Ohio State Prepares to Wrap Up Non-Conference Play – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team closes out the non-conference schedule with road matches against TCU at noon Saturday and UNLV at 2 p.m. March 23. The Buckeyes (6-5, 1-0 Big Ten) are ranked No. 42 this week after splitting a pair of matches last weekend, defeating Auburn Saturday before being beaten by Georgia Tech on Sunday.
SCOUTING TCU
Dave Borelli leads his No. 40-ranked Horned Frogs (6-6, 0-1 Conference USA) against the Buckeyes in what will be the first match-up between the two schools. TCU, who plays No. 23 Indiana on March 18, is 5-1 at home and riding a four-match overall winning streak. The Horned Frogs are led by senior No. 39 Paty Aburto, who is 8-4 for the spring season and owns her own winning streak of five matches.
SCOUTING UNLV
The No. 46 Lady Rebels (7-3, 0-0 Mountain West) are coached by Kevin Cory, whose team is 7-1 at home this season and plays host to Bowling Green and Middle Tennessee State before facing the Buckeyes. Gyorgi Zsiros leads UNLV in singles with eight victories. The Buckeyes won the only previous meeting between the schools, 4-3, at UNLV in the 2000-01 season.
LAST TIME OUT
Buckeyes Jackie Leskovar (Sr., Cambridge, Ontario/N.C. State), Lindsey Adams (Jr., Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island), Emily DeCamilla (Jr., Sacramento, Calif./Maryland) and Lindsay Williams (Sr., Beverly Hills, Mich./Birmingham Grove) scored singles victories as Ohio State slipped past Auburn, 4-3, Saturday. Adams’ victory was her third consecutive and the match was the first of the year the Buckeyes won without winning the doubles point.
Adams and Meredith Vincent (Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio/Virgina Tech) teamed in doubles to pick up the Buckeyes only victory in a 7-0 loss at No. 38 Georgia Tech.
NON-CONFERENCE IMPROVEMENT
Ohio State is 5-5 thus far in its non-conference schedule. With a win over TCU or UNLV the Buckeyes can equal their non-conference win total of last season (6) and with victories over both would surpass that mark.
GOING DEEP
Ohio State has enjoyed strong play at the bottom of the lineup thus far this spring. The No. 5 and 6 positions have posted a record of 15-5. That record is a winning percentage of 75 percent, a marked improvement over last season, when the bottom third of the lineup won only 32 percent of the time (15-31).
Generally holding down those spots are Emily DeCamilla and Kristin Messmer. DeCamilla is 6-3 in dual action and has won five consecutive matches when playing at No. 5. Messmer is 6-3 at No. 6 and leads the team with seven wins overall during the spring.
BLANKED
After recording no shutouts last season, the Buckeyes already have two this spring. In addition to its blanking of Cleveland State Feb. 22, Ohio State shut out Penn State Feb. 15.
UPSET SPECIALS
After 11 dual matches, three Buckeyes own victories over ranked opponents.
In singles, Lindsay Williams knocked off No. 13 Tammy Encina of Tennessee, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, Jan. 25 and No. 19 Gitte Ostermann of Nebraska, 6-0, 6-3, Feb. 20.
In doubles, senior duo Erica Fisk and Jackie Leskovar knocked off No. 50 team Encina and Majen Immink of Tennessee, 9-8 (3), Jan. 25 and William and Mary’s No. 21-ranked Megan Muth and Amy Wei in a tiebreak, 9-8, Feb. 29.
FISK SIXTH ALL-TIME IN SINGLES
Senior Erica Fisk has earned 72 career wins, moving her past Michelle Matko (1998-2003) to sixth in all-time singles victories behind No. 5 Linda Magid.
BUCKEYES IN RANKINGS
Lindsay Williams checks in at No. 57 in the ITA National Rankings, released March 16.
Two Buckeyes, Erica Fisk and Jackie Leskovar were ranked in the Midwest regional rankings released Dec. 4. Leskovar is No. 28 while Fisk holds down the No. 30 spot.
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.
BUCKEYES WELCOME DASCOLI
Former Ohio State women’s tennis stand out Kristy Dascoli (1999-2001) has been named assistant coach for the squad.
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.
NEXT UP
Following their match with UNLV, Ohio State returns to conference play with a match at Michigan State at 10 a.m. March 27 in East Lansing, Mich., and at Michigan at 11 a.m. March 28 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
