Ohio State to Host ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Nov. 1, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s and women’s tennis programs will host the ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championships this week. The event will be held at the Racquet Club of Columbus (1100 Bethel Road), Thursday through Sunday. Admission is free all weekend. The tournament is a prestigious men’s and women’s event that includes matches in both singles and doubles. This is the first time Ohio State has hosted a national tournament.
ITA to Return to OSU Next Year
“We’re delighted Ohio State will be hosting this special event these next two years,” David A. Benjamin, ITA executive director, said. “I’ve seen and heard nothing but great things about the university and the Racquet Club of Columbus and know this will be a great site for the event. Tennis fans in the Columbus area are in for a real treat.”
The Competitors
The tournament includes many of the top singles players and doubles teams in the country. Players qualified either by finishing at the top of their respective regional tournaments or as at-large selections.
On the men’s side, the teams of Scott Green and Ross Wilson and Chris Klingemann and Drew Eberly will represent the Buckeyes in doubles, while Devin Mullings and Bryan Koniecko will compete in the singles event. The Buckeyes have one player set to compete in the women’s singles main draw in Caitlin O’Keefe. O’Keefe also will be paired with Julie Blackmore in the doubles main draw.
Blackmore is playing in her first collegiate national tournament.
“I am really looking forward to it,” Blackmore said. “It will be great competition and a great experience.” O’Keefe is excited about representing the Buckeyes.
“I am glad I get to represent OSU at such a big event,” O’Keefe said. “We have a home court advantage.”
Past OSU Winners
The ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships are the second of three national tournaments for singles and doubles during the collegiate tennis season. Host Ohio State has had champions each of the last two years: Jenny Wurtzman in 2003 in singles and Scott Green and Ross Wilson last year in doubles. Green and Wilson are the defending national champions.
In Doubles
Green and Wilson are seeded fifth in the tournament and open play against Darrin Cohen and Rylan Rizza of Virginia. Eberly and Klingemann will face Alexi Ivanov and Marek Velica of Oklahoma in the first round of the tournament.
After four tournaments this season for the women, Blackmore and O’Keefe are 4-2 when paired together in doubles. The duo went 2-1 in the second tournament this fall at the Wildcat Invitational and also went 2-1 at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships in East Lansing, Mich. In the first round, Blackmore and O’Keefe will face Ashley Bentley and Robin Stevenson of Alabama.
In Singles
Representing the Buckeyes in the main draw will be O’Keefe. O’Keefe will go against Jackie Carelton of Duke in the first round.
On the men’s side, Mullings and Koniecko will represent Ohio State. Mullings will face Tveit Erling of Mississippi in the first round. Koniecko opens against Lars Poerschke of Baylor.
Tucker Looking Forward to The Event
The head coach of the Buckeye’s men’s team, Ty Tucker, has high hopes for the event this year.
“We are extremely excited to be hosting the ITA National Indoors,” Tucker said. “Coach Merzbacher (Ohio State women’s tennis head coach) and I would like to thank Bill Myles (Ohio State associate athletic director) and Jim Hendrix (Racquet Club of Columbus director) for all they have done to make this happen. The best 32 players in college tennis will start playing on Thursday morning at the Racquet Club of Columbus. The men’s team looks forward to competing and we hope to have some solid results this year.”
Merzbacher on Hosting The National Tournament
“I am excited about hosting this event. It is good for OSU tennis, both men’s and women’s. It is also great for the Columbus tennis community,” Merzbacher said. “You can build a program around these events. It is top collegiate tennis and you want to be part of it.”
Last Weekend
The Ohio State women’s team was in action last weekend at the Big Green Invitational in Hanover, N.H., at the Allie Boss Tennis Center and Alan Gordon Pavilion on the campus of Dartmouth College. The event consisted of two 32-player singles flights and one 32-team doubles flight. The Buckeyes won the championship in flight A singles and in doubles.
Sonia Ruzimovsky (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Technical) and Angela DiPastina (Fr., Titusville, N.J./Hun School of Princeton) won five consecutive matches and defeated Anela Dujstic and Dana Gordon of Rutgers by a score of 8-6 in the final to win the doubles championship.
In the A singles main draw, DiPastina dropped her first match to Katie Draganova of Boston University, 3-6, 6-2, 11-9. DiPastina went on to win her next four matches and defeated Cindy Chu of Harvard, 6-3, 6-2, in the finals to win the consolation bracket.
Also in singles, Ruzimovsky won her first three matches in the main draw before falling in the semifinals to Andrea Novaceanu of Buffalo by a score of 6-3, 6-2.
In the B singles main draw, Olga Koutseridi (Fr., Barcelona, Spain/Schiller International) defeated Jen Murray of Dartmouth, 7-6 (5), 6-2 and Shayna Miller of Cornell, 7-5, 6-3 in the first two rounds of the singles main draw. Koutseridi then dropped her quarterfinal match to Danielle Viola of Seton Hall, 6-1, 6-2.
The men’s team did not play last weekend.
Up Next
The men’s team will travel to East Lansing, Mich., for the Big Ten Indoors Nov. 12-14. The ITA National Indoors ends the fall season for the women.
