Ohio State Travels to Ann Arbor for ITA Midwest Regionals – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s tennis team will compete at the 2007 Wilson/ITA Midwest Women’s Regional Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich., Oct. 18-23. The six-day event features a 64-team doubles main draw beginning Friday, as well as singles qualifier for eight spots into the main singles field of 64, which begins action on Saturday. The singles action continues for three more days, concluding on Tuesday with the final, while doubles will finish up on Monday.
For more information on the ITA Midwest Regional, visit www.mgoblue.com.
The Midwest Regional will act as a qualifier for the ITA National Indoor Championships, hosted by Ohio State Nov. 1-4 at the Racquet Club of Columbus. The singles finalists and doubles champions from 17 regionals nationwide will earn autobids.
Buckeyes Dominate Hokie Invite
The Scarlet and Gray reached the final in four brackets, including all three singles flights en route to a command performance at the Hokie Invitational Oct. 5-7 in Blacksburg, Va.
Junior Angela DiPastina defeated Lisa Wilkinson of Winthrop 6-3, 6-1, to claim the Flight B crown. DiPastina and teammate Christina Keesey also advanced to the semifinals of the Flight A doubles before falling 8-6 to the East Tennessee State team. Keesey went 3-1 in singles Flight A, advancing to the final before falling to Yevgeniya Stupak of East Tennessee State.
Julie Blackmore, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also had a standout performance in Blacksburg. Blackmore reached the finals in Flight B doubles and Flight C singles, where she knocked off teammate Cami Hubbs 6-4, 6-4 to claim the title.
Keesey is Cruising
Christina Keesey has emerged as an early leader for the Buckeyes this season, playing exclusively in Flight A brackets. Keesey reached the finals at both the Baylor and Hokie Invitationals. After an opening loss at Baylor, she rolled through the consolation bracket to claim the title. Keesey won three matches at the Hokie Invite before falling narrowly in the finals.
Last year as a freshman, Keesey posted a 23-14 singles record and a 15-7 doubles mark while earning team MVP honors.
Hubbs’ Spectacular Start
In just her first season on the team, freshman Cami Hubbs has already established herself as a top-flight collegiate talent. Through two tournaments thus far, Hubbs owns a team-best 8-1 record and a title in Flight C singles at the Baylor Invitational. The sole loss, which came to teammate Julie Blackmore in Flight C singles finals at the Hokie Invite, is an unusual feeling for Hubbs, who had owned a 117-0 record during four years at Omaha Westside H.S. in Omaha, Neb.
Angela DiPastina is second to Hubbs in the win-loss column and owns a 7-1 mark thus far, playing entirely in Flight B competition.
Coming Soon
The Buckeyes will wrap up the fall season by hosting the ITA Indoor Nationals taking place Nov. 1-4 at the Racquet Club of Columbus.
The spring schedule includes big non-conference dual-matches at Notre Dame and Virginia, and home matchups against South Florida and Oregon.
From there, Ohio State will enter Big Ten competition in search of its first Big Ten championship since the 1999-00 season and first NCAA tournament bid since 2003-04.
A New Home
The Ohio State University Indoor Tennis Center is the new indoor venue for the men’s and women’s tennis teams and is slated to open in November 2007. Located at 880 West Henderson Road in northwest Columbus, the 57,000 square foot center will have six courts covered with a Plexipave surface.
The indoor tennis center will accommodate approximately 400 spectator seats, plus standing room. In addition to 156 bleacher seats, the facility will feature 64 cabaret-style seats on court level at the north end and 96 individual seats in the south end. Additionally, 66 theatre-style seats will be available.
The site also will house the coaches’ offices, as well as locker rooms and team and recruiting rooms.
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