Women’s Tennis set to face Mountaineers and Golden Eagles – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/26/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 26, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio – After opening the spring season with two wins, the Ohio State women’s tennis team (2-0) hosts West Virginia and Marquette this weekend. The Buckeyes will face the Mountaineers Friday at 3:30 p.m. and the Golden Eagles Sunday at 10 a.m. in the Jesse Owens West Recreation Center.%^$
%^$Scouting West Virginia
%^$The Mountaineers, a member of the BIG EAST conference, will open their spring season against the Buckeyes. Last season the squad was 10-12 overall, only the fifth losing season in coach Martha Thorn’s 26-year tenure. This season the team returns nine veterans and adds four newcomers who will look to improve on last year’s finish. The team is led by co-captains Meghan Cornwall and Andrea Pinatric. Cornwall recorded 17 wins last season in singles, while Pinatric played No. 1 doubles for the Mountaineers. Coach Thorn also looks for junior Ellie Earles to challenge for one of the top three spots.%^$
%^$Scouting Marquette
%^$The Golden Eagles (2-0) are ranked No. 25 and began the spring season with wins last weekend over DePaul, 8-1, and Illinois-Chicago, 8-1. Last year the squad was 19-6 overall and reached the NCAA tournament for the third-consecutive season while capturing the program’s first-ever Conference USA Championship. The team ended the season ranked No. 25 by the ITA, the best year-end ranking in program history. The squad is led by No. 1 singles player Laura Garcia, who was 9-3 in the fall tournament season. Senior Sara Fernandez, who was 10-4 in the fall, reached the semifinals at the ITA Midwest Regional in Columbus.%^$
%^$The Coaches
%^$Martha Thorn is in her 27th year at the helm for the Mountaineers. She has produced 19 winning seasons and entering this season had a career record of 209-212-1.
%^$ For Marquette, Jody Bronson is in her 15th season as the head coach. Entering the season, her career record is 203-123 and her teams have never finished lower than third in conference competition.%^$
%^$The Series vs. WVU and Marquette
%^$The Buckeyes are undefeated all-time against the Mountaineers and lead the series, 8-0. OSU’s last win over WVU was a 7-0 win last season.
%^$ Ohio State leads the series against the Golden Eagles, 5-3. The Buckeyes have won four of the last five meetings, including a 7-2 victory at Marquette last year.%^$
%^$OSU Last Weekend
%^$Ohio State opened its 2000 dual match season by defeating Illinois State, 8-1, and Akron, 9-0, Saturday (Jan. 22).
%^$Vs. Illinois State:
%^$ Against the Redbirds, the Buckeyes won five of the six singles matches in two sets, led by Monica Rincon’s victory at No. 1. Illinois State’s Kress Shores defeated Taryn Bowen at the No. 6 spot to claim the Redbirds’ only victory of the day. Ohio State swept the doubles competition, including an 8-0 win at No. 3 by Sadhaf Pervez and Laura Maloney.
%^$Vs. Akron
%^$ The Buckeyes shut out a depleted Akron team that had only five players available. Michelle Matko defeated Arianna Rojas-Serpa, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1 to lead the squad. Katherine Martin put together a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 5, while fellow classmate Pervez won 6-1, 6-1, at No. 2.%^$
%^$The Coach
%^$Chuck Merzbacher is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Buckeyes. He earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors after leading the squad to a 14-11 record last season. His overall career record is 171-101, while his mark at OSU is even at 38-38 after the Buckeyes claimed two wins to open the season.%^$
%^$Harris Leaves Team
%^$Junior Briana Harris, a two-year letterwinner for the Buckeyes, has elected to leave the squad. She had been ranked No. 33 nationally and No. 2 in the Midwest region in doubles with partner Kristy Dascoli.%^$
%^$Doubles Teams Start Out Strong
%^$The newly-formed doubles teams of Kristy Dascoli/Monica Rincon, Claudia Castro/Michelle Matko and Sadhaf Pervez/Laura Maloney got off to a good start, as each team won at least one match last Saturday. Dascoli and Rincon won, 8-3, at No. 1 over Karsai and Fostiak of Illinois State before sitting out the match vs. Akron. Castro and Matko won two matches on Saturday, winning 8-1 at No. 2 vs. ISU and at No. 1 against Akron. Pervez and Maloney also won two matches, including an 8-0 victory against Illinois State.%^$
%^$Buckeyes Nationally Ranked
%^$After reaching the final at the ITA Midwest Regional, Kristy Dascoli moved up in the national rankings from No. 50 to No. 39, the highest singles ranking in program history. Sophomore Michelle Matko received her first national ranking, No. 101 (tied), after going 8-3 in the fall.%^$
%^$Regionally Ranked Buckeyes
%^$In addition to her national ranking, Dascoli is ranked No. 2 in the Midwest Region in singles. The doubles duo of Monica Rincon and Claudia Castro is ranked No. 15, while Rincon is rated No. 17 in singles. Matko and Sadhaf Pervez are also rated in the Top 30 in the region, with rankings of No. 19 and No. 26, respectively.%^$
%^$The Team Rankings
%^$The Buckeyes are ranked No. 38 in the national rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Dec. 7. The squad is rated No. 3 (tied) in the Midwest Region by the ITA, the highest-ever such ranking in program history.%^$
%^$The Big Ten is Tough
%^$Including Ohio State, eight of the Big Ten teams are ranked in the Top 75: Northwestern, 20th, Iowa, 36th, Illinois, 40th, Wisconsin, 50th, Indiana, 55th, Minnesota, 57th and Michigan, 74th.%^$
%^$Getting Everybody Involved
%^$Each member of the squad was able to play at least one match last weekend against either Illinois State or Akron. The freshmen got the chance to get dual match experience, as Pervez and Bowen played singles against ISU and Pervez and Martin faced the Zips. Bowen earned a default win over Akron at No. 6.%^$
%^$Tough Schedule Ahead
%^$The No. 38-ranked Buckeyes will face five teams ranked in the Top 25 in the country at the end of the fall season: No. 4 Duke, No. 18 Notre Dame, No. 21 Kentucky, No. 20 Northwestern and No. 25 Marquette.%^$
%^$A New Buckeye for 2000-01
%^$Merzbacher announced the signing of Lindsay Williams, from Beverly Hills, Mich., to a national letter of intent to play for the Buckeyes beginning in the 2000-01 season. Williams was a state finalist as a senior at Birmingham Groves High School. She is a four-time all-state honoree and a four-time team MVP. She compiled an overall record of 86-7 throughout her high school career and was a four-time regional and three-time league champion.%^$ As one of the most highly recruited players in the Midwest this year, we expect Lindsay to come in and be a big part of what we’re doing here at Ohio State,” Merzbacher said. “Her love and enthusiasm for Ohio State will have a positive effect on everyone around her.”%^$
%^$New Assistant
%^$Dr. David Andrews has joined the OSU women’s tennis staff as a volunteer assistant coach. He is an active member and regular speaker at regional and national conventions of the United States Professional Tennis Association and the United States Tennis Association. Andrews has worked with high school and college players, parents and coaches for the past 10 years, focusing on creating healthy and productive environments for competition. He is Dean of the College of Human Ecology and Professor of Human Development at OSU.%^$
%^$Keep Up with the Buckeyes
%^$Information on the Buckeyes’ women’s tennis team is available on-line at ohiostatebuckeyes.com.%^$
