Women’s Tennis Opens Season at Princeton Invite – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 14, 2006
Columbus, Ohio- The Ohio State women’s tennis team opens the 2006-07 season at the Princeton Invitational Friday-Sunday. The tournament will be held at the Lenz Tennis Center in Princeton, N.J. The rain site is the indoor courts on the “E” level of Jadwin Gym.
The Set Up
Five teams are competing in the Princeton Invitational – Ohio State, Princeton, Yale, Rutgers and Buffalo. The tournament is a “hidden dual” format. Singles and doubles will be played between the teams, but there will be no team scoring. Eight singles and four doubles matches will take place in each matchup.
Ohio State opens play with doubles against Yale at noon Friday and then will face Buffalo in singles at 3 p.m. The Buckeyes close the night against the host Tigers at 6:15 in singles.
Saturday, Ohio State is set to face Yale in singles at 10:30 a.m., Buffalo in doubles at 3:30 p.m. and Rutgers in singles at 4:45 p.m.
Sunday the Buckeyes wrap up play against Princeton in doubles.
Expected to compete for the Buckeyes this weekend are seniors Ciara Finucane and Kristin Messmer, sophomores Julie Blackmore, Angela DiPastina, Sara Kinning and Julie Voss and freshmen Christina Keesey and Ally Mueller.
In the Rankings
Junior Caitlin O’Keefe, senior Sonia Ruzimovsky and sophomore Julie Blackmore were ranked in the final 2006 Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Midwest Regional rankings. In singles, O’Keefe finished ranked No. 24 and Ruzimovsky was No. 27. O’Keefe also teamed up with Blackmore at the No. 15 spot in the doubles poll.
Who’s Back
The Buckeyes return all but one player (nine letterwinners) from the 2006 squad. The squad lost senior captain Emily Howard, but returns 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.
Wearing the Scarlet and Gray
The two Buckeye freshmen, Ally Mueller and Christina Keesey, are expected to play for the squad this weekend, garnering their first collegiate experience.
Mueller, from Roswell, Ga. (New Braunfels (Texas) has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the state of Georgia. Keesey, a Northfield, Minn., (Northfield) native, was the 2004 Minnesota state runner-up and was 156-16 in her career for the Raiders.
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 hit the courts at two tournaments next weekend, competing in the Wake Forest Fall Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Cissie Leary Invitational hosted by Penn in Philadelphia Sept. 22-24.
