2025 Playoffs - BGSU are Midwest Champs!

For only the third time in 3.0 history, a club hailing from NWO has taken the Midwest Sectional Crown!

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Midwest Championships - August 23rd and 24th

The best of the Midwest 3.0 best travelled all the way to Indianapolis - the center of the 3.0 tennis universe as it turns out - to ply their 3.0 tennis trade to determine who would win a no-expenses paid trip to Nationals in mid-October in sunny and breezy San Diego, California!

Four states - home team Indiana, traditional underdogs Illinois, historic powerhouse Michigan, and O-H-I-O - would battle it out over two hot and blistering days and indeed, all had to start by playing two matches on Saturday!

The upsets started early as upstart Illinois earned a narrow 3-2 victory over powerhouse Michigan, meaning the stage was set for some "DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?!" moments ... and boy howdy, Ohio's BGSU and Captain Jason didn't disappoint! O-H-I-O's Ajay, 11-0 at singles in the regular season and with but one loss in the playoffs, led of doing what he does best - winning! - albeit via retirement as the blistering hot sun, combined with his stellar play, were simply too much for his opponent. Indiana, the home team, and led by famed 3.0 veteran Captain Troy, balanced the scoreboard thanks to Captain Troy's play, but Captain Jason's BGSU veteran Roger, he of 65 career 3.0 victories up to this point, steadied the BGSU ship and, with partner Alan, gave up but two games to give Ohio the lead yet again. Indiana, though, bounced back to take #3 Doubles, meaning it would all come down to the final doubles court, #4 Doubles! And on that final court, veterans Timothy and Jonathan, two 3.0 NWO stars with 95 combined wins between them, worked their tag-team magic to hold on for the big win, giving Ohio not only the court, but the match, and thus an opening round shocker!

Captain Jason, though, the 3.0 veteran that he is, knew he had to prep his crew for another match, and this time against a Michigan squad looking to get into the tournament after an opening match loss! BGSU led off, as expected, with singles star Ajay and Ajay, as expected, did what he's always done - win! - giving Ohio the opening court victory they needed. At #1 Doubles, 3.0 veteran Arturo got back to winning with a straight set victory, meaning only one more court win was needed for Ohio to shock Michigan! With the Wolverine State on their heels (or back paws?), veteran Roger threw the proverbial haymaker with a straight set victory meaning not only had he clinched the match, but he had helped give O-H-I-O a 2-0 lead with one team match to play!

Illinois, meanwhile, proved that they were no underdogs this particular year, and took out home team Indiana to also end Saturday 2-0, setting up a riveting final between two undefeated clubs!

Thus, the stage was set for two underdogs to click their ticket to San Diego and spend thousands of hard earned dollars to play MORE 3.0 tennis. WHAT EXCITEMENT! Captain Jason, not messing with a winning formula, once again put out his ace Ajay and once again his ace Ajay aced his way to another victory, giving himself a 3-0 playoff record at the event but more importantly giving O-H-I-O yet another early court win! Adding to Ohio's excitement is that veterans Arturo and Wes earned another straight set win, meaning Team Ohio had a seemingly insurmountable lead and an easy path to the championship!

BUT JUST THEN an injury to BGSU's Noel and Darius meant they had to retire early and could not continue, which gave Illinois the lifeline they so desperately needed! Indeed, Illinois took the lead on Doubles Court #3 and then came back on Doubles Court #4 to push both courts to THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAKERS! WHOA! Ohio only had to win one court to take the trophy but momentum was clearly on the side of Team Illinois and as the raucous crowd was cheering (possibly for Indiana, the home team, that was playing at the same time in a closely contested match of their own for third place honors), it was anyone's match!

Luckily for Ohio (and the world), Captain Jason had veterans Roger and Alan together on one court and Timothy and John on the other court, and these savvy 3.0 veterans of the 3.0 game sliced and diced and moonballed their way to point after point and after 10 points - since that's what you need to win a THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAKER - they each won their courts, giving them - and Ohio - the championship!

Congratulations to NWO's BGSU for bringing pride to Ohio's 3.0 tennis Dojo and MORE congratulations to BGSU for becoming only the third 3.0 team from NWO to win the Midwest Championships and qualify to Nationals (Perrysburg T.C., 2013) and only the second 40+ club to do so (Westowne T.C., 2004), both of whom finished 16th at Nationals. Could this be the year that BGSU rewrites all the NWO 3.0 history books?! We'll find out in October when they play, but until then, congrats to them all!