Buckeyes Set for Big Ten Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 28, 2004
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Columbus, Ohio – After concluding the season with two consecutive Big Ten Conference wins, the sixth-seeded Ohio State women’s tennis team will face No. 11 seed Penn State at 11 a.m. Thursday in Evanston, Ill., at the Vandy Christie Tennis Outdoor Center. Northwestern University is the host of the tournament. The winner of the match between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes will face No. 3 seed and 20th-ranked Illinois at 2 p.m. Friday.
Big Ten Championship Primer
All 11 Big Ten teams qualify for the Big Ten Championship, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA championship.
The Top 5 teams in the tournament receive byes in the first round. Co-regular season champions Northwestern and Indiana earned the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, and are followed by No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Wisconsin. Northwestern will face the winner of the first round matchup between No. 8 Michigan State and No. 9 Purdue. Indiana will take on winner of the third match on Thursday, between No. 7 Iowa and No. 10 Minnesota.
The semifinals will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday with the championship to follow at noon Sunday.
Scouting Penn State
Fifth-year coach Buffy Baker’s Nittany Lions (6-16, 0-10 Big Ten) are led in singles by Maaria Husain. The Marion, Ohio, native earned 10 wins this season, first on the team. In doubles, the duo of Leigh Ann Merryman and Megan Martin lead the way at the No. 1 position with 10 victories.
Previously this season, No. 49 Ohio State (10-12, 5-5 Big Ten) played host to Penn State Feb. 15, with the Buckeyes claiming a 7-0 shutout victory in the conference opener for both teams. The last time the teams met in the Big Ten championship was 1994, when the Nittany Lions eliminated the Buckeyes by a 5-3 margin in Round Two.
Ohio State leads the all-time series, 18-13, and is 8-1 against Penn State since Buckeye head coach Chuck Merzbacher took the helm in 1997.
Scouting No. 20 Illinois
The winner of the match-up between Ohio State and Penn State will face No. 3 seed Illinois. The No. 20-ranked Fighting Illini (17-4, 8-2 Big Ten) are coached by Sujay Lama and are led in singles and doubles by Jennifer McGaffigan. In singles, McGaffigan is ranked No. 36 and has run up a record of 28-9 this season.
In doubles, No. 14 duo McGaffigan and Cynthya Goulet is 26-8.
Illinois leads the all-time series with Ohio State, 21-9, including a 4-3 victory April 11 in Columbus. The Buckeyes’ last victory came in 2002, a 5-2 win in Columbus.
Last Season at the Championships
Last season at Big Ten Championships the No. 5 seeded Buckeyes received a first-round bye and were beaten by No. 4 Purdue, 4-3.
The duo of Sadhaf Pervez and Lindsay Williams (Sr., Beverly Hills, Mich.) posted a win at No. 1 while the Buckeye tandem of Erica Fisk (Sr., Indianapolis, Ind.) and Jackie Leskovar (Sr., Cambridge, Ontario/N.C. State) earned a victory at No. 2.
Pervez and Williams scored singles victories.
Last Time Out
Last weekend the Buckeyes swept a pair of home matches, downing then-No. 39 Iowa, 5-2, on Friday before dispatching Minnesota, 5-2, on Sunday.
In singles, Jackie Leskovar, Emily DeCamilla (Jr., Sacramento, Calif./Maryland), Lindsey Adams (Jr., Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) and Lindsay Bryan (Jr., New Orleans, La./Ursuline Academy) all posted 2-0 records, while the duos of Leskovar and Erica Fisk (Sr., Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) and DeCamilla and Adams both earned 2-0 marks in doubles play.
Williams Sets Doubles Standard
Lindsay Williams has set a career high in individual dual match doubles victories with 21. Her previous career high of 16 was set last season.
Buckeyes Doubly Good at Home
Ohio State earned the doubles point in all nine of its home matches, while recording an overall mark of 22-5. The duo of Lindsay Williams and Meaghan Colville (Sr., Toronto, Ontario/Western Michigan) topped the Buckeyes with a record of 8-1 while the tandem of Erica Fisk and Lindsay Williams followed with a 7-1 mark this season in Columbus .
Adams Surpasses Career High
Junior Lindsey Adams has played in every dual match of the spring campaign and surpassed her career high for overall singles victories in a season with 17, tied for the team lead with Kristin Messmer (Fr., Lutherville, Md./McDonogh). Adams earned nine wins in both her freshman and sophomore campaigns.
Fisk Rewriting Record Books
This season senior Erica Fisk has entered the Top 10 in all-time wins in singles and doubles at Ohio State.
In singles, Fisk has 14 wins this season and 76 for her career, moving her past Michelle Matko (1998-2003) to sixth in all-time singles victories behind No. 5 Linda Magid’s 78.
With two wins this past weekend, Fisk now has 15 doubles victories this season and 78 all-time, one more than No. 9 Susan Mitchell (1987-90) and one less than No. 8 Yvonne Lohrer (1985-88).
Williams/Colville Pace Doubles
Leading in doubles this season has been the senior duo of Lindsay Williams and Meaghan Colville. Playing mostly at the No. 2 position, they have racked up a team-best 14 wins.
Blanked
After recording no shutouts last season, the Buckeyes have two this spring. In addition to its blanking of Cleveland State Feb. 22, Ohio State shut out Penn State Feb. 15.
Upset Specials
Five Buckeyes own victories over ranked opponents this season.
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.
Last weekend, the duo of Williams and Meaghan Colville upset No. 38 ranked Katie McGaffigan and Lindsay Martin of Wisconsin, 8-1.
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 standout 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 the completion of action at the Big Ten Championships, the selection of the 64 NCAA Championships teams and first- and second-round sites will be announced between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on ESPNnews May 5. Lineups for the 64 teams selected will be posted on the NCAA’s web site, www.ncaa.org, no later than 6 p.m.
The Buckeyes will look to extend their current school record-streak of five consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships.
