No. 2 Buckeyes Head to Miami for Match vs. No. 12 Hurricanes – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 15, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The No. 2-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team (15-1, 1-0 B1G) will take on No. 12 Miami (7-4, 3-2 ACC) at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Miami, opening a stretch of three matches in five days. The match between the Buckeyes and Hurricanes will be broadcast on WatchESPN and live stats will be available through Miami’s website HERE.
Ohio State will head to Madison, Wis., for a Big Ten Conference match vs. Wisconsin at 6 p.m. ET Friday before returning to Columbus to host No. 50 Minnesota in a B1G match at 11 a.m. Sunday. The match in Columbus is scheduled to be played outdoors on the Varsity Tennis Courts. If weather forces the match inside, updates will be posted on the team’s Twitter page @OhioState_WTEN.
In the Rankings
The Buckeyes remain at the No. 2 spot in this week’s ITA rankings, .37 points behind No. 1 Cal. This is the Buckeyes’ second consecutive week at No. 2 after the team reached No. 1 March 1.
The squad began the spring ranked 18th in the first two polls before moving to a then-program record 16th Jan. 27. A win over Michigan, before victories over Fresno State and Vanderbilt at the ITA National Team Indoors, moved the Buckeyes to sixth in the Feb. 10 poll, the first time the program was in the Top 10. A second win over defending NCAA champion Vanderbilt moved the Buckeyes to fifth nationally Feb. 17. The last four polls have been generated by a computer and utilize a team’s top wins to determine rankings.
New doubles and singles rankings will be released next week. Freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo, who has been No. 1 this season, is No. 3 in the ITA singles rankings. Junior Sandy Niehaus and sophomore Olivia Sneed check in at No. 91 and No. 113, respectively.
The tandem of sophomore Anna Sanford and junior Miho Kowase are ranked a program-record second. The pair of juniors Ferny Angeles Paz and Sandy Niehaus checks in at No. 38, while Kowase and Sneed are ranked 73rd (tied) on the basis of a win over a Top 25 duo from Arizona State in the fall.
Among Big Ten teams, No. 6 Michigan joins Ohio State in the Top 10. Other ranked B1G teams include No. 36 Northwestern, No. 50 Minnesota, No. 56 Indiana, No. 62 Illinois and No. 63 Purdue.
Scouting the Hurricanes
Miami is 7-4 this season after a 6-1 win at home over Columbia Monday to improve to 5-0 on its home courts. The Hurricanes have four ranked players, include No. 6 ranked Stephanie Wagner, who is 6-1 at No. 1 and 2-1 at No. 2 this spring, and No. 7 Sinead Lohan, who is 2-1 at No. 1 and 6-0 at No. 2. Yolimar Ogando, who has not played this spring because of injury, is No. 39 and Wendy Zhang is No. 103 and has a 1-0 record at No. 2, 3-1 at No. 3 and 3-2 at No. 4. In doubles, Wagner and Zhang are ranked 10th and have a 9-5 ledger this year, with a 7-4 mark at No. 1. Lohan and Clara Taniellian are No. 55 and are 5-1 at No. 2 in dual matches. Wagner and Riobueno are No. 76.
Ohio State is 1-5 all-time vs. Miami, including a 4-2 road loss in 2014 in the last meeting. The Buckeyes’ win over the Hurricanes came in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament, a 5-3 victory in Athens, Ga.
A Look at the Numbers
The Buckeye doubles tandem of freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo and sophomore Olivia Sneed is undefeated this spring with a 14-0 ledger. The duo of junior Miho Kowase and sophomore Anna Sanford is 9-3 in dual matches and leads the Buckeyes with 17 overall wins this year. As a team, the Buckeyes are 14-0 at No. 3 doubles in dual matches. The squad has won the doubles point in 13 matches this season, including in each of the last nine.
In singles, Sneed and junior Ferny Angeles Paz have a team-best 13 dual match wins, followed by Di Lorenzo with 12 and Kowase with 11. Overall, Di Lorenzo and Angeles Paz have 21 wins each to lead the Buckeyes.
Ohio State is 70-17 in singles dual matches this year, including a 14-1 mark at No. 6 and 13-1 ledgers on courts four and five. The squad is 13-2 on court one.
Last Time Out
Ohio State last played a week ago, sweeping instate foes Dayton and Cincinnati March 9 inside the Varsity Tennis Center to improve to 8-0 at home this season. Francesca Di Lorenzo led the Buckeyes with a combined four wins in singles and doubles, with Olivia Sneed 3-0, with two doubles wins. Miho Kowase, Sandy Niehaus, Grainne O’Neill and Ferny Angeles Paz were all 2-0 in singles on the day.
Against Dayton, Ohio State won the doubles point with victories on courts one and two and then posted straight-set wins throughout the singles lineup. In the night match vs. Cincinnati, the teams split the first two doubles matches. The Scarlet and Gray tandem of seniors Nicole Flower and O’Neill clinched the point for the Buckeyes with a win in a tiebreaker, coming back from 4-1 and 5-3 deficits in the tiebreaker. Five Buckeyes won in straight sets and Miho Kowase came back from a set down to win in a super tiebreaker and seal the second shutout of the day.
