Women’s Tennis Travels to Open Big Ten Play – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/22/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 22, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes (6-1) go on the road to face Minnesota in the Big Ten opener for both squads. The match against the Golden Gophers is the first of seven straight road matches for Ohio State.%^$
%^$Scouting Minnesota
%^$The Golden Gophers, ranked No. 57, are 4-2 overall this spring. In the squad’s last time out, they defeated Boston University, 5-2. No. 50 Sandra Olsen, a freshman, leads the team with a 5-1 record this spring. The team is led by No. 74 Nora Sauska, who has earned all-Big Ten honors her first three seasons and has a 4-2 mark at No 1 this spring. Kim Simonsen is on a four-match winning streak after moving to the No. 3 position. The doubles duo of Jennifer Howard and Amy Thomas holds the squad’s best record at 5-1, including a perfect 5-0 mark at No. 3. Sauksa and Olsen are 4-1 at the No. 1 doubles spot. Last season the squad was 15-7 overall and were 8-2 in the Big Ten. The Gophers ended the year with their third trip to the NCAA tournament in four years.%^$
%^$The Opposing Coach
%^$Martin Novak is in his 10th season at the helm for Minnesota. Last season he led the Gophers to an 8-2 conference record and a tie for second place in the regular season standings, the best finish ever in school history. He won his 100th match Feb. 6 when the Gophers topped Western Michigan and he has a 101-103 record at Minnesota. Before coming to Minnesota, Novak was the head coach at Arkansas.%^$
%^$The Series
%^$Minnesota leads the all-time series between the teams, 22-5. Last season, the Buckeyes lost, 4-3, to the Gophers in Columbus. Ohio State’s last win over Minnesota was a 5-2 decision in the first round of the 1991 Big Ten Tournament.%^$
%^$Rincon is Rolling
%^$With her win against the Bearcats, sophomore Monica Rincon remains undefeated this spring with a mark of 6-0. She has lost only once in her last 13 matches.%^$
%^$A Tough Stretch
%^$The Buckeyes begin a seven-game road trip with the match against Minnesota. In addition to the challenges of playing on the road, each team the Buckeyes face is currently ranked in the Top 75 in the country. Ohio State will not go up against an unranked opponent until it returns home April 1 to face Penn State.%^$
%^$The Coach
%^$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 174-102, while his mark at OSU moved to 41-39 with the Buckeyes 5-1 start this spring.%^$
%^$Doubles Stay Strong
%^$With Claudia Castro unavailable to play because of injury against Cincinnati, the Buckeyes had to put new doubles tandems together. The move worked for the squad, as the Buckeyes swept the doubles matches with Matko and Pervez at No. 2 and Maloney and Bowen at No. 3. It was the fifth time this season OSU won all three doubles matches. The Buckeyes have only lost four doubles matches through six outings this spring, compiling a mark of 17-4.%^$
%^$Last Year in the Big Ten
%^$Last season, the Buckeyes tied the school record for most wins in the Big Ten with six. The squad went 6-4 in conference regular season play before falling in the second round of the tournament to No. 4-seed Illinois. The squad finished sixth, the highest ever finish in program history. Ohio State has finished higher in the Big Ten each season under Merzbacher.%^$
%^$Leading in Wins
%^$Rincon continues to lead the Buckeyes in wins with a mark of 17-5 overall this season and a 6-0 record in the spring. Pervez is second with 16 wins and Dascoli and Matko tie for third with 14 victories each.%^$
%^$The Buckeyes’ Last Time Out
%^$Ohio State defeated Cincinnati, 8-1, Wednesday (Feb. 16) at the Jesse Owens West Recreation Center. The Buckeyes won five of six singles matches, including two-set victories by Monica Rincon, Michelle Matko, Sadhaf Pervez and Laura Maloney. Freshman Katherine Martin came back to win at No. 6. Ohio State swept the doubles matches. The squad was led by Kristy Dascoli and Rincon, who won, 8-1, over UC’s Kara Molony and Lisa Pruett at No. 1.%^$
%^$With Help From the Freshmen
%^$The Buckeyes’ freshman class all contributed to OSU’s victory over Cincinnati. Pervez won at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles (with Matko), Martin won at No. 6 singles and Taryn Bowen won at No. 3 doubles (with Maloney).%^$
%^$Against the Ranked
%^$The Buckeyes are 2-1 this season against ranked opponents. The squad defeated then-No. 25 Marquette (5-4) and No. 41 Kansas (7-2) before falling to No. 5 Duke in a heartbreaking 5-4 loss. Last year, the team was 3-9 over ranked opponents, including a mark of 1-6 against teams in the national Top 25.%^$
%^$Tough at the Top
%^$The Buckeyes have compiled a mark of 19-2 at the top three spots this spring. Dascoli, Matko and Rincon have all contributed at No. 1, Matko Pervez and Rincon have chipped in wins at No. 2 and Matko and Pervez have produced wins at No. 3.%^$
%^$Maloney Strong this Spring
%^$Laura Maloney has a record of 6-1 this spring, with her only loss coming against Duke. Her overall record this year is 11-7, as she compiled a 5-6 mark in tournament play in the fall.%^$
%^$The Singles Record Book
%^$With a career singles record of 58-30, Dascoli needs four more wins to move into a tie for eighth place in all-time career singles wins (62). The all-time leader is Maria Olazagatsi, who compiled a record of 81-20 from 1977-79.%^$
%^$The National Team Rankings
%^$The Buckeyes moved up from No. 36 to No. 33 in the most recent rankings released by the ITA (Feb. 16) after defeating then-No. 41 Kansas and losing, 5-4, to then-No. 5 Duke. The next team rankings will be released Wednesday.%^$
%^$Buckeyes Nationally Ranked
%^$Dascoli is currently ranked No. 57 (tied) in the national rankings, while Matko moved up to No. 96. The rankings, released Feb. 16, only include the Buckeyes’ matches through the win over Marquette. The next singles rankings will be released by the ITA March 2.%^$
%^$The Big Ten is Tough
%^$Including Ohio State, nine of the Big Ten teams are ranked in the Top 75: Northwestern, 18th, Iowa, 32nd, Illinois, 45th, Wisconsin, 49th, Indiana, 55th, Minnesota, 57th, Purdue, 64th, and Michigan, 66th.%^$
%^$Matko Moves Up
%^$Matko, who moved up to her current ranking of No. 96 in the country, has improved her overall record to 14-4 with her strong play this spring. She is 6-1 this spring, playing mostly at No. 3 (4-1), and leads the squad in winning percentage overall (.778).%^$
%^$Leading the Way in Doubles
%^$Overall, Rincon has also compiled the most doubles wins for the squad, with a record of 13-5 this year. Castro ranks second with a 12-6 mark, while Dascoli and Pervez have both compiled records of 10-6.%^$
%^$Playing the Best
%^$In addition to the ranked Big Ten teams, the No. 36 Buckeyes still have four non-conference teams ranked in the national Top 75 remaining on their schedule: No. 15 Tennessee, No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 54 San Diego State.
