Buckeyes Travel to Florida for ITA Kick-Off Weekend – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 26, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 56th-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team travels to Tallahassee, Fla., to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Buckeyes (2-1, 0-0 Big Ten) face Florida State (1-0, 0-0 ACC) at 2 p.m. Saturday with the winner facing the victor of the Ole Miss-Texas A&M match at 2 p.m. Sunday. The losers of each match will play at 10 a.m. Sunday.
“This is a big trip and a huge opportunity for our team,” senior captain Kelsey Haviland said. “We are playing a couple higher-ranked teams and it’s a good chance for us to compete and see where we stand.”
FOLLOW ALONG
Throughout the season, stay connected with the Buckeyes on Twitter @OhioState_WTEN or on Facebook at facebook.com/OhioState_WTEN.
ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND
Fifteen men’s and 15 women’s teams host four-team events Jan. 27-30 as part of ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The winner of each regional site will earn a bid to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships hosted by the University of Virginia.
“We are in a good, strong region this year,” Chuck Merzbacher, Ohio State head coach, said. “We have been playing well, holding great team practices and individual hitting sessions. We are ready for the weekend. I think we can compete with every team there.”
Last season, the Buckeyes traveled to the University of Tennessee to compete in the Kick-Off event after Duke hosted the Scarlet and Gray in 2009.
BUCKEYES GO PINK
Ohio State “went pink” in its matches against West Virginia and Dayton Jan. 21 by hosting festivities in an effort to raise money for the Stefanie Spielman Fund. Courtside tables were available for rent, an Ohio State tennis racquet raffle was held, Phi Sigma Rho hosted a bake sale and t-shirts, pom poms, ribbons, posters and temporary tattoos were given away to fans.
The event raised $476.12 toward the Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research, topping the 2011 total of $445. More information about the Spielman Fund can be found here: http://go.osu.edu/SpielmanFund.
ON DECK FOR OHIO STATE
Ohio State returns home Feb. 4 to face off against Syracuse inside the Varsity Tennis Center. The match is set for a noon start.
Following the tilt with Syracuse, the Buckeyes will travel to State College, Pa., Feb. 7 to take on Penn State in the teams’ first Big Ten match of the year.
FLORIDA STATE AT A GLANCE
No. 18 Florida State opened its 2012 slate with a 6-1 victory against Central Florida at home Jan. 21. Junior Francesca Segarelli leads the Seminoles at the No. 1 singles position with sophomore Ruth Seaborne following at the second spot. The two also form FSU’s top doubles tandem.
THE SEMINOLES-BUCKEYES SERIES
Ohio State is 0-5 all-time against Florida State. The teams last met in 2010. The Seminoles tallied a 6-1 win against the Buckeyes at home in Tallahassee.
A LOOK AT MISSISSIPPI
No. 37 Ole Miss enters the weekend 2-0 after notching a pair of victories against Hawaii-Pacific and Hawai’I in Honolulu, Hawaii, Jan. 19-20. The senior-sophomore duo of 12th-ranked Kristi Boxx and 54th-ranked Caroline Rohde-Moe lead the Rebels at the first and second singles positions, respectively. The two have each notched 12 victories during the 2011-12 season. The fourth-ranked duo of Boxx and Abby Guthrie are 11-4 in doubles, including a 2-0 mark at No. 1.
THE REBELS-BUCKEYES SERIES
Ole Miss and Ohio State have not met on the tennis courts.
PREVIEW OF TEXAS A&M
The 29th-ranked Aggies open their season against Ole Miss in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off event. The team features Maryland transfer Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, who tallied 13 singles victories in the fall to earn a national ranking of 11th in the first ITA polls of 2012. Nazari Urbina, ranked 105th nationally, competed in the NCAA singles championships each of her first two years. They are joined in the national rankings by Sun Wen at No. 61.
THE AGGIES-BUCKEYES SERIES
If Ohio State and Texas A&M meet, it will be the first contest between the Buckeyes and the Aggies.
OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
The Buckeyes are now 12-4 in home openers under the direction of 16th-year head coach Chuck Merzbacher after defeating West Virginia last Saturday, 7-0.
DOUBLE REPRESENTATION
The doubles duo of junior Kara Cecil and freshman Kelsey Dieters landed at No. 52 in the first Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings of 2012. The tandem closed the fall season with a 5-2 record after producing a quarterfinals run at the USTA/ITA Division I Midwest Regional Championships in October. Cecil and Dieters are ranked eighth in the Midwest Region rankings. Cecil is ranked 11th in singles in the first regional rankings of 2012, as well.
