Buckeyes Head South for Spring Break Trip – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 16, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 63rd-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team travels to Louisiana for a pair of matches. The Buckeyes take on No. 52 Tulane (12-4, 4-0 C-USA) at noon ET Sunday in New Orleans before facing No. 50 LSU (7-5, 2-2 SEC) at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday in Baton Rouge, La.
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FOLLOW ALONG?
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ON DECK FOR OHIO STATE?
Following the match against LSU, the Buckeyes move into Big Ten season with their conference home-opener March 23 against Purdue before hosting Indiana March 25.
OHIO STATE IN THE BOOKS?
5-7: season record?
0-1: Big Ten record?
4-2: home record?
1-4: road record ?
1-5: record vs. ranked teams ?
5-6: regular season record vs. non-conference opponents
0-0: all-time vs. Tulane
1-1: all-time vs. LSU?
?TULANE GREEN WAVE?
Tulane enters the contest after dropping its last two decisions, 4-3, against No. 34 Minnesota and Mississippi State. Junior Caroline Magnusson leads the team with 24 singles victories, including 12 at the No. 4 spot. Mariam Kurdadze leads the Green Wave at No. 1 singles, where the senior has compiled a 9-6 record.
Tulane boasts a pair of doubles tandems with more than 20 wins. The duo of Kurdadze and Emma Levy carries an 11-4 ledger at No. 1 while Magnusson and Caroline Thornton have earned a 14-1 record at No. 2.
The meeting between the Buckeyes and the Green Wave will be the first for the programs.
LSU TIGERS?
Olivia Howlett has earned a team-best 16 singles victories this season while sharing time at No. 1 with Whitney Wolf. Keri Frankenberger and Wolf form the top doubles tandem for LSU. The two have collected seven dual-match wins.
The Tigers and Buckeyes have met on the courts twice. The Scarlet and Gray won the most recent contest in a 5-2 decision at home in 2010.
Louisiana State hosts a doubleheader against Minnesota and Prairie View A&M Saturday before facing Ohio State.
?STAT CENTRAL?
Junior Gabby Steele has won seven-consecutive singles decisions to lead the team with 12 victories, including a team-best 9-3 record in dual matches. Three teammates follow Steele with 11 wins, including classmate Fidan Manashirova, sophomore Tiffany Dittmer and freshman Kelsey Dieters.
Manashirova and Steele also form the winningest Buckeye double tandem, as the junior tandem holds a 12-4 record, including an 8-2 dual-match ledger. Ohio State’s No. 1 doubles team of Dieters and junior Kara Cecil is 10-7 with five dual wins.
JUNIOR-FUELED
Ohio State’s junior class of Cecil, Manashirova and Steele has combined to win 30 singles matches this season, 45 percent of the team’s 67 singles victories. The trio has accounted for 147 career wins.
In doubles, the juniors have played a part in 64 percent of the Buckeyes’ wins in 2011-12 with 25 of 39 decisions.
?MERZBACHER’S WINNING WAYS?
Coming into the match against Tulane, Merzbacher has recorded 603 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 603 matches, he has collected 362 wins with a win percentage greater than 60 percent. Merzbacher has been at the helm for the Buckeyes in 407 matches, dating back to the 1996-97 season. With Ohio State, Merzbacher has achieved a .563 winning percentage on the way to a program-record 229 victories.?
?SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?
Eleven of Ohio State’s 12 remaining 2012 opponents were ranked in the March 13 Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls. Led by conference foes Northwestern and Michigan at 13th and 18th, respectively, nine Big Ten rivals found a place in the Top 75.
Northwestern – 13th?
Michigan – 18th?
Nebraska – 23rd
Minnesota – 34th ?
Purdue – 38th?
Illinois – 46th
LSU – 50th?
Tulane – 52nd
Indiana – 57th
Iowa – 73rd
Wisconsin – 75th
