Ohio State Women’s Tennis Heads to Bloomington for Mid-Week Match with Indiana – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 3, 2007
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Columbus, Ohio – The No. 48-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team (14-5, 3-1 Big Ten) begins a stretch of four matches in six days with a match at No. 34 Indiana (14-3, 4-0 Big Ten) Wednesday. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers will meet at 3 p.m. in Bloomington, Ind.
The Buckeyes will then return home for three matches. The squad will host No. 11-ranked Northwestern at 11 a.m. Saturday in a Big Ten match before going up against non-conference foes No. 2 Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. and Wright State at 7:30 p.m. Monday. All home matches are scheduled for the Stickney Tennis Center. In the case of inclement weather, they will be moved inside to Jesse Owens West Tennis Center.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Buckeyes entered the Fila ITA Rankings March 27 at No. 46 and are No. 48 in the rankings released Tuesday. Ohio State downed then-No. 16 Wichita State and then-No. 51 Minnesota each by 4-3 scores prior to entering the rankings.
This is the first time Ohio State is ranked since holding down the No. 73 spot April 11, 2006. It is the highest ranking since the 2004 squad ended the year ranked 41st.
LAST TIME OUT
The Buckeyes were 2-0 last week. The team won at Michigan State, 5-2, putting together five singles matches for the victory. Sunday, the Buckeyes won the doubles point and five singles matches to down Syracuse, 6-1, in Columbus.
Indiana is coming off a 5-2 victory at Michigan State Sunday.
SCOUTING INDIANA
Indiana is 14-3 this season and 4-0 in Big Ten play with victories over Wisconsin (7-0), Iowa (5-2), Minnesota (4-3) and Michigan State (5-2). The Hoosiers are 34th in the most recent ITA rankings. Alba Berdala plays No. 1 singles for Indiana and is 9-7 at the position so far this spring. Cecile Perton has a team-best 14 singles wins in dual-match play. Overall, Lindsey Stuckey leads the team with 21 victories.
Lin Loring, a 1972 graduate of UC-Santa Barbara, is in his 31st season at the helm of the Hoosiers. He is 649-227 at IU and has a career mark of 690-244 in his 35th season as a collegiate head coach.
BUCKEYES VS. HOOSIERS
The Buckeyes trail the all-time series with Indiana, 5-28, but are 4-6 in the last 10 meetings, all under head coach Chuck Merzbacher. The Buckeyes are looking to stop a three-match losing streak to IU.
Five of the last eight matches have been decided by one point, with the Buckeyes posting a 3-2 mark in those contests.
Indiana downed Ohio State, 4-3, last season in Columbus. In the last meeting in Bloomington, the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes, 7-0, in 2005. Ohio State’s last road win against Indiana was a 4-3 victory in 2002.
AHEAD OF THE PACK
Leading the Buckeyes in overall singles wins this season is freshman Christina Keesey with 21. Freshman Ally Mueller and sophomore Julie Voss are tied for second with 18 wins each.
In the dual season, Keesey has a team-best 14 wins, followed by Mueller and Voss with 12 apiece.
In doubles, seniors Sonia Ruzimovsky and Kristin Messmer each have a team-best 18 victories, followed by senior Ciara Finucane and junior Caitlin O’Keefe with 17 each.
The doubles tandem of O’Keefe and Ruzimovsky leads the squad with 16 wins this year.
IN THE CONFERENCE
The Buckeyes won their Big Ten opener, shutting out Wisconsin, 7-0, to stop a three-game losing streak against the Badgers. The squad now is 3-1 in Big Ten play, with wins at Minnesota and Michigan State and a loss at Iowa.
Northwestern (5-0) and Indiana (4-0) are the remaining teams unbeaten in Big Ten play. Michigan is in third with a 4-1 ledger and Purdue and Ohio State are tied with 3-1 marks.
After the Buckeyes’ two non-conference matches Monday, the squad closes out the regular season with four-consecutive Big Ten matches.
STREAKER
Sophomore Julie Voss was 2-0 last weekend to extend her winning streak to a team-best 12 matches. Voss is a perfect 12-0 in dual matches this spring.
IN HER 20s
Buckeye freshman Christina Keesey has a team-best 21 wins this spring. She beat Michigan State’s Pascale Schnitzer for her 20th overall win of the campaign.
Last season, Angela DiPastina and Kristin Messmer ended the year tied for the team lead in wins with 20 each.
IN THE BOOKS
Senior Sonia Ruzimovsky now has 58 career singles wins to tie for 14th in program history. She is two behind Amy Marzluff in 13th place.
Ruzimovsky has a career singles mark of 58-44. Her winning percentage of .569 is 18th all-time in OSU history.
