Women’s Tennis Faces No. 15 Notre Dame – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 28, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) travel to Toledo to face No. 15 Notre Dame in a neutral site match at Laurel Hill Racquet Club. Ohio State is coming off a win over Minnesota in its Big Ten opener.%^$
%^$Scouting Notre Dame
%^$The Fighting Irish, the defending BIG EAST champion, come into the meeting with the Buckeyes ranked 15th by the ITA. The squad is 7-4 overall this spring. The team is led by Michelle Dasso, who holds a 13-5 overall record and is 8-3 at No. 1 this spring. Dasso teams with Becky Varnum at the No. 1 doubles spot. The duo is 6-3 this spring and is ranked 33rd. Varnum is 5-5 at No. 2, while Kelly Zalinski is 5-5 at No. 3. The doubles tandem of Katie Cunha and Kimberley Guy is ranked No. 17. The squad most recently topped North Carolina, 5-4, on Saturday before falling to No. 5-ranked Wake Forest, 5-4, Sunday. Before facing the Buckeyes, UND will host No. 11 Northwestern on Wednesday.%^$
%^$The Opposing Coach
%^$Jay Louderback is in his 10th season as head coach of the Irish. He has twice been named the regional coach of the year by the ITA and is a three-time BIG EAST Coach of the Year. His career record at Notre Dame was 177-89 (.665) entering the season, while his career mark stood at 381-267 (.588) overall. He has taken the Irish to the NCAA team tournament six times, including a quarterfinal berth in 1996. Prior to joining the Notre Dame staff, Louderback served as head coach at both Iowa State and Wichita State.%^$
%^$The Series
%^$Notre Dame leads the series between the squads, 7-3. Last year the Buckeyes were defeated by UND, 8-1, in Notre Dame, Ind. OSU’s last win in the series was a 7-2 home victory in 1990.%^$
%^$Strong in Doubles
%^$The Buckeyes have swept the three doubles matches in five of eight dual matches this spring. The squad is 19-5 overall in doubles, including 7-1 marks at Nos. 1 and 3.%^$
%^$Rincon is Rolling
%^$After winning at No. 2 against the Gophers, Monica Rincon is still undefeated in dual matches this spring (7-0). She has not lost a match since falling to Notre Dame’s Dasso in the quarterfinals of the ITA Midwest Regional.%^$
%^$They Meet Again
%^$After UND’s Dasso defeated Rincon in the quarterfinals of the ITA Midwest Regional, OSU’s Kristy Dascoli faced Dasso, the tournament’s top seed, in the semifinals. Dascoli topped then-seventh ranked Dasso in a tough three set match (6-7(6), 7-5, 7-5) to reach the final of the tournament.%^$
%^$The Coach
%^$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.%^$
%^$Leading in Wins
%^$Rincon continues to lead the Buckeyes in wins with a mark of 18-5 overall this season. Pervez is second with 17 wins and Dascoli is third with 15 victories.%^$
%^$Against the Ranked
%^$The Buckeyes are 3-1 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. The squad’s last victory over a ranked team was its 4-3 win over No. 60 Minnesota on Friday. Last year, the team was 3-9 over ranked opponents, including a mark of 1-6 against teams in the national Top 25.%^$
%^$OSU’s Last Outing
%^$In the Big Ten opener for both squads, Ohio State came back to defeat Minnesota, 4-3, Friday night in Bloomington, Minn. The Buckeyes won two of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point and go into singles competition with a 1-0 lead. Chipping in wins for the Buckeyes were the No. 1 tandem of Kristy Dascoli and Monica Rincon and the duo of Sadhaf Pervez and Laura Maloney at No. 3. In singles action, Minnesota took a 2-1 lead on victories at No. 3 and No. 6 singles. UM’s Kim Simonsen defeated Michelle Matko at No. 3 and Maloney fell at No. 6 to Tammy Wang. The Buckeyes tied the match with a win by Dascoli at No. 1 over Nora Sauska before the Gophers went up again, 3-2, with a win at No. 5. The final two matches each went to three sets.%^$
%^$Clinching the Win Against UM
%^$With the Buckeyes down, 3-2, against the Gophers, each of the final two matches went to three sets, with the Buckeyes coming out victorious in both. After being down, 4-1, in the third set to UM’s Amy Thomas, Pervez came back to win the set and the match (5-7, 6-2, 6-4). Rincon clinched the dual match for the Buckeyes as she won in a tiebreaker to pull out a three-set victory at No. 2 over Sandra Olsen (7-6, 4-6, 7 6).%^$
%^$It’s Been A While
%^$The last time the Buckeyes defeated the Gophers was in 1991. That season, OSU recorded a 5-2 win over UM in the Big Ten tournament.%^$
%^$Last Year in the Big Ten
%^$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.%^$
%^$The Singles Record Book
%^$With a career singles record of 59-31, Dascoli needs three 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 to No. 34 in the most recent rankings released by the ITA (Feb. 23). The Buckeyes have 304 points, only 53 behind No. 25 Fresno State. The next team rankings will be released Wednesday.%^$
%^$Challenging Road Ahead
%^$Against Notre Dame, the Buckeyes will be playing in their second of seven-consecutive road matches. All seven opponents on the road swing are ranked in the Top 75 by the ITA.%^$
%^$Buckeyes Nationally Ranked
%^$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 Wednesday.%^$
%^$Winning in Three Sets
%^$The Buckeyes have an 8-3 record in three-set matches this spring. Pervez has played the most three-set matches, going 2-1 in those contests.%^$
%^$Winners at the Top
%^$The Buckeyes have lost only three matches at the top three singles positions thus far this spring. The records at each singles position so far:
%^$No. 1: 7-1
%^$No. 2: 8-0
%^$No. 3: 6-2
%^$No. 4: 5-3
%^$No. 5: 5-3
%^$No. 6: 5-3
%^$
%^$Keeping it Close
%^$The last four matches for the doubles duo of Pervez and Maloney have been close. The tandem, which has won three of those four matches, won over both Marquette and Minnesota by scores of 8-6 and defeated Kansas, 9-7. The duo’s only defeat of the spring was an 8-6 loss to Duke.%^$
%^$Leading the Way in Doubles
%^$Overall, Rincon has also compiled the most doubles wins for the squad, with a record of 14-5 this year. Castro ranks second with a 12-7 mark, while Dascoli and Pervez have both compiled records of 11-6.%^$
%^$Standout Freshman
%^$Pervez has stepped right into the lineup for the Buckeyes, posting a 17-7 overall record at mainly the No. 4 singles position. She also teams with Laura Maloney to form a strong No. 3 doubles combination.%^$
%^$Striving for 20
%^$Sophomores Rincon and Matko both seem to be on their way to their second-consecutive 20-win seasons. Last season Rincon was first on the team with a 23-13 record, just edging Matko’s mark of 21-12. So far this season Rincon is 18-5 overall, while Matko is 17-7.%^$
%^$The Records Overall
%^$As a team, the Buckeyes have recorded an overall singles mark of 98-56 this season, while they have gone 37-20 in doubles. The squad is 37-12 in singles and 19-5 in doubles through eight dual matches this spring.%^$
%^$The Big Ten is Tough
%^$Including Ohio State, nine of the Big Ten teams are ranked in the Top 75: Northwestern, 11th, Iowa, 30th, Illinois, 44th, Wisconsin, 50th, Indiana, 43rd, Minnesota, 60th, Purdue, 63rd, and Michigan, 59th.
