This post was updated April 27 at 11:09 p.m.

The once-2-6 Bruins found themselves in the belly of the beast with their first Big Ten conference title on the line.

The Buckeyes, who hadn’t lost a Big Ten match since 2022’s conference title game, entered Sunday with a 19-match win streak, a 15-0 record in Big Ten contests this year and five straight regular-season conference titles.

But the Bruins – undoubtedly underdogs – weren’t too shabby themselves. Since that worst-ever eight-match start in coach Billy Martin’s 32 years at the helm, his team has gone 13-2 in conference affairs. 

One of those two losses was delivered 4-0 by the Buckeyes – who’ve won the Big Ten tournament each of the past two seasons – on April 4.

There would be no such repeat Sunday. 

Winless in his last three singles matches before facing No. 62 Alexander Bernard, No. 110 redshirt sophomore Emon van Loben Sels slashed No. 1 seed Ohio State’s (26-3, 13-0 Big Ten) hopes of a three-peat. With Bernard’s final return sailing far over his head, van Loben Sels fell to his knees with his arms extended as No. 2 seed UCLA men’s tennis (16-8, 11-2) took down the conference’s top juggernaut 4-3 with a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 decision at Auer Tennis Complex, breaking the Buckeyes’ streak of 75 consecutive home wins in Columbus, Ohio, that stretched back to 2021.

“Played a match on Friday against Michigan and I was struggling to keep my cool, which is pretty unusual of me,” said van Loben Sels, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “My only goal in my match against Michigan State on Saturday was to stay calm and keep my reactions smoother. … Did the same thing on Sunday, and the match could have easily slipped through my hand. But I think staying calm and believing that I could get through this finish line really helped me win that one.”

The 2025 Big Ten tournament title is the UCLA men’s tennis’s first conference championship since winning the Pac-12 tournament in 2018 and the Bruins’ second Big Ten title as a school after women’s basketball won its conference tournament in March. 

“It was as good a trip as we could’ve possibly imagined,” Martin said. “Today’s match was, quite honestly, in my long career here at UCLA was as exciting and big a win. … It was a monumental win for us.”

The Bruins, who had once lost five doubles points in a row from Jan. 26 to Feb. 22, clinched their fifth straight 1-0 advantage Sunday. 

During its 13-2 run in conference play, UCLA only dropped the doubles point to Michigan State and Ohio State and found doubles redemption in the conference tournament against both squads. 

“Maybe our best doubles performance of the year, up and down the line,” Martin said. “That got us off to such a great start. And we really shut up the crowd.”

Sophomore Spencer Johnson and junior Aadarsh Triapthi sprang out to a 5-1 lead over the Buckeyes’ Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin before securing the set 6-2. No. 32 Johnson and Tripathi moved to 5-0 as a doubles pair since they began playing together April 13.

Similarly, junior Gianluca Ballotta and van Loben Sels got ahead of Bernard and Bryce Nakashima 4-0, and while the Buckeyes would win three of the next four games, the tandem ultimately took care of business with a 6-4 final. 

“Doubles was very important,” said senior Alexander Hoogmartens, who was named to the All-Tournament team. “We’ve just won more singles matches than before. … Some guys have just stepped up.”

Johnson, playing in just his fifth singles match since returning from an elbow injury, suffered his first singles loss since Feb. 2 – his last match before missing time – falling to the undefeated Nakashima 6-2, 6-4 to even the match at one apiece. 

Buckeye No. 12 Aidan Kim was the third-highest ranked opponent of No. 21 Rudy Quan’s dual match career. And Kim swept the Big Ten Freshman of the Year 7-6(3), 6-2. Quan trailed 4-0 in the first set before forcing the tiebreaker but couldn’t secure the set. 

Kaylan Bigun again got the Bruins back to even with a sweep of Will Jansen 6-2, 7-5. The freshman, who started 2025 1-4 in singles, is undefeated in his last eight matches and made the conference’s All-Freshman team.

“Another great performance was Kaylen,” Martin said. “He really won our first match, and convincingly. And got us going at singles. … Real team effort. I mean, everybody contributed.”

Despite senior Giacomo Revelli being undefeated across his last four singles matches – with three straight-set wins in that stretch – Martin opted to sit his veteran in favor of No. 108 Tripathi on court six. 

In Tripathi’s first singles match since April 20, the junior suffered his first loss in 10 matches – falling to Preston Stearns 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to allow the Buckeyes a 3-2 advantage. 

But Hoogmartens got the Bruins back to even. The senior took the first set 7-5 over No. 101 Jack Anthrop – before being bageled in the second – and led 4-0 in the third before ultimately winning his match 6-4. Hoogmartens has now gone undefeated in his last eight singles matches, his last coming to Anthrop on April 4. 

“I just kept fighting,” Hoogmartens said. “I knew I was able to compete way better than I did in the second set. So the momentum changed a little bit, definitely in my favor.”

After receiving a first-round bye as a top-four seed, UCLA defeated No. 7 seed Michigan in the quarterfinals Friday 4-1 and No. 3 seed Michigan State 4-0 in Saturday’s semifinals. The Bruins picked up the doubles point and singles wins from Johnson, Bigun and Revelli in both matches. 

Ohio State – which also received a first-round bye – reached the championship game for the 22nd straight year, having won 14 tournament titles in that stretch, with wins over No. 8 seed Illinois and No. 4 seed Washington. 

The Bruins’ season will continue in the NCAA tournament, which begins May 3. 

“We didn’t lose hope,” van Loben Sels said. “And we are on paper, we’re like one of the best teams in the nation. … I really believe we’re going to be one of the contenders of the national championship, and I’m just really proud of the guys for continuing to believe in what this team can achieve. Today was a team effort.”

With just 16 teams receiving the privilege of hosting the first and second rounds, and the Bruins having been No. 22 in the ITA rankings as of April 22, the team entered its conference tournament with an outside shot of playing in Westwood again this year. And even though the team hasn’t been ranked inside the top 16 all year – and has yet to make it past its preseason No. 20 rank – its upset over college tennis blue blood Ohio State seems to give it a good chance at playing at least one more match at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. 

“We’re going to be either … 15th, 16th or 17th,” Martin said. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed we get to do that (host the first two rounds), but if not, we’ve been traveling so much – we’ve done really great things on the road. So this team’s determined, whether it’s here at UCLA or on the road, I know we want to try to get it done.”