Senior Kristin Messmer has 61 singles victories to rank 16th in program history, one win behind 15th-place Laura Schubert. Messmer has 55 doubles wins to sit just outside the Top 15.
WHAT A WAY TO WIN
Ohio State has two 4-3 victories over ranked teams this year, downing then-No. 16 Wichita State March 19 in Fort Myers, Fla., and then-No. 51 Minnesota March 23 in Minneapolis. In both matches, a Buckeye won a three-set match to clinch the victory.
The Buckeyes used the doubles point and three come-from-behind three-set singles wins to defeat Wichita State, 4-3. Against the Shockers, freshman Christina Keesey won at No. 3 singles to lift the Buckeyes to the win.
Against Minnesota, the Buckeyes won four singles matches to come from behind and win after dropping the doubles point. Against the Gophers, sophomore Julie Voss came from a set down at No. 6 singles to secure the victory.
BEATING THE BEST
The win over Wichita State was Ohio State’s first victory over a team ranked in the Top 20 since downing No. 20 Illinois, 4-2, May 1, 2004, in the Big Ten championship. The Buckeyes also beat No. 16 William and Mary that season (W 4-3, Feb. 29, 2004).
KEESEY HONORED
Ohio State freshman Christina Keesey was named the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Player of the Week, the conference announced March 21. Keesey posted two singles wins for the Buckeyes March 19, as the team downed No. 16 Wichita State (4-3) and Florida Gulf Coast (7-0) in Fort Myers, Fla.
Keesey, from Northfield, Minn., (Northfield High School) was 2-0 for the Buckeyes at No. 3 singles. Against No. 16-ranked Wichita State, Keesey clinched the Buckeyes’ upset victory, coming back from a set down to beat Lenore Lazaroiu, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. The match was tied at 3-all when Keesey posted the win, leading the Buckeyes to their first win over a Top 16 opponent since downing No. 16-ranked William and Mary Feb. 29, 2004. Keesey closed out the day with a straight-set, 6-1, 6-1, victory over Krista Polulak of No. 11-ranked (Division II) Florida Gulf Coast.
Keesey, who is on a six-match winning streak, has a Buckeye-best 18 overall wins this season and is first with 11 dual-match victories.
Keesey is the first Buckeye to be honored by the league this season and the first since Lindsay Williams in February 2004.
START ANOTHER
The Buckeyes had their season-high seven-match winning streak ended with a loss at Iowa March 25. It was the team’s longest winning streak since the 2002 squad opened the year with eight-consecutive wins.
ANOTHER BLANK
Seven of the Buckeyes’ 12 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, Eastern Kentucky Feb. 25, Wisconsin March 4 and Florida Gulf Coast March 19. It is the most shutouts in a season since the Buckeyes had seven 7-0 wins in 2001-02. The squad last year had five shutouts in 26 matches. The team record for shutouts in a season is 11, set in 1984 and 1986.
The Buckeyes were shut out at Iowa March 25, marking the first time the team was blanked this season and the first time the squad lost all three doubles matches this campaign.
A KEY
The Buckeyes have won the doubles point in 12 of their wins this season and in 14 of their 19 matches. The team won the doubles point vs. Marshall Feb. 17, but lost the match.
Against Minnesota, Ohio State lost the doubles point, but won four singles matches for the win.
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 58 career wins, behind senior Kristin Messmer’s 61 victories.
Ruzimovsky posted her 50th career doubles victory against Louisville Feb. 25. She has a team career-best 58 doubles wins.
Messmer recorded her 50th career doubles win against Wisconsin March 4 and is 55-43 in doubles in her career.
THE ROOKS MAKE AN IMPACT
The two Buckeye freshmen, Ally Mueller and Christina Keesey, both have played in all 19 matches for the Buckeyes so far this spring. Keesey is 14-5 in singles and 4-1 in doubles. Mueller is 12-6 in singles and 7-7 in doubles in the dual season.
FACING THE NATION’S BEST
The Buckeyes will take on 13 teams currently ranked in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll this season, including Top 12 teams Notre Dame (second), Northwestern (11th) and William & Mary (12th/L 6-1). In addition, Ohio State has faced or will go up against No. 23 Michigan, No. 27 Wichita State (W 4-3), No. 34 Indiana, No. 36 Auburn (L 6-1), No. 46 Purdue, No. 54 Virginia Tech (L 5-2), No. 55 Iowa (L 7-0), No. 57 Minnesota (W 4-3), No. 60 Marshall (L 5-2) and No. 74 Louisville (W 5-2).
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
The Buckeyes will return home to host No. 11 Northwestern at 11 a.m. Saturday. Monday, Ohio State will host No. 2 Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. and Wright State at 7:30 p.m. All matches are scheduled for Stickney Tennis Center but will be moved indoors to Jesse Owens West Tennis Center in the event of inclement weather.
