Women’s Tennis To Play In ITA Midwest Regionals – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 23, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio-The Ohio State women’s tennis team heads to Madison, Wis. Oct. 20-25 to particpate in the annual ITA Midwest Regional tournament. The tournament is hosted by the University of Wisconsin and runs from Oct. 25-30. It will be played at UW’s Nielsen Tennis Stadium. This is the second tournament of the season for OSU. Sept. 28-30, the Buckeyes participated in the Cissie Leary Invitational in Philadelphia.
The Singles Draw
Four Buckeyes are in the main singles draw and four more will try to qualify for the main draw. Lindsay Bryan, Lindsey Adams, Lindsay Williams and Meaghan Colville will participate in the singles qualfying round which begins Thursday.
OSU has four representives in the main draw. Monica Rincon, Sadhaf Pervez, Erica Fisk and Michelle Matko already have qualified and will be on the courts when the main draw begins Saturday.
The Doubles Draw
There is no qualifying for the main doubles draw which begins Friday. OSU is represented in the draw by four teams. No. 33-ranked Rincon and Fisk, Colville and Pervez, Matko and Williams and Adams and Castro are in the field.
The Seedings
OSU has a stronghold in the seedings as three Buckeyes are in the Top 15. In singles, Rincon is seeded No. 4. Prevez is 10th and Fisk is 15th. In doubles the duo of Rincon and Fisk are is No. 3 and Pervez and Colville are a No. 9-16 seed.
The Regional Last Year
The Buckeyes had a strong showing at the regionals last year held in Ann Arbor, Mich. OSU was represented in the singles and doubles finals. In singles, No. 2-seed Kristy Dascoli, who graduated last spring, fell to No. 1 seed Michelle Dasso of Notre Dame. In doubles, Dascoli teamed with Rincon to represent OSU in the doubles final. The duo lost to ND’s Dasso and Becky Varnum, 8-3. Transfer Meaghan Colville made a run at the regional doubles crown as a member of the Western Michigan Broncos. She and teammate Larissa Chinwah were topped by Dasso and Varnum in the semifinals.
The Leader
Coach Chuck Merzbacher returns for his sixth season at the helm. He has enjoyed much success since becoming the head man at OSU compiling a 71-56 record. Under the guidance of Merzbacher the program has sent the team, a singles player and a doubles tandem to the NCAA Championships. In his tenure at OSU, Merzbacher has coached two All-Americans, a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, a Big Ten Freshman of the Year and two ITA Midwest Region Players to Watch.
In The Rankings
The preseason rankings are out and two Buckeyes–Rincon and Fisk–are listed among the best in the nation. Rincon ended last season ranked No. 83 and begins her senior campaign at No. 57. She teams up with Fisk to crack the Top 50 in doubles at No. 33. Rincon was a mainstay in the rankings last year, but this is the first time her contemporary, Fisk, has been honored as one of the premier collegiate players in the nation at the collegiate level.
Fisk in The Finals
Fisk started off the fall tournament on a strong performance. At the Cissie Leary Invitational (Sept. 28-30) she advanced to the singles final and teamed with Rincon to play in the doubles final. After posting five consecutive wins she was defeated in singles by No. 4-ranked Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion. She and Rincon lost in the doubles final to the No. 28-ranked team of Cahana and Ana Radeljevic of ODU.
National Champions
Aug. 14, Rincon and sophomore Fisk were crowned national champions. The duo won the doubles final at the ITA National Summer Championships, 8-6, over North Carolina’s Kendall Cline and Texas Christian’s Saber Pierce. With the win Rincon and Fisk earned USTA gold balls and a wild card berth into the Oct. 11-14 All-American Championships.
At the All-American Championships the duo fell in the first round to No. 16 Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette of Stanford, 8-6. In the consolation bracket the Buckeye tandem was defeated by Kentucky’s 10th-ranked pair of Carolina Mayorga and Sarah Witten, 9-7.
Rincon Sizzles
On the summer circuit the only thing hotter than Rincon was Columbus’ sweltering temperatures. The senior not only won a USTA gold ball at the ITA National Summer Championships with Fisk, but also claimed victory at the U.S. National Amateur Hard Court Singles Championships held at OSU’s Stickney Tennis Center. In the final Rincon defeated Illinois’ Jennifer McGaffigan, 6-4, 6-4.
Matko Back In Action
Michelle Matko is back for the Buckeyes for the 2001-02 season after taking a medical redshirt last year because of a knee injury. Before the injury Matko was 3-1 and is a much welcomed addition to a squad that lost two seniors-Kristy Dascoli and Laura Maloney-to graduation. For her career Matko is 50-24 and will bring leadership to a young team. She has two years of eligibility remaining.
Milestones
Two Buckeyes reached monumental plateaus in the win column last year and show no sign of easing up in the 2001-02 season. Rincon recorded her 75th career win last season in the Big Ten tournament with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Iowa’s Deni Alexandrova. Matko, who only played in four matches last season, made all of them count as she notched her 50th career win with a 7-5, 6-2 triumph over Suzanne Bjorkman of Colorado Jan. 27.
Pervez At 54
Junior Sadhaf Pervez already has 54 career wins. She turned in a stellar freshman season two years ago, going 27-14. Her 27 wins were the sixth most in school history. Last year Pervez totaled 24 wins to 15 losses. She is 3-1 in fall tournaments this year.
Newcomers
Three new faces join the squad for the 2001-02 season. Freshmen Lindsay Bryan and Lindsey Adams join Western Michigan transfer Meaghan Colville as the newest members of the Buckeye family. Bryan was the 4A Louisiana State Champion for 2001. She was ranked No. 1 in the state and was No. 60 nationally. Adams finished third in the Washington State High School 3A Tournament after placing third as a junior. She claimed the 3A state doubles championship her freshman and sophomore years and has been ranked in the
Top 5 in the Pacific Northwest for the last four years. Colville brings a tremendous amount of astaticism to the squad. The former hockey and soccer player finished the year at WMU ranked No. 3 in doubles in the Midwest Region and will give coach Merzbacher a lot more depth in the lineup.
Freshmen No More
Fisk and Williams have a year of collegiate tennis under their belts and now know what it takes to play a full season. If their freshman campaigns were any indication about how good these two can be then the Buckeyes will be right in the mix for a Big Ten title. Last year Fisk was one of four Buckeyes to record more than 20 wins. She posted a 23-18 mark and picked up a win in the NCAA tournament. Williams came on strong for OSU midway through the season. She ended the year with a record of 14-9 and was 5-3 in conference play. She missed the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments with a hip injury.
