Women’s Tennis Scheduled to Compete in ITA Midwest Regional – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 19, 2006
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team will send nine players to East Lansing, Mich., for the ITA Midwest Regional, which runs Thursday through Tuesday and features players from 28 teams.
The six-day competition hosted by Michigan State begins Thursday with qualifying draws. Three Buckeyes will compete in the qualifying rounds, aiming to earn a spot in the 64-player main draw. Angela DiPastina (Titusville, N.J./Hun School of Princeton) Kristen Messmer (Lutherville, Md./McDonogh), and Julie Voss (San Angelo, Texas/St. Stephen’s Academy) must win two rounds Thursday and a final round Friday to see further action on the courts.
Julie Blackmore (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons), Caitlin O’Keefe (Troy, Mich./Troy), Sonia Ruzimovsky (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Technical), Christina Keesey (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) and Ally Mueller (Roswell, Ga./New Braunfels (Texas) comprise the group of five Buckeyes who have already earned a spot in the main draw, slated to start Saturday with the rounds of 64 and 32. The tournament also will feature a 64-team doubles competition, in which four pairs of Buckeyes will compete. The teams of O’Keefe/Mueller, Blackmore/Ruzimovsky, Keesey/DiPastina and the final team of Messmer coupled with Ciara Finucane (Dublin, Ireland/Georgia Southern) will begin doubles play Friday with two rounds.
For complete results throughout the tournament, visit www.msuspartans.com.
Leading the Way
Buckeye senior Kristin Messmer leads the Buckeyes in fall tournament play with seven wins. She enters the regionals on a three-game winning streak. Freshman Christina Keesey and sophomore Julie Voss are tied for second with six wins each.
In doubles, Voss has a team-best 6-0 mark. Julie Blackmore, Keesey and Ally Mueller are tied for second with five wins each.
Starting Strong
Both Buckeye freshmen are off to strong starts in their collegiate careers. Ally Mueller is 5-1 and won the Flight B consolation title at the Deacon Classic. Christina Keesey is 6-2 overall and won her first four matches for the Scarlet and Gray.
Break It Down
As a team, the Buckeyes are 37-27 in singles this fall and 17-8 in doubles.
In Two PLaces At Once
Ohio State split its squad and sent members to both the Deacon Classic and the Cissie Leary Invitational Oct. 22-24.
While competing on the UPenn campus in the Cissie Leary Invitational, Angela DiPastina was 3-1 to lead the Buckeye trio at the tournament. Caitlin O’Keefe and Sonia Ruzimovsky each posted 2-2 records in singles action. O’Keefe and Ruzimovsky teamed up in doubles for a 1-1 ledger.
At the Deacon Classic hosted by Wake Forest, freshman Ally Mueller was the winner of the Flight B consolation final, winning three-consecutive matches and classmate Christina Keesey posted two wins in the Flight A consolation.
Senior Kristin Messmer finished 3-2 in Flight C, winning her last three matches.
In doubles competition, the pairing of Julie Voss and Messmer won the Flight C title with three wins.
Who’s Back
The Buckeyes return all but one player (nine letterwinners) from the 2006 squad. The team lost captain Emily Howard at the conclusion of last season, but returning are seniors Ciara Finucane, Kristin Messmer and Sonia Ruzimovsky, juniors Caitlin O’Keefe and Nidhi Shah and sophomores Julie Blackmore, Angela DiPastina, Sara Kinning and Julie Voss.
A Quick Look Back
The Buckeyes fought their way to a 13-13 overall record during 2005-06 while going 3-7 in Big Ten play. In 15 non-conference matches, Ohio State faced six teams that finished ranked in the final 2006 Fila Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, including No. 5 Notre Dame. When the Buckeyes entered conference play, the task was not much easier as Ohio State faced five teams that were ranked in the final ITA poll. Eight of the conference’s teams were ranked in the ITA rankings at some point during the year, including Ohio State which was ranked as high as No. 73.
Up Next
The Buckeyes will travel to Hanover, N.H., for the Big Green Invitational, hosted by Dartmouth, Oct. 28-30.
