Ohio State Women’s Tennis Returns Home for Pair of Matches – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 1, 2007
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Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team (7-4, 0-0 Big Ten) returns home this weekend to host two matches. The Buckeyes will face off against the DePaul Blue Demons (6-5, 2-0 Big East) at 3 p.m. Friday. Ohio State opens Big Ten play against Wisconsin (3-6, 0-1 Big Ten) at 11 a.m. Sunday. Both matches will be held at Jesse Owens West Tennis Center.
Last Time Out
The Buckeyes were 2-1 last weekend. The team lost a neutral-site match against No. 69 Auburn (6-1) in Louisville, Ky. The Buckeyes then downed No. 75 Louisville (5-2) and Eastern Kentucky (7-0) on their home courts.
Scouting Depaul
The Blue Demons are 6-5 on the year and are 2-0 in Big East play. DePaul played two matches last weekend, losing to Big Ten member Iowa, 6-1, and beating Connecticut, 5-1. DePaul also has wins over St. John’s, Wisconsin, Drake, Ball State and Bowling Green. The squad also has played Big Ten teams Purdue and Northwestern, losing to the Boilermakers, 7-0, and Wildcats, 6-1.
DePaul junior Beatrix Csordas is ranked 100th nationally and has a 7-5 singles record this year.
The Blue Demons are coached by Mark Ardizzone, who is in his 11th season with the squad. The 1985 graduate of Northwest Missouri State has a school and career ledger of 170-82.
The last time the Buckeyes faced the Blue Demons was March 3, 2002, when they defeated DePaul, 5-2, in Chicago. The Buckeyes have a 5-0 all-time record against DePaul.
Scouting Wisconsin
The Badgers are 3-6 on the year and enter the weekend 0-1 in the Big Ten with a 7-0 loss to No. 5 Northwestern. Wisconsin will face Indiana Friday before traveling to Columbus to face the Buckeyes Sunday. Wisconsin last played Feb. 18, when it lost to Princeton, 7-0, in Madison.
Five of the Badgers’ losses this season have come to ranked teams, including No. 5 Northwestern, No. 9 Miami (Florida), No. 15 UCLA, No. 18 Pepperdine and No. 64 Princeton. The squad has wins over Marquette, Eastern Michigan and Illinois-Chicago.
Senior Caitlin Burke is ranked 14th in the latest Fila Collegiate Tennis Ranking to lead the Badgers. She is 11-6 on the year in singles.
The Badgers are coached by Patti Henderson, who is in her 13th season at the helm. Henderson, a 1986 graduate of Florida State, has guided the Badgers to seven NCAA tournament appearances and the school’s only Big Ten Conference championship in 1996. She has a school record of 159-128 in 12-plus seasons and a career ledger of 227-173 in 17-plus campaigns.
The last time the Buckeyes faced the Badgers was April 22, 2006, when Wisconsin defeated Ohio State, 5-2, in Madison. The Buckeyes’ last win over Wisconsin was April 12, 2003, a 6-1 victory in Columbus. The Buckeyes have a 6-30 all-time record against Wisconsin and are looking to stop a three-match losing streak to the Badgers.
Ahead of the Pack
Leading the Buckeyes in overall singles wins so far this season is freshman Christina Keesey, who has 14 wins, sophomore Julie Voss with 13 and classmate Ally Mueller with 12.
In the dual season, Keesey and Voss are tied with seven wins each. Julie Blackmore and Mueller are second with six victories each.
In doubles, sophomore Julie Blackmore and senior Kristin Messmer each have 12 wins overall, followed by Ciara Finucane and Sonia Ruzimovsky with 11 each.
In the Conference
The Buckeyes open Big Ten play this weekend. Six conference teams already have opened league play. Northwestern is 3-0, with wins over Wisconsin (0-1), Penn State (0-1) and Michigan (0-1). Purdue downed Illinois in the other Big Ten match this spring.
The Best
The Buckeyes are 10-1 combined at No. 6 singles this season, with their lone loss to Marshall. Julie Voss is 6-0 at the sixth spot, while Angela DiPastina is 3-1 and Ciara Finucane is 1-0.
The squad is 10-1 at No. 3 doubles, with the duo of Caitlin O’Keefe and Sonia Ruzimovsky leading the way with an 8-2 mark. The squad has combined for a 9-2 mark at the No. 2 doubles spot.
Another Blank
Five of the Buckeyes’ seven wins this season have been 7-0 shutouts. The squad opened the year with three-consecutive whitewashes (vs. Bowling Green, vs. Cincinnati, at West Virginia) and blanked Miami (Ohio) Feb. 11 and Eastern Kentucky last Sunday.
Staying Perfect
Sophomore Julie Voss is 7-0 in singles this spring, with a 6-0 ledger at No. 6 and 1-0 mark at No. 4.
A Key
The Buckeyes have won the doubles point in all seven of their wins this season. When losing the doubles point, the squad is 1-4, with the lone loss against Marshall.
Happy 50th
Against Cincinnati Jan. 27, senior Sonia Ruzimovsky posted the 50th singles win of her Buckeye career, as she downed Valeriya Dandik in straight sets (6-1, 6-0). Ruzimovsky is second among current Buckeyes with 52 career wins, behind Kristin Messmer’s 61 victories.
Ruzimovsky posted her 50th career doubles victory against Louisville last week. She has a team career-best 51 doubles wins, followed by Messmer with 49.
The Rooks make an Impact
The two Buckeye freshmen, Ally Mueller and Christina Keesey, both have played in all 11 matches for the Buckeyes so far this spring. Keesey is 7-4 in singles and 4-1 in doubles. Mueller is 6-4 in singles and 3-3 in doubles in the dual season.
Among the Best
Chuck Merzbacher, Ohio State head coach, has the eighth-ranked recruiting class for 2007, according to rankings compiled by tennisrecruiting.net. The duo of Paloma Escobedo and Cameron Hubbs, who signed NCAA National Letters of Intent in November, will join the Buckeye roster in the fall of 2007.
A panel of junior tennis experts, including journalists, tournament directors, referees and ranking chairmen from across the country, voted on the recruiting classes. Each panelist submitted his/her list of the Top 25 recruiting classes. Schools received 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 points for each second-place vote, down to 1 point for each 25th-place vote.
Escobedo, a native of Houston, Texas, has been ranked as high as 21st nationally among recruits for 2007 and currently is ranked 29th. She is ranked fourth among the gulf states and third in the state of Texas. Escobedo was a member of the Texas Fed Cup team who went undefeated in August at the 2006 UTSA Girl’s 18 Fed Cup Championships and posted a 5-2 record in the same month at the 2006 Girls 18 and Under Super Nationals in San Jose, Calif.
Hubbs, from Omaha, Neb., has been ranked as high as No. 60 in 2007 recruiting lists. She currently is ranked second in the plains states and is first in Nebraska. She is a three-time state champion at Omaha Westside High School. Hubbs is a standout in doubles and has been ranked as high as seventh nationally.
Up Next
After a week off for final exams, the Buckeyes will travel to Florida for two matches. The team will face Wichita State at 10 a.m. and Florida Gulf Coast at 3 p.m. March 19 in Fort Myers, Fla.
The team then will travel to face Big Ten foes Minnesota March 23 and Iowa March 25.
