QUARTERFINALS: Thursday, April 23
No. 1 Michigan State def. Indiana, 4-1
No. 5 UCLA def. No. 4 USC, 4-0
No. 2 Ohio State def. No. 10 Nebraska, 4-0
No. 3 Illinois def. No. 6 Wisconsin, 4-0
SEMIFINALS MATCHES: Friday, April 24
12 p.m. – No. 1 Michigan State (16-8) vs. No. 5 UCLA (17-6)
3 p.m. – No. 2 Ohio State (28-3) vs. No. 3 Illinois (22-6)
The 2026 Big Ten Tournament has been whittled down to a final four — Michigan State vs. UCLA and Ohio State vs. Illinois — which are among the top 25 teams in the ITA’s NCAA Division I rankings. During the conference regular season in March, Michigan State upended UCLA 4-2 at home and Ohio State defeated visiting Illinois, 5-2.
The marquee matchup of Thursday’s quarterfinals paired unofficial tournament hosts UCLA and USC squaring off for the third time this season in their return to the friendly confines of Libbey Park. The defending Big Ten champion Bruins (No. 21 in NCAA Division I) blanked the Trojans, 4-0, to win their Big Ten season series, two matches to one.
UCLA No. 2 Rudy Quan, a sophomore from Thousand Oaks, made quick work of USC’s Max Exsted, winning the final five games of the match en route to a 6-1, 6-4 victory. The Bruins followed with victories from Los Angeles native and freshman Cassius Chinlund — 6-2, 7-6 (5) over Newport Beach native Niels Hoffmann at No. 6 singles — and senior Aadarsh Tripathi, who outlasted Aussie Jack McCarthy, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, from the No. 4 singles slot. The victory was No. 100, combining singles and doubles matches, of Tripathi’s career.
Big Ten regular season co-champion and No. 1 seed Michigan State (No. 25) rolled over Indiana, 4-1, behind singles victories from the Spartans’ NCAA All American tandem, sophomore Matthew Forbes and senior Ozan Baris (who also teamed in doubles to win a set and pace Michigan State to the doubles point), and sophomore Mitchell Sheldon, who won the Big Ten’s individual championships in November.
Ohio State, the nation’s No. 3 -ranked team which secured its 20th consecutive regular season Big Ten championship last week, dispatched Nebraska 4-0. The Buckeyes closed out the Hoosiers through victories from junior Aidan Kim at No. 1 singles, sophomore Nikita Filin at No. 4 singles and San Diego native Bryce Nakashima at No. 5 singles. The younger brother of American ATP Tour star Brandon Nakashima was first to finish following a 6-0, 6-1 triumph. Filin and doubles partners Kim and Nakashima contributed set wins to lead the Buckeyes to the opening doubles point.
Illinois (No. 14 in NCAA Division I) eliminated Wisconsin in Thursday’s primetime quarterfinal. Powered by the Illini’s Nos. 1-2 punch, freshman Gabiel Debru and senior Kenta Miyoshi (2025 Big Ten Player of the Year) united in doubles to win a set and the 2026 All-Big Ten First Team selections took their singles points from the top two spots in the lineup. Aussie freshman Hayden Jones provided Illinois’ other singles point from at No. 6 singles.