Ohio State Women’s Tennis Opens Spring Season with Two Matches – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 21, 2004
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team opens the spring season Sunday by playing host to two matches at Jesse Owens West Recreation Center in Columbus. The Buckeyes face the No. 10 Tennessee Volunteers at 11 a.m. and the Xavier Musketeers at 6 p.m.
SCOUTING TENNESSEE
The Volunteers arrive in Columbus with a No. 10 ranking in the ITA, the same ranking they held at the conclusion of the 2003 spring season. They hope to extend their current seven year streak of apperances in the sweet sixteen of the NCAA championship.
Three Lady Vols enter the season in the Top 100 singles rankings. Senior Tammy Encina is No. 13, sophomore Sabita Maharaj is No. 87 and junior Ashley Robards is No. 97. Tennessee’s duo of Encina and junior Majen Immink enter the spring ranked of 50th in doubles.
Tennessee is lead by co-head coaches Mike Patrick (Middle Tennessee State, 1979) and Sonia Hahn-Patrick (Kentucky). Mike Patrick, in his 16th year as head coach, has compiled a record of 285-159. Since Hahn-Patrick joined him at the helm of the Volunteers, a span of six seasons, the team is 126-52.
SCOUTING XAVIER
Xavier arrives in Columbus for its second match of the spring season after playing Akron Jan. 23. The Musketeers are unranked but have finished in the Top 4 in the Atlantic 10 Conference each of the past three years. No. 1 singles player junior Lauren Clary was the recipient of the 2003 Atlantic 10 Female Student-Athlete of the Year, which goes to the top student athlete in every A-10 women’s sport, advanced to the second round of the main draw singles at the 2003 ITA/Orrington Midwest Regional held in October. Head coach Jim Brockhoff is in his 31st year as coach and has been the only head coach in the history of the program. WRAPPING UP AUTUMN
The Buckeyes enjoyed a competitive fall season, appearing in five tournaments around the Midwest. The Buckeyes competed in the St. Mary’s Fall Classic, the Cissie Leary Invitational, the Kentucky Fall Classic and the Fall Desert Collegiate Classic and had eight student-athletes qualify for the ITA Midwest Regional in either singles, doubles or both.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Despite battling injuries, senior Erica Fisk (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) picked up seven victories during the fall season, giving her 69 for her career. That total is good enough to move her to No. 7 in all-time wins at Ohio State, ahead of Leann Grimes (1975-78) and behind Michelle Matko (1998-2003).
BUCKEYES IN EARLY RANKINGS
Two Buckeyes, Fisk and senior Jackie Leskovar (Toronto, Ontario/N.C. State) enter the 2004 season ranked.
In the Midwest regional rankings released Dec. 4, Leskovar is No. 28 while Fisk holds down the No. 30 spot.
WASTING NO TIME
Three Buckeyes saw their first collegiate singles action during the fall season at the St. Mary’s Classic Sept. 19-21 in Knoxville, Tenn., in the fall. Kristin Messmer (fr., Lutherville, Md./McDonogh) and Sonia Ruzimovsky (fr., Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) each won their first match by defeating Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. Ruzimovsky topped Elizabeth Proctor, while Messmer dispatched Sandie Knight and went on to finish third in her flight. Ohio State’s third freshman, Anna Volberg (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) suffered defeat in her initial collegiate match but out-dueled North Carolina State’s Virginia Romero in her second.
Messmer ended the fall season with eight singles victories, most on the team.
BUCKEYES WELCOMES DASCOLI
The Buckeyes Former Ohio State women’s tennis stand out Kristy Dascoli (1999-2001) has been named assistant coach for the squad, head coach Chuck Merzbacher announced Tuesday.
OSU’s all-time singles wins leader with 104, Dascoli was named Ohio State’s Player of the Century for women’s tennis and is one of the best players ever to play in the Big Ten. Dascoli was the first OSU player to be named an All-American in singles competition. She was honored as the Big Ten Player of the Year following both the 2000 and 2001 seasons and is the only player in conference history to win the award outright in back-to-back seasons. Dascoli was the Big Ten Player of the Month three times (April 1999, April 2000 and March ’01) and posted an incredible 35-4 Big Ten regular season record in her four years at OSU. In 2001, she set a program record by winning 31 overall singles matches. In addition, Dascoli played No. 1 singles her entire career, qualified for the NCAA singles championships in each of her four years and was named All-Big Ten four consecutive years. In doubles, she was a four-time NCAA championship participant and was All-American in 2001.
Since graduating with a degree in psychology, Dascoli has played professionally and has wins over several women ranked in the Top 200. She still plays professionally and now is in graduate school working on her master’s degree in human development and family science.
RECRUITING UPDATE
Caitlin O’Keefe, a senior at Troy High School in Troy, Mich., and Silvia Prajescu of Canada signed NCAA National Letters of Intent join the Buckeyes tennis team for the 2004 fall season.
O’Keefe recently won her third consecutive Division I state singles championship while leading her team to its first state team title. For her career, O’Keefe was undefeated in conference play and sported an overall high school record of 136-2. She enjoyed undefeated seasons during both her junior and senior years. She also was an all-state selection four times and an All-American three times. Along with her success on the court, O’Keefe was an Academic All-American in 2003 and received the 2003 Hoxie Award, given by the Southeast Michigan Tennis Association board of directors for the high school athlete who best demonstrates sportsmanship and contributes to the game of tennis in a positive way.
Prajescu was ranked No. 5 in Canada for Under-16 in 2002 and finished in the Top 10 at the Under-16 Singles National Indoor Championships. She advanced to the semifinals in doubles of the same tournament. In 2001 she was ranked among the Top 8 in singles at the Under-16 Outdoor National Championships and advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
This season Coach Merzbacher welcomed to his team junior Meredith Vincent. A native of Cincinnati, Vincent saw her first action as a Buckeye this fall at the St. Mary’s Fall Classic after spending two years at Virginia Tech. While competing for the Hokies Vincent compiled a record of 24-27 playing in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in the lineup.
SCHEDULE TO BE CHALLENGING
The Buckeyes’ match with the Volunteers is the first of 10 the Buckeyes will play this season against 2003 NCAA championship qualifiers. Other non-conference foes of note are Notre Dame, William and Mary, UNLV and Kentucky. Additionally, the coaches expect the Big Ten, which is traditionally known for having quality tennis play, to be unusually strong this year. Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana all are coming off of NCAA appearances and are primed to provide big challenges to all foes.
NEXT UP
Following their weekend matches with Xavier and Tennessee, the Buckeyes travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame. The match against the Fighting Irish will take place at 11 a.m. Jan. 31st. Ohio State then returns home at 11 a.m. Feb. 15 to face Big Ten foe Penn State at the Jesse Owens West Recreation Center.
BUCKEYES ONLINE
Learn more about women’s tennis and OSU’s 36 other varsity sports at the athletic department’s official Web site, ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
