No. 2 Buckeyes Head East for B1G Matches – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 1, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 2-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team is set to face two Big Ten opponents this weekend. The Buckeyes will travel to New Brunswick, N.J., to take on Rutgers at noon Saturday. The team will then head to College Park, Md., to face Maryland at noon Sunday. (Note, live scoring is not available for either match.)
BUCKEYES HOME NEXT WEEKEND
The Buckeyes return home to face Iowa on Friday, April 8 at 4 p.m. and take on Nebraska at noon Sunday, April 10.
IN THE B1G
Ohio State is one of three B1G teams with a 3-0 ledger in conference play this season, joining Michigan and Northwestern. Nebraska (4-1), Indiana (3-1) and Illinois (2-1) all have one loss each. All 14 league teams have conference matches this weekend. The Big Ten Tournament is set for April 28-May 1, hosting by Michigan State.
ACADEMIC AWARDS
At the annual Ohio State Scholar-Athlete Dinner Tuesday in the Ohio Union, five Buckeyes were recognized. Senior Nicole Flower was named an Ohio State Scholar-Athlete for the fifth time, juniors Ferny Angeles Paz and Miho Kowase were honored for the third time, sophomore Anna Sanford received the award for the second time and freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo was a first time honoree.
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers is 6-9 this season and 0-5 in the Big Ten. Last time out, the Scarlet Knights fell in a close conference match to Illinois, 4-3. Against other Big Ten opponents, Rutgers was swept by Maryland and Northwestern. The Scarlet Knights were also topped by Nebraska, 4-0 and Indiana, 6-1.
Gina Li leads Rutgers with nine singles victories on court one and has won her last four matches. Mariam Zein is second with eight victories. Chloe Lee and Ksenija Tihomirova lead the squad with eight doubles wins.
Ohio State defeated Rutgers last season, 7-0, in New Brunswick, N.J., in the first match as Big Ten foes. All-time, Ohio State is 2-2 vs. the Scarlet Knights. The teams met three times on neutral courts from 1987-89. The Buckeyes posted a 5-4 win in 1987 before RU victories in 1988 (6-3) and 1989 (8-1).
A LOOK AT MARYLAND
The Terrapins are 6-8 this season and 3-2 in the Big Ten. Maryland has one ranked doubles tandem that consists of juniors Alexandra Stanova and Kristina Hovsepayn who check in at No. 79. The Terrapins fell to Illinois last time out, 5-2. Against other Big Ten foes, Maryland defeated Purdue, Iowa and Rutgers but were topped by Northwestern. Maryland hosts Penn State Saturday before its match against the Buckeyes Sunday.
Ohio State is 5-1 all-time vs. Maryland, including a 6-1 road win last season in the first B1G conference match between the teams. Prior to 2015, the Buckeyes and Terrapins last meeting was March 8, 2003, when the Buckeyes posted a 4-3 win at Maryland. Ohio State also posted wins over Maryland in 2002, 2001 and 1984, with the Terps winning in 1998.
LAST TIME OUT
Ohio State had last week off. In its last action March 20, Ohio State swept Big Ten foe Minnesota in Columbus. In doubles, the Buckeyes took all three courts for the 1-0 advantage going into singles. All the Buckeyes won in straight set matches with Francesca Di Lorenzo, Anna Sanford, Miho Kowase, Ferny Angeles Paz and Sandy Niehaus each claiming doubles and singles victories.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Buckeyes remained at the No. 2 spot in this week’s ITA rankings released Monday. This is the Buckeyes’ fourth consecutive week at No. 2 after the team reached No. 1 March 1.
Ohio State has five ranked singles players and four ranked doubles pairs in the latest ITA poll, which was released last week. Freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo remained at No. 3. Junior Sandy Niehaus moved up to No. 58, sophomore Anna Sanford was ranked for the first time this season, checking in at No. 99, sophomore Olivia Sneed came in at No. 114 and junior Ferny Angeles Paz was also ranked for the first time this season, slotted at No. 125.
In doubles, junior Miho Kowase and sophomore Anna Sanford remain at a program-record No. 2. The tandem of junior Ferny Angeles Paz and junior Sandy Niehaus and the pair of sophomore Olivia Sneed and freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo check in at No. 43 and No. 54, respectively.
Among Big Ten teams, Ohio State is the only team in the Top 10. Other ranked B1G teams include No. 11 Michigan, No. 41 Northwestern, No. 53 Illinois, No. 60 Indiana, No. 70 Minnesota and No. 75 Nebraska.
BUCKEYE BULLET POINTS
• The Buckeye doubles tandem of freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo and sophomore Olivia Sneed is undefeated this spring with a 17-0 ledger.
• The duo of junior Miho Kowase and sophomore Anna Sanford is 12-3 in dual matches and leads the team with 20 overall wins. The tandem, ranked second nationally, has won its last nine matches.
• The Buckeyes have won the doubles point in 16 matches this season, including in each of the last 12.
• In singles, junior Ferny Angeles Paz has a team-best 15 dual match wins, followed by Di Lorenzo, Kowase and Sneed each with 14. Overall, Di Lorenzo and Angeles Paz lead the Buckeyes with 23 wins each.
• Each of the Buckeyes’ three Big Ten wins this season have been by 7-0 scores. In all, the team has eight shutouts on the year.
• The Buckeyes are 15-1 (.938) at No. 5 singles this year, with a 16-2 (.889) mark at No. 6. The squad has combined for a 15-2 (.882) ledger on court four and is 15-3 at No. 1 (.833). In doubles, Ohio State is 15-0 on court three, 13-4 (.765) on court one and 10-5 (.667) on court two.
• Junior Miho Kowase enters the weekend on a 10-match winning streak, while classmate Ferny Angeles Paz has won her last nine decisions.
