ITA Intercollegiate National Indoor Championships to be hosted by Ohio State Tennis – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 30, 2006
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s and women’s tennis programs are slated to host the ITA National Indoor Championships Thursday through Sunday on the indoor courts of The Racquet Club of Columbus, during their last stint in fall tournament competition.
The four-day competition is one of three national tournaments during the year which features the top men’s and women’s collegiate players in the nation. A 32-player singles pool and 16-team doubles pool is compiled for both the men and women. Entrants are derived from winners of previous singles and doubles tournament play, including the ITA All-American Quarterfinalists, ITA Small College Champion, ITA Regional finalists, At-Large Selections, an ITA wild card pick and host school wild card picks reserved for Ohio State.
Julie Blackmore (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) will represent Ohio State for the women’s singles host wild card spot. She will pair up with teammate Caitlin O’Keefe (Troy, Mich./ Troy) to create the team that will play for the women’s doubles host wild card spot, as announced by head coach Chuck Merzbacher. This will be the first time of the 2006 fall season that the two players have combined forces on the court, yet they comprised the doubles tandem last year that entered the ITA Intercollegiate National Indoor as the host wildcard doubles. “I think it is great that they both have experience going in to this tournament, because they know what to expect,” Merzbacher said. “We are excited to host an event that is one of the best national collegiate championships of the year.”
Men and women follow the same schedule throughout the championship. Doubles competition begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2, followed by the first round of singles play for both. Friday continues main draw doubles action at 9 a.m., continuing with the singles main draw Round of 16, consolation rounds and quarterfinals. Saturday is reserved for semi-finals in both singles and doubles and Sunday will conclude the tournament with final match-ups in singles and doubles.
For complete brackets and updated results throughout the ITA National Indoor Championships, visit www.ITAtennis.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Ohio State competed in the ITA Midwest Regional held on the campus of Michigan State on Oct. 19-24, where the Buckeyes brought home 13 wins among singles qualifying, doubles and singles main draw rounds.
PERFECT QUALIFYING PLAY
Angela DiPastina was the sole Buckeye to win three matches among the Midwest Regional qualifying rounds, which earned her a spot in the 64-player main draw. She downed Aneta Maricevic of Detroit in straight sets, DePaul’s Kirsten Gambrell in three sets (6-4, 5-7, 6-2) and clinched a win over Erin Clark of Indiana (6-4, 6-2) to advance. Her five-match winning streak, dating back from play at the Penn Cissie Leary Invitational, was ended by Lauren Liu of Northwestern (6-0, 6-2) in the Round of 64.
MORE QUALIFYING
Kristin Messmer and Julie Voss each defeated their opponents in the Qualifying Round of 64 on Thursday during regional competition, before both fell in their following matches in the Round of 32. Messmer finished her fall tournament play with an 8-3 record, holding the top spot for the most wins recorded among singles play for the Buckeyes. Voss posted a 6-4 record for the season.
DOUBLE DUTY
The tandems of Julie Blackmore and Sonia Ruzimovsky and Kristin Messmer and Ciara Finucane each notched two wins Friday to advance to the Round of 16. Blackmore and Ruzimovsky beat Cincinnati’s Dandik and Hinton (8-3) in the opening round and Harding/Jurgelia of Wisconsin-Green Bay (8-2) in the Round of 32. Messmer and Finucane downed Chicago State’s Rubina and Rustandor in a close match (9-7) and Michigan’s Delicata/Exon, 8-5. Ally Mueller paired with teammate Caitlin O’ Keefe also won their first round against Carpenter and Nusslock of Wisconsin, advancing them to Round of 32. They were later downed by University of Illinois – Chicago’s Nadasska and Smith, whom won the match 8-3.
MAIN DRAW RESULTS
Three Buckeyes won their first-round matches in the 64-player singles draw. Freshman Ally Mueller defeated Iowa’s Hillary Mintz, a 9-12 seed, 6-2, 7-5 before she was knocked out by Minnesota’s Ida Malmberg in straight sets. Classmate Christina Keesey (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) downed No. 13-16 seed Laura McGaffigan of Indiana, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the opening round and later was defeated by Vanessa Frankowski of Eastern Michigan. Julie Blackmore beat Indiana’s Brianna Williams in a third-set tiebreaker (1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2) before falling to Purdue’s Randi Schuler, a 5-8 seed, in straight sets in the Round of 32.
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 take a break from the courts until their regular season play begins Jan. 27, when they host the Bowling Green Falcons.
