Women’s Tennis Hosts Wisconsin and Northwestern – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 11, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team will play host to the Wisconsin Badgers (7-10, 2-4) Saturday at 9 a.m. and the No. 19 Northwestern Wildcats (13-7, 5-1) Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Stickney Tennis Center. No. 51 Ohio State is tied for fourth in the Big Ten standings with a record of 4-2 in the conference and is 10-8 overall.
BIG TEN IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
The No. 51 Buckeyes are the fifth Big Ten team to appear in the April 7 Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings administered by the ITA with Northwestern at No. 19, Illinois at No. 22, Minnesota at No. 27 Michigan at No. 48 and Purdue at No. 56.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
The Badgers are 7-10 overall on the season and 2-4 in Bi g Ten play. All of Wisconsin’s losses have come to ranked opponents including five teams ranked in the top 25 nationally. The Badgers are a young team with only two seniors starting at the singles positions. Wisconsin is coming off of a Big Ten win against the Iowa Hawkeyes April 6.
TOP BADGERS
At No. 3 singles for Wisconsin is freshman Katie McGaffigan who is 19-10 on the year in singles play and 15-12 in her doubles matches.
Four of McGaffigan’s ten losses have come to ranked opponents including No. 35 Erin Burdette from Stanford and No. 37 Dea Sumantri from the University of Washingon. McGaffigan went on a tear earlier in the season winning eight out of nine matches and posting a 6-2 record in the month of February which included five straight singles victories. Sophomore, No. 4 singles, Lindsay Martin is 17-13 in singles play and 21-6 in doubles for the season. Martin has won five of her last seven matches including a win over 104th ranked Andrea Yung of Northwestern University.
WISCONSIN COACH HENDERSON
Head coach Patti Henderson is in her sixth year at the helm for the Wisconsin Badgers. Henderson has guided Wisconsin to four NCAA Tournament appearences and one Big Ten Championship during her tenure. She was named the 1996 Big Ten Coach of the Year and her squad has never finished lower than third in the Big Ten standings.
OSU VS. WISCONSIN
The Badgers have a 27-5 advantage over the Buckeyes all-time. Ohio State has won the last two of three meetings against Wisconsin. The Buckeyes last victory against the Badgers was March 4th, 2001, as the Buckeyes posted a 5-2 victory. During the match, the Buckeyes rebounded from losing the doubles point to claim five of the possible six singles wins.
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
The Wildcats are ranked 19th in the nation currently with a 13-7 overall record and they are 5-1 in Bi g Ten Conference play. Northwestern is in a second place tie in the Bi g Ten standings with Illinois, one win behind conference leader Minnesota. All seven Northwestern losses have come to ranked teams, including six teams ranked 15th or better in the nation. Northwestern’s most impressive wins have come against No. 9 Tennessee, No. 22 Illinois, and No. 24 Notre Dame.
TOP WILDCATS
Cristelle Grier, No.1 singles, is ranked sixth in the nation. Grier is 29-6 in singles play so far this year and 18-7 in doubles matches. After a 3-5 start, Grier has been unstoppable. She has a 26-1 record in her last 27 singles meetings and is currently on a 19 match win streak. Grier is 2-0 this year against No. 1 ranked Vilmarie Castvelli of Tennessee, she also beat fifth ranked Jewel Peterson on USC earlier this season. Jessica Rush, No.2 singles, is ranked 68th in the nation. Rush is 24-10 in singles play and 21-9 in doubles contests. She has won eight of her last nine matches and arguably her biggest win of the season was a 6-3, 6-1 victory over 38th ranked Marlene Mejia of UNC Chapel Hill.
HEAD COACH CLAIRE POLLARD
Claire Pollard is entering her fifth season as head coach for the Wildcats. Pollard has a 103-28 record as coach of Northwestern and a 42-4 Big Ten Conference record. She has coached the squad to four straight Bi g Ten titles and the squad had a 29 Big Ten match winning streak snapped this past week by the Minnesota Gophers.
OSU VS. NORTHWESTERN
Northwestern leads the all-time series versus the Buckeyes 21-4. Ohio State’s last victory over the Wildcats was on April 8th, 2000 when the Buckeyes beat Northwestern 5-2.
NEXT UP
The Buckeyes close out the regular season on the road next weekend as they travel to face first place Minnesota on April 19th and Iowa on April 20th. Both matches are scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
