It was another full day of action at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Monday. It wouldn’t be the NCAA Tournament without a little bit of rain though. Players, coaches, and spectators were forced to endure several different rain/lightning delays throughout the men’s semifinal matches. At about 9 p.m. local time, two teams were left standing who will battle it out today for the National Championship.

It’ll be the top seeded and host school Wake Forest taking on Ohio State for all the marbles. Both squads have certainly earned their respective places in the final and will be seeking their first-ever National Championship. Let’s take a quick look back at their semifinal matches to see how the Demon Deacons and Buckeyes made it into the last dual-match of 2018.

Wake Forest had to grind out their most difficult victory of the tournament against the dangerous Texas A&M Aggies. The crowd was going absolutely bananas from the first point of doubles. I believe the Wake supporters fueled Borna Gojo and Skander Mansouri to their most convincing doubles win of the season on court one.

Here. We. Go. A spot in the finals awaits the winner. Deacs vs. Aggies starting now! pic.twitter.com/KgIc1MuoUp — Wake Men’s Tennis (@WakeMTennis) May 21, 2018

The Demon Deacon duo came out on fire in every facet of the game. Serving, returning, net play, you name it. Gojo and Mansouri had it all going for them as they took out the smaller, but very feisty team of Jordi Arconada and Juan Carlos Aguilar 6-0. The Aggie duo definitely didn’t bring their best, but a lot of that has to do with how aggressive Gojo and Mansouri came out from the very first point.

Over on court two, it was Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech and A.J. Catanzariti that came out hot. The Aggie duo got a quick 3-0 lead against Wake’s Petros Chrysochos and Bar Botzer. The tide turned in a hurry though. After Rinderknech’s serve was broken, it seemed as though the air was let out of the sails for A&M. Rinderknech rarely has his serve broken, and Chrysochos came up with some of his classic shot making. Once the crowd sensed the momentum shift, it was all she wrote.

The Wake duo ripped off six straight games after being down 0-3 to clinch the doubles point for the Deacs. With the first point in their pocket, the Demon Deacons didn’t appear to let off the gas once singles started either.

Deacs take the doubles point at 2!!! 1-0 Wake Forest leads heading into singles. #GoDeacs #NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/hnm6egjWaV — Wake Men’s Tennis (@WakeMTennis) May 21, 2018

Gojo and Chrysochos both won their singles matches by identical 6-2 6-1 scores on courts 1 and 2. Gojo dominated Patrick Kypson while Chrysochos had his way with Rinderknech to give Wake Forest the early 3-0 advantage.

Gojo pushes the lead to 2-0 and fires up the crowd in the process! pic.twitter.com/kiG4H8Wc9Y — Wake Men’s Tennis (@WakeMTennis) May 21, 2018

It was disappointing to see just how little resistance Kypson and Rinderknech offered. We’re talking about maybe two of the top-10 players in college tennis and they just didn’t bring the energy or fight we’re used to seeing out of them.

At this point, it would have been easy for the Aggies to mail it in and head to the airport. They dug deep, however, and started to get some excellent singles victories to get back in the match. It started with Val Vacherot’s 6-3 6-2 win over Bar Botzer on court four. The A&M sophomore played great tennis and put up a much needed point for his team to cut the overall deficit to 3-1.

Then, it was time for the Aggie’s number 1 doubles team to get a little redemption after their poor performance in dubs. Both Arconada and Aguilar came up in the clutch for A&M in their singles matches. Arconada was able to battle back from a set down on court three to win 4-6 6-2 7-5 against Mansouri.

In a battle of seniors, Jordi Arconada beats Skander Mansouri 4-6 6-2 7-5 at the #3 singles spot in front of a raucous crowd in this semifinal battle to get @AggieMTEN another point. Wake Forest still leads Texas A&M 3-2. #NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/8BlLTqtV6s — Parsa (@Parsa_Nemati) May 22, 2018

Aguilar then grinded out a tough straight set victory over Alan Gadjiev on court five to tie the overall match at 3 apiece. The smaller Aguilar neutralized Gadjiev’s power and was just a little too consistent in the end to earn the 7-6(6) 6-3 win. All eyes would then shift to court six for the decider.

It was Wake Forest’s Christian Seraphim who was the hero of the night. The tall and lanky Seraphim was able to take a lopsided third set and send the Deacs into the National Championship. A&M’s Barnaby Smith put up a valiant effort, especially for a freshman, but the more experienced Seraphim came out with the 7-6(4) 4-6 6-0 clincher.

SERAPHIM DOES IT! The Deacs are headed to the national championship! pic.twitter.com/iNHjDDdDC1 — Wake Men’s Tennis (@WakeMTennis) May 22, 2018

Wake Head Coach Tony Bresky was definitely relieved saying, “That was a great match. We’re excited to get through. We’re excited to play again tomorrow. I have to give credit to Texas A&M, they never stopped fighting. They showed a lot of heart. It’s too bad somebody had to lose because they left it all out there. We’re very grateful and fortunate and happy that we’re going to have a chance to play again tomorrow.”

“It was definitely an unbelievable experience. Our crowd is so amazing and it is so much fun playing out there. I don’t know how many people were out there but it felt like a lot. My family was here too and having everyone be able to see me finish it was an incredible moment for me and definitely something I will always remember” said Seraphim after his clinching win.

Wake Forest will face the Ohio State Buckeyes who upset the UCLA Bruins in the other semifinal match by a score of 4-1. Doubles started with a bang. This doubles point was possibly the most exciting of the entire week. All three courts were as close as they could be, but Ohio State proved just a little bit better and grabbed the early lead.

UCLA’s Evan Zhu and Martin Redlicki took court one with a 7-5 victory, but the Buckeyes would battle back to win courts two and three in tiebreakers. Mikael Torpegaard and John McNally edged Keegan Smith and Austin Rapp 7-6(4) on court two.

Torp and McNally serve it out and win the match on two pic.twitter.com/reThptJaZq — Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) May 21, 2018

Matt Mendez and Hunter Tubert clinched dubs for Ohio State with a 7-6(3) win on court three.

The doubles point belongs to the Buckeyes! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/BjnZfuf2F7 — Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) May 21, 2018

All three of these matches were as close as they could possibly be, so I was expecting singles to follow suit.

The Bruins’ Connor Hance was able to put up a relatively quick point on court six with his 7-5 6-3 victory over Tubert to even the overall match. The first five courts all ended up going to three sets, so the quality of play was certainly there. UCLA just couldn’t close any of those matches in third sets.

Torpegaard, Kyle Seelig, and Martin Joyce all won for Ohio State to secure the 4-1 win and book their spot in the National Championship.

Buckeye fans, we’re going to play for a national title #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/UOCcOt3LMY — Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) May 22, 2018

“I haven’t been in a match like that with so much on the line where there were two rain delays, weather delays, and a match started at 2 o’clock and ended at nine o’clock. I’m proud of my guys for keeping in there, keeping the fight going, fighting off the adversity. It’s a great team win for the Buckeyes. We look forward to trying to get healthy and getting ready to play the hometown favorite tomorrow” said Head Coach Ty Tucker after the victory.

So, it will be the Demon Deacons against the Buckeyes for all the marbles. Wake Forest has been the best team in college tennis, and is without a doubt the favorite going into Tuesday’s match. Can Ohio State dig deep enough to challenge the Deacs on their home courts? I’m just as excited to find out as you are.

Stay tuned for more NCAA coverage throughout the rest of the week. Let us know who your pick is to win the National Title in the comments below.