The first regular season singles and doubles polls come out Feb. 14.
MERZBACHER’S WINNING WAYS
Coming into the match against West Virginia, Ohio State head coach Chuck Merzbacher has recorded 594 matches in his career as a collegiate head coach, spanning back to his first season with Northern Illinois in the 1989-90 season. In those 594 matches, he has collected 359 wins with a win percentage over 60 percent. Merzbacher has been at the helm for the Buckeyes in 397 matches, dating back to the 1996-97 season. With Ohio State, Merzbacher has achieved a .571 winning percentage on the way to 226 victories.
POLLING IN THE PAST
Ohio State fell to 56th after landing at No. 55 in the preseason polls of 2012, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. This is the fifth-consecutive season the Scarlet and Gray have been included in the preseason polls. The next polls will be released Feb. 2.
2012 – 55th
2011 – 33rd
2010 – 38th
2009 – 32nd
2008 – 52nd
SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
Eleven of Ohio State’s potential 2012 opponents (OSU will face either Mississippi or Texas A&M on the second day of the ITA Kickoff Weekend) were ranked in the second poll of the year. Led by Michigan and Northwestern at 10th and 12th, respectively, five Big Ten rivals found a place in the Top 75. The Buckeyes’ schedule also features three ranked teams from the Southeastern Conference, including 18th-ranked Tennessee and 24th-ranked Arkansas.
Michigan – 10th
Northwestern – 12th
Florida State – 18th
Tennessee – 19th
Arkansas – 24th
Texas A&M – 29th
Mississippi – 37th
Nebraska – 39th
Purdue – 59th
LSU – 65th
Illinois – 68th
BUCKEYES DOWN WEST VIRGINIA
The 55th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes women’s tennis team claimed its first victory of the 2012 season with a 7-0 win over West Virginia at home Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes (1-1, 0-0 Big Ten) toppled the Mountaineers (0-1, 0-0 Big East) by taking all six singles matches, including five in straight sets, and taking two of three doubles decisions.
Read the full recap at http://go.osu.edu/WVURecap.
OHIO STATE SWEEPS DAYTON
The 55th-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team kept its momentum from a 7-0 victory over West Virginia to down Dayton, 7-0, at home Saturday evening. ”We learned a lot from the match against West Virginia,” Chuck Merzbacher, Ohio State head coach, said. “I was pleased to see everyone focused on just playing their game. That was our main goal.”Ohio State (2-1, 0-0 Big Ten) closed out Buckeyes Go Pink day strong with six straight-set singles wins and a doubles sweep against the Flyers (0-1).
Read the full recap at http://go.osu.edu/UDRecap.
THE ROAD IS HARD
Ohio State opened its season on the road for the first time since defeating Marquette in Milwaukee, Wis., to begin the 2008 slate. The Buckeyes traveled to Tampa, Fla., last weekend to face 42nd-ranked South Florida. The Bulls proved victorious, 6-1, to give Ohio State its first season-opening loss since dropping a 6-1 decision to Notre Dame in 2005.
A LOOK BACK AT THE FALL
Ohio State opened its fall slate by hosting the Muirfield Collegiate Tennis Invitational at the Country Club at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, Sept. 16-18. The Buckeyes combined to post 15 victories, including 11 singles wins. Dieters earned her first collegiate victory against Claire McNulty of Dayton at the event. Dieters and Cecil also notched an upset of 60th-ranked Fellerhoff and Shine from Louisville in doubles consolation action.
Noelle Malley led the Buckeyes in action at the Martha Thorn Invitational hosted by West Virginia Oct. 7-9. The sophomore scored four singles victories to take home the Flight A singles title, capped off by a win over WVU’s Emily Mathis in the championship match. The performance earned Malley Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors Oct. 12, the first of her career.
The Buckeyes followed up as hosts of the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional. Tiffany Dittmer notched a pair of victories to earn a berth into main draw singles, while Cecil and Gabby Steele both reached the Round of 16 before falling to opponents from Notre Dame and DePaul. Cecil teamed with Dieters to reach the doubles quarterfinals, as well.
Ohio State closed the fall with a trip to Tempe, Ariz., for the Arizona State Thunderbird Invitational Nov. 4-6. The team tallied six singles victories and four doubles wins at the event, which featured competition from fellow Big Ten schools Michigan and Northwestern.
