10/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 21, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Members of the Ohio State women’s tennis team will compete in the six-day ITA Midwest Regional Championships beginning Thursday at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Winners of both the singles and doubles draws earn a berth in the ITA National Indoor Championships. The doubles championship is slated to be played Monday, with the singles championship set for Tuesday. All qualifying and main draw matches in the tournament will be played indoors.
Live stats and video will be available on the tournament website: go.osu.edu/wtenregional2015.
Joining Ohio State in the regional are Akron, Bowling Green, Butler, Chicago State, Cleveland State, DePaul, Detroit, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Illinois State, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Toledo, Western Michigan, Wisconsin, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Youngstown State.
Play for the Buckeyes begins at 9 a.m. Thursday when redshirt senior Nicole Flower faces Illinois’ Grace Tapak in the 64-player qualifying draw. Eight players will advance from qualifying into the main draw.
ITA Midwest Regional Championship Schedule
Thursday, Oct. 22
8 a.m. — Qualifying Singles First Round
12:30 p.m. — Qualifying Singles Second Round
Friday, Oct. 23
9 a.m. — Qualifying Singles Round of 16 (eight players will qualify for main draw)
2 p.m. — Main Draw Doubles First Round
4 p.m. — Main Draw Doubles Second Round
Saturday, Oct. 24
9 a.m. — Doubles Main Draw Round of 16
10 a.m. — Singles Main Draw First Round
1:30 p.m. — Singles Main Draw Second Round
Sunday, Oct. 25
10 a.m. — Doubles Main Draw Quarterfinals
11:30 a.m. — Doubles Main Draw Semifinals
1 p.m. — Singles Main Draw Round of 16
Monday, Oct. 26
9 a.m. — Doubles Main Draw Championship
10:30 a.m. — Singles Main Draw Quarterfinals
1:30 p.m. — Singles Main Draw Semifinals
Tuesday, Oct. 27
10 a.m. — Singles Main Draw Championship
*Schedule is subject to change
At the Regional Last Year
In the 2014 ITA Midwest Regional in Urbana, Ill., Miho Kowase led the Buckeyes, advancing to the singles quarterfinals. Two Buckeye teams – Gabriella De Santis/Sandy Niehaus and Grainne O’Neill/Anna Sanford – reached the doubles quarterfinals. O’Neill won three matches in qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw.
In the Rankings
In the preseason rankings released by the ITA this fall, Buckeye junior and two-time All-Big Ten honoree Gabriella De Santis is No. 117. Francesca Di Lorenzo tops the list of Division I freshmen and newcomers. De Santis is one of 10 ranked players from schools participating in the Midwest regional.
Everybody’s Back … Plus Two
Ohio State returned all eight players from the 2015 team that finished second in the Big Ten, reached the B1G Tournament championship match and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.
Joining the Buckeye squad are freshmen Andrea Ballinger and Francesca Di Lorenzo. Both are Central Ohio natives, with Ballinger from Columbus and a Columbus Academy graduate. Di Lorenzo hails from New Albany and attended New Albany High School.
