After Friday night’s 7-0 win over Penn State, the Michigan men’s tennis team entered Sunday’s match against No. 5 Ohio State with a lot on the line. A share of the Big Ten title was up for grabs, and it marked senior Evan King’s final match at the Varsity Tennis Center. A win over the Buckeyes would give the Wolverines their first conference title since 1996.

But Michigan (9-2 Big Ten, 14-8 overall) fell short. Ohio State (11-0, 28-2) proved too much for the Wolverines and won, 4-0.

“Ohio State is very good and disciplined,” said Michigan coach Bruce Berque. “They typically make you beat them with winners and don’t give you many easy errors.”

In a match against a team with a strong singles lineup, the doubles point became crucial for Michigan. All three of the Buckeyes’ pairings are nationally ranked, and this challenged the Wolverines‘ bottom pairs.

Ohio State’s deep lineup was on display early, as it quickly earned two breaks at the third spot.

Blaz Rola, who won the national doubles championship in 2012, highlighted Ohio State’s third pair. After losing his partner to graduation last season, Rola has excelled at the third spot, going undefeated.

Realizing that sophomores Alex Petrone and Michael Zhu were struggling at the third spot, the Wolverines knew the No. 1 and No. 2 matches were going to determine the doubles.

King and junior Shaun Bernstein earned two early breaks at the first spot, while juniors Barrett Franks and Alex Buzzi were locked in a tough match. King and Bernstein took it upon themselves to step up their game to get Michigan a win.

Earning a late break, the duo took a 7-4 lead with an opportunity by King to serve out the match. But the pair lost its groove, as Ohio State broke King and the Buckeyes held their serve. Trying to regroup, the Wolverines played a more relaxed, passive game, but the Buckeyes exploited Bernstein’s serve and earned another break on their way to a 9-7 victory.

“We lost because we didn’t serve well and missed overheads — easy balls,” Berque said. “We didn’t finish, and you have to finish when you get the chance. I always tell the guys that whether we win the doubles point or lose that it’s just one-seventh of the match.”

With the doubles point lost, the Wolverines were searching for a spark. But Ohio State was relentless, earning two quick victories at the second and fifth spots. Michigan was one loss away from dropping the match, so it turned to 10th-ranked King and Franks to stay alive.

But King was locked in a battle against No. 6 Peter Kobelt, while Franks couldn’t overcome close line calls, losing 6-4, 7-5.

“(Franks) is an emotional player,” Berque said. “He was probably right about some of the calls, but not others. I just told him that whether he was right or wrong, he needed to pay attention to the things that would help him win the match.”

With Franks’ loss, the Buckeyes clinched a 4-0 win and earned the Big Ten title.

Friday was a different story for the Wolverines, when they went to State College and took care of business. Michigan looked like the team to beat in the Big Ten and cruised to a 7-0 win over lowly Penn State (2-7, 8-15).

That Friday win gave Michigan the opportunity to win the title Sunday — but the Wolverines came up short.