On Tuesday evening, Wake Forest narrowly defeated Ohio State in the finals of the NCAA Men’s Div. I Championship, capturing the school’s first national title. Let’s take a look at how it all went down.

At the beginning of the season, many college tennis fans predicted that the Wake Forest Demon Deacons would win it all on their home courts in 2018. The Deacs roster was loaded with talent, depth, size, and skill. Fast forward to today, and sure enough, the Demon Deacons will “wake” up as National Champions.

The point that gave the Deacs their first-ever NCAA Championship! #GoDeacs pic.twitter.com/8BZtXPndbI — Wake Men’s Tennis (@WakeMTennis) May 22, 2018

The men from Winston-Salem were clearly the top team all year long. They won the National Team Indoors event in Seattle a few months ago, won the ACC Tournament, and have now secured the first National Title in program history after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 4-2 in front of their raucous home crowd.

This championship was a long time coming. When Head Coach Tony Bresky got hired to lead Wake Forest, he put a plan in place to win a National Championship. He stuck to that plan, recruited the best talent, and now has his very own ring that was eluding him for years. Bresky has done everything in his power to win. Some people like it, others don’t, but I certainly respect the mindset. If you’re not first, you’re last!

That’s probably how the Ohio State Buckeyes are feeling right about now. This team deserves an enormous amount of credit. Head Coach Ty Tucker is without a doubt one of the best in the business, and he had his team ready to play. OSU came up just short.

As many people expected, the doubles point came down to the wire. Both teams showed up with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and worked hard to grab that important first point. It ended up being two 7-5 victories on courts one and two for Wake Forest that secured the point.

Wake Forest takes the doubles point over Ohio State! 1. 7-5 WF

2. 7-5 WF

3. 6-6 Unfinished #NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/ohScW5Wle5 — NCAA Tennis (@NCAATennis) May 22, 2018

Petros Chrysochos and Bar Botzer were able to edge Mikael Torpegaard and John McNally on court two after a back-and-forth set. It was Borna Gojo and Skander Mansouri who provided the clincher for the Deacs on court one in a similar set against JJ Wolf and Martin Joyce. Both sets were 7-5 and could have gone either way. The match on court three was in a tiebreaker as the doubles point was clinched. The margins were very slim early in this match, but the Demon Deacons secured the all-important first overall point.

After playing such a close doubles point, everyone thought the singles matches would follow similarly. They definitely did not go down that way. Not one match went to three sets. Many of the matches were basically blow-outs. It was really interesting to see how these matches progressed. Rarely do players of this caliber get waxed in such a fashion.

The Buckeyes were able to pick up a couple convincing victories at the lower end of their lineup by Kyle Seelig and Martin Joyce. Seelig took his match 6-2 6-2 over Alan Gadjiev on court 5, while Joyce hammered Christian Seraphim 6-1 6-3 on court 6. Fatigue and the pressure of the moment could have been factors, but regardless, these score lines are eye-opening.

The matches on courts 2 and 3 went down in similar fashion, but with Wake Forest taking the victories. Chrysochos rolled Wolf 6-1 6-3 on court 2, while Mansouri took McNally to the woodshed 6-2 6-2 on court 3. Again, it isn’t shocking that the Deacs won these matches, but Wolf and McNally are too good to go down so easily.

The msot competitive matches took place on courts 1 and 4. Freshman and MVP Bar Botzer provided the clincher for Wake on court 4. He was able to defeat Tim Seibert 6-4 7-5 after being down 2-5 in the second set. It was a great comeback, and had the kind of drama everyone in the crowd was looking for.

The match on court one between Gojo and Torpegaard went unfinished, but was also very competitive with “Torp” taking the first set 6-4 and a tiebreaker that was suspended in the second set as Botzer clinched for Wake.

So, the dual-match season ends the same way as it began; with Wake Forest on top. The Deacs never relinquished their #1 ranking all season. The 2018 season will always be remembered as the year of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. They earned it all. The question now becomes can they repeat?

Is it possible for Coach Bresky to turn this program into a dynasty like the Stevie Johnson USC Trojans, or the Brian Boland Virginia Cavaliers? Those teams all won multiple titles within a few years. The hardest thing to do in sports is the repeat. With Coach Bresky leading the way, the Deacs could definitely see a couple more rings come their way when it’s all said and done.

Can the Demon Deacons repeat next year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Want more info on the 2018 NCAA tournament? Check out Ryan Cardiff’s predictions for the NCAA Singles Tournament.