Women’s Tennis Faces Louisiana State and Central Florida – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 20, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State women’s tennis will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to play Louisiana Sunday at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium and will continue to Orlando, Fla., to face Central Florida at the UCF Tennis Complex Wednesday. Ohio State is ranked No. 31 and has compiled 9-2 on the season (3-0 Big Ten).
SCOUTING LOUISIANA STATE
No. 50 Louisiana State has an overall record of 7-8 on the season and 1-5 vs. Southeastern Conference opponents. The Lady Tigers’ last four matches have all come against Top 25 ranked opponents. LSU fell to No. 1 Florida, No. 5 Georgia, No. 11 Tennessee and 24th-ranked South Carolina.
Junior Rocio Fantilli is 4-8 at No. 1 singles, 3-0 at No. 2 and 14-12 over all. In her last two matches, she suffered losses to No. 1 Agata Cioroch of Georgia and No. 3 Vilmarie Castellvi of Tennessee. Junior Jessica Ferguson plays No. 2 singles and is 1-9 at the spot, 3-0 at No. 1 and 5-12 this season. She has experience against ranked opponents at the No. 2 position, including her last two matches when she fell to No. 63 Tina Hojinik of Georgia and No. 56 Crystal Cleveland of Tennessee.
Tony Minnis is in his 12th season as the head coach of LSU’s women’s tennis team. The Lady Tigers have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in eight-consecutive seasons under his direction. He is LSU’s all-time winningest women’s tennis coach and was named the 1999 Southwestern Regional Coach of the Year and the 1999 Louisiana Coach of the Year.
SERIES INFO AGAINST LOUISIANA STATE
This will mark the first time the two teams have met.
SCOUTING CENTRAL FLORIDA
Central Florida is 6-6 on the season and is coming off an upset over No. 56 Long Beach State. The Golden Knights have posted two 7-0 (over Jacksonville and Stetson) wins and two 6-1 (vs. South Florida and St. Louis) victories this season. Central Florida will play Iowa State, Florida A & M and Auburn before facing Ohio State Wednesday.
Sophomore Anna Westin plays at No. 1 singles and is 4-11 on the season. She has lost five-consecutive matches at the No. 1 spot. Junior Julie Pecastaing is 14-5 on the season and 8-2 at No. 2 singles, including a five-match win streak.
Patricia Allison enters her fourth year as the head coach of the UCF women’s tennis team. Allison has guided the Golden Knights to the NCAA Tournament two times during her tenure and has coached five Atlantic Sun All-Conference First Team players. In three seasons in the Atlantic Sun, Allison’s teams have lost just one regular season match (15-1).
SERIES INFO AGAINST CENTRAL FLOIRDA
Ohio State has won both meetings against Central Florida. The teams have not met in the last five years.
UP NEXT: NOTRE DAME
The Buckeyes will return home March 29 to battle Notre Dame.
