Buckeyes Travel for Tennessee Fall Invite
10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 27, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio – This weekend the Ohio State women’s tennis team will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Tennessee Fall Invite hosted by the Tennessee Volunteers. Play begins each day with two teams meeting in singles, followed by all four teams playing doubles, with the remaining teams closing out the day with singles.
Joining the Buckeyes and Volunteers are Arizona State and Wake Forest. Ohio State will take on Wake Forest in singles at 10 a.m. Friday and in doubles at 1 p.m. Saturday, will face Tennessee at 10 a.m. Saturday in singles and at 1 p.m. Sunday in doubles and will go up against Arizona State at 10 a.m. Sunday in singles and at 1 p.m. in doubles Friday.
A live blog will be available each day through UTSports.com and @Vol_WTennis on Twitter to follow the action.
Last Year in Tennessee
This is the Buckeye’s fifth appearance in Tennessee’s fall dual-match style tournament. At the UT Fall Invite last season, Ohio State was a combined 10-8 in singles and 7-2 in doubles play, including doubles sweeps of Wake Forest and Tennessee.
Last Season Against the Volunteers and Sun Devils
The Scarlet and Gray topped both opponents in the regular season last year. The Buckeyes defeated Tennessee Feb. 20 and posted a 6-1 victory over Arizona State Feb. 28.
In The Rankings
Ohio State had six ranked singles players and one ranked doubles tandem in the preseason rankings released by the ITA.
Sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo checked in at No. 3, senior Sandy Niehaus at No. 67, junior Anna Sanford at No. 68, senior Gabriella De Santis at No. 79, junior Olivia Sneed at No. 80 and senior Miho Kowase at No. 99.
In doubles, the pair of Sanford and Kowase was ranked fifth.
Last Time Out
Last weekend at the ITA Midwest Regional in East Lansing, Buckeye junior Anna Sanford led the way, winning three matches, including an upset of the No. 11-ranked player in the quarterfinals, before losing a close three-set match in the semifinals. Seniors Gabriella De Santis and Miho Kowase picked up a win in the tournament, with classmate Ferny Angeles Paz posting two singles victories.
In doubles, the tandem of junior Olivia Sneed and Angeles Paz won first and second round matches, while the duos of De Santis/Sandy Niehaus and Sanford/Kowase reached the third round before they were eliminated.
Up Next
Francesca Di Lorenzo will head to New York for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships which open Nov. 3. The Buckeye sophomore, who won the ITA’s first national title this season at the Riviera All-American Championships, is the defending indoor champion.
