, Florida, to become the second Buckeyes doubles team to win an NCAA title.

Ohio State advanced to the NCAA team championship match last weekend before losing to defending champion Virginia.

"It feels amazing," Lutschaunig said. "I can't really describe it. It hasn't really set in yet. But it was an unbelievable few days, and I'm glad the trophy is gold this time."

Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola won the championship in 2012. Since then, three Buckeyes teams have lost in the final, including last year to Harper and Richard Ciamarra from Texas. They defeated Matej Vocel and Robert Cash.

Trotter, a fifth-year senior from Japan, ends his Ohio State career as a national champion. Lutschaunig is a senior but has one year of eligibility remaining.

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Both teams held serve for the first eight games of the match before Ohio State got a break to lead 5-4. Lutschaunig then served out the first set easily.

Each team broke serve to start the second set before holding serve until the Buckeyes broke Texas at 4-4. Trotter ripped a backhand winner to give OSU a 0-40 lead and Lutschaunig hit an overhead winner for the break.

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The Buckeyes lost the first three points on Trotter’s serve before winning the next three. Trotter then took over with his serve. At 40-all, he served an ace down the middle on match/break point for the championship.

"It was a 140 mph serve that left the guy shaking," Ohio State coach Ty Tucker said.

"It's a fitting end to a good season. The unsung hero James Trotter, who was the MVP of the Big Ten tournament, came up huge. Down love-40 serving for the match, he came up with four huge first serves."

Trotter and Lutschaunig defeated Harper and Spizzirri for the third time this season. The Buckeyes defeated the Longhorns’ pair Feb. 5 in Columbus and 13 days later at the ITA Indoor national championship.

After the disappointment of the team final, Lutschaunig was glad the Buckeyes left Orlando with a title.

"It's not easy to regroup after something like that," Lutschaunig said. "We had a few days to do so, and it feels good to send James off that way. That ace was the perfect way for him to get sent off."

Because Trotter is not an American, he and Lutschaunig are not eligible for the automatic entry into the U.S. Open doubles draw normally earned by NCAA champions.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Buckeyes' Trotter and Lutschaunig win NCAA men's doubles championship