No. 6 Buckeyes Close Regular Season with Two Road Matches – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 21, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 6-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team (23-2, 9-0 B1G) will travel to Bloomington, Ind., Friday to face Big Ten foe Indiana (14-9, 4-5 B1G) at 3 p.m. and will then venture to West Lafayette, Ind., for a conference match against No. 70-ranked Purdue (11-11, 4-5) at 2 p.m. Sunday. This week marks the end of the regular season for the Buckeyes.
IN THE B1G
• Entering the weekend, Ohio State is one of two teams with a 9-0 ledger in conference play, joined by No. 10-ranked Michigan.
• Two wins this weekend would give the Buckeyes at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship.
• Michigan plays at Northwestern at 4 p.m. ET Friday before hosting Illinois at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
• Ohio State won the B1G regular season title in 2000, when the squad was 9-1 in league play.
• Ohio State was 10-1 in B1G matches last season, setting the program record for conference wins.
• The Buckeyes have yet to drop a singles match in conference play this year, combining for a 53-0 mark. The squad dropped the doubles point vs. Northwestern Sunday, the first team point allowed by Ohio State in a conference match this season.
• Freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo is 9-0 in Big Ten Conference singles matches, with juniors Miho Kowase and sophomore Anna Sanford each 8-0. Juniors Sandy Niehaus and Ferny Angeles Paz and sophomore Olivia Sneed all have 8-0 conference marks.
RECORDS WATCH
• Ohio State has 23 wins, setting the program record for victories in a season. The previous record for wins in a single campaign was 20, set in 2010 and 2015.
• Junior Miho Kowase is tied for 12th in program history for career singles wins with 72.
• Francesca Di