Women’s Tennis Returns Home to face Notre Dame and Indiana – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 27, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team returns home after a seven-game road stint to face Notre Dame on Saturday and Indiana Sunday. The Buckeyes are 9-3 on the season (3-0 Big Ten).
BIG TEN IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
The No. 35 Buckeyes are the fourth Big Ten team to appear in the March 24 Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings administered by the ITA with Illinois at No. 17, Northwestern at No. 27, Michigan at No. 33.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
Notre Dame is coming off a 3-1 home game slate and will spend the rest of the season on the road. The No. 48 team has played 11-of-17 games against ranked opponents and is 4-7 against ranked teams and 10-7 overall. Notre Dame has recorded victories over No. 30 Texas and No. 33 Michigan and has fallen to No. 1 Duke, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 8 Arizona State. The Fighting Irish are 8-3 at home and 2-4 on the road. Ohio State and Notre Dame have both recorded home-victories vs. Michigan (Buckeyes, 4-3, Fighting Irish, 5-2).
Playing at No. 1 singles is the 33rd ranked junior Caylan Leslie, who began the season 6-3 at No. 2 and is 6-2 since taking over the No. 1 spot. Leslie was defeated by No. 13 Kate Pinchbeck of UNC and No. 14 Adria Engel of Arizona State but topped Duke’s No. 19 Amanda Johnson and William and Mary’s No. 28 Candice Fuchs. Overall she is 14-7 and 6-5 against ranked opponents.
No. 77 Alicia Salas occupies the No. 2 spot and is 19-13 overall and 7-9 in dual matches (3-6 at No. 1 and 4-3 at No. 2). Salas is 2-11 vs. ranked opponents and has suffered losses to No. 2 Kelly McCain of Duke and No. 3 Vilmarie Castellvi of Tennessee.
Jay Louderback enters his 14th season at the helm of the Notre Dame program and has finished in the national Top 30 in each of the last 10 seasons and has earned nine berths to the NCAA championships in that span. Notre Dame has captured 10 conference titles during Louderback’s tenure and has reached the Round of 16 at the NCAA tournament on five occasions. The Irish have won 20 or more matches five times in the last seven years.
OSU VS. NOTRE DAME
The last time the Buckeyes and the Fighting Irish met was on March 2, 2002, in South Bend, Ind., where No. 38 Ohio State fell to Notre Dame, 5-2. Senior Monica Rincon posted wins at No. 1 singles and in doubles as the Buckeyes clinched the doubles point by winning two-of-three matches but dropped five singles matches.
SCOUTING INDIANA
The Buckeyes will pick up Big Ten play against the No. 73 Hoosiers, who are 8-8 on the season and 0-2 in conference action. Of Indiana’s eight losses, seven have come to ranked opponents. The Hoosiers were blanked, 7-0, by No. 1 Duke, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 15 Kentucky. The Hoosiers are 8-3 at home and 0-5 on the road. Ohio State and Indiana have one common opponent in Marquette; both teams beat the Golden Eagles, Ohio State by a 6-1 score and Indiana 4-3.
At the No. 1 singles spot for the Hoosiers is freshman Linda Tran. She is 10-11 on the season and is 6-8 in dual play. This season, Tran fell to Duke’s No. 2 Kelly McCain, Tennessee’s No. 3 Vilmarie Castellvi and Northwestern’s No. 7 Cristelle Grier.
Lin Loring has coached Indiana to 15 Big Ten championships in his 25 years. In addition, his team had a string of 104 consecutive victories against Big Ten opponents over an eight-year period from 1978-1985 and has had 12 undefeated conference seasons. On 65 occasions a Hoosier has been named to an All-Big Ten team. Indiana owns a 278-45 (.861) record against Big Ten competition during his tenure.
OSU VS. INDIANA
Ohio State defeated Indiana April 14 in Bloomington, Ind., in a come-from-behind, 4-3, victory. After losing the doubles point, the Buckeyes posted four singles victories, including three in full-set matches. Senior Claudia Castro, playing in her first singles match since March 9, 2002, posted a three-set wins to clinch the competition.
UP NEXT: PURDUE & ILLINOIS
The Buckeyes will return to the road to face Big Ten foes Purdue April 5 in West Lafayette, Ind., and Illinois April 6 in Champaign, Ill.
