Women’s Tennis Posts 4-3 Victory at Illinois Sunday – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 15, 2007
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team used the doubles point and wins at the Nos. 4-6 singles positions to beat Illinois, 4-3, Sunday in Urbana, Ill. After the teams split the first two doubles matches, Buckeyes Angela DiPastina and Christina Keesey won at No. 3 to clinch the doubles point. In singles, Ohio State junior Caitlin O’Keefe and sophomore Julie Voss posted wins before senior Sonia Ruzimovsky clinched a second-consecutive match for the Buckeyes with a three-set victory at No. 4.
The No. 50-ranked Buckeyes, on a three-match winning streak, improve to 17-7 this season and are 5-2 in the Big Ten. The Illini drop to 5-14 and 1-7 in conference play.
In doubles, the teams split the first two matches off the court before the Buckeye tandem of DiPastina (Titusville, N.J./Hun School of Princeton) and Keesey (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) downed Kristina Minor and Momei Quo in a close match, 8-6, at No. 3. The Buckeyes won the first completed match, with Caitlin O’Keefe (Jr., Troy, Mich./Troy) and Sonia Ruzimovsky (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) defeating Shivani Dav and Alejandra MezaCuadra, 8-3, at No. 2. Illinois tied the doubles competition with an 8-1 victory by Megan Fudge and Emily Wang at No. 1 over Ohio State’s Ally Mueller (Roswell, Ga./New Braunfels (Texas) and Julie Blackmore (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons). The teams split the singles matches, as the Buckeyes won at Nos. 4-6 and the Illini won at the Top 3 spots. Fudge tied the match at 1-all with a 6-4, 6-0, victory over Blackmore at the No. 1 position. O’Keefe then won for the Buckeyes at No. 5 over MezaCuadra, 7-5, 6-1, followed by Qu’s defeat of Mueller at No. 2, 7-5, 6-4, to tie the match at 2-all. Buckeye sophomore Julie Voss (San Angelo, Texas/St. Stephen’s Academy) posted the Buckeyes’ third point with a win over Wang at No. 6, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Ruzimovsky clinched the Buckeyes’ victory for the second-consecutive match, as she came back from a set down to beat Minor, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Illini won the final match, as Dav beat Keesey in three sets at No. 3, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1.
The Buckeyes’ 17 wins this season are the most since the 2002 squad posted a program-record 19 victories and are the fourth-highest mark in a single season in program history. The 1983 and 2000 teams had 18 wins each.
The Buckeyes will wrap up the regular season with three Big Ten matches this week in Columbus. Ohio State will take on No. 9 Northwestern at 2 p.m. Wednesday in a match rescheduled from April 7. Over the weekend, the Buckeyes will host No. 25 Michigan at 11 a.m. Saturday and Penn State at 11 a.m. Sunday on Senior Day. All matches are scheduled for outdoors at Stickney Tennis Center. In the event of inclement weather, matches will be moved indoors to Jesse Owens West Tennis Center.
Tennis Match Results Ohio State vs Illinois 4/15/2007 at Urbana, Ill.
#50 Ohio State 4, Illinois 3
Singles competition 1. Megan Fudge (ILL) def. Julie Blackmore (OSU) 6-4, 6-0 2. Momei Qu (ILL) def. Ally Mueller (OSU) 7-5, 6-4 3. Shivani Dav (ILL) def. Christina Keesey (OSU) 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-1 4. Sonia Ruzimovsky (OSU) def. Kristina Minor (ILL) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 5. Caitlin O’Keefe (OSU) def. Alejandra MezaCuadra (ILL) 7-5, 6-1 6. Julie Voss (OSU) def. Emily Wang (ILL) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition 1. Megan Fudge/Emily Wang (ILL) def. Julie Blackmore/Ally Mueller (OSU) 8-1 2. Sonia Ruzimovsky/Caitlin O’Keefe (OSU) def. Shivani Dav/Alejandra MezaCuadra (ILL) 8-3 3. Angela DiPastina/Christina Keesey (OSU) def. Kristina Minor/Momei Qu (ILL) 8-6
Match Notes: Ohio State 17-7, 5-2 Big Ten; National ranking #50 Illinois 5-14, 1-7 Big Ten Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,5,2,6,4,3)
