Ohio State Opens Spring Season with Two Matches Saturday – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 24, 2007
Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team plays host to two matches Saturday in the spring season opener for the Buckeyes at the Jesse Owens West Tennis Center in Columbus. The Buckeyes face the Bowling Green Falcons at 9 a.m. and the Bearcats of the University of Cincinnati at 5 p.m.
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN
The Falcons (1-2) arrive in Columbus for their fourth match of the spring season after losing to DePaul, 5-2, Jan. 21. Bowling Green is led by head coach Penny Dean who is in her 20th season as a collegiate head coach and 17th season with the Falcons. Dean has 158 wins at BGSU and an overall mark of 204-204.
Competing for the Falcons in both singles and doubles matches will be freshman Sam Kintzel, who posted victories in singles and in doubles with sophomore Stefanie Menoffe against Cincinnati. Sophomore Kelsey Jakupcin at the fourth spot and Menoffe at No. 6 each posted straight-sets victories as well against the Bearcats.
The last time the Buckeyes faced the Falcons was Jan. 21, 2006, when they defeated Bowling Green 7-0. The Buckeyes won all six singles positions and won two of three doubles matches.
SCOUTING CINCINNATI
Cincinnati will face the Buckeyes for its third match of the spring season after playing Miami (Ohio) at home Friday. Led by head coach Kimberly Jones, who is in her fourth season at UC, the Bearcats started their 2007 season at home with a 4-3 win over Bowling Green Jan. 12.
Competing for the Bearcats this season are a number of successful newcomers as well as Hannah Hilton, who is playing for the first time in three years because of injury.
The Buckeyes defeated Cincinnati 7-0 at home in Columbus last season in the squad’s spring season opener.
WRAPPING UP AUTUMN
Ohio State enjoyed a competitive fall season, appearing in four individual tournaments. The Buckeyes opened with the Princeton Invitational then went on to compete in the Cissie Leary Classic in Philadelphia and Deacon Classic in Winston-Salem, N.C. Nine players also were sent to East Lansing, Mich., to play in the ITA Midwest Regional’s in singles, doubles, or both.
AWAITING THEIR SPRING DEBUT
The two Buckeye freshmen, Ally Mueller and Christina Keesey, posted their first collegiate wins in both singles and doubles at the Princeton Invitational in the fall season. Keesey recorded her first singles win after beating Lillian Nguyen of Yale, 6-2, 7-5. Mueller won her first singles match for the Buckeyes, beating Buffalo’s Katrine Fisher, 6-4, 6-1. In the tournament, Keesey was 8-0 combined (4-0 singles, 4-0 doubles) to lead the Buckeyes in wins. Mueller was 5-1 overall (2-0 singles, 3-1 doubles).
WHO’S BACK
The Buckeyes return all but one player (nine letterwinners) from the 2006 squad for 11th-year head coach Chuck Merzbacher. The squad lost senior captain Emily Howard, but returned 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.
O’Keefe earned 15 wins last season, with six coming at the No. 1 and 2 spots. Blackmore gained 16 wins for the team, and at the No. 3 spot obtained 10 victories and clinching a few wins at the No. 2 and 4 spots as well. Voss put up eight more wins for the Buckeyes and saw much playing time as a freshman. She was at the No. 6 position for most of the spring season and in the summer finished first overall in the singles match in the South West Region of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Collegiate Summer Circuit. Kinning also saw much playing time as a freshman and had appeared once last season with a win in the No. 6 position. Shah in 2006 obtained two wins for the team playing in three matches and will look to see more action this coming season.
A QUICK LOOK AHEAD
The Buckeyes will be facing 27 opponents throughout the spring season, with 13 matches at home, to work their way to the top of both the Big Ten and national rankings. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association at the close of the 2006 season has ranked nine teams that the Buckeyes will be facing.
As the 2007 season progresses, the schedule for the Buckeyes will definitely become more aggressive with six of the 10 Big Ten Conference matches on the road. Conference play begins March 4, at home against Wisconsin right before the team hits the road for five consecutive on the road matches. The regular season then ends with home matches against Michigan April 21 and Penn State April 22.
UP NEXT
Following their weekend matches against Bowling Green and Cincinnati, the Buckeyes will travel to West Virginia to take on the Mountaineers Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. in Morgantown, W.V.
### Go Bucks! ###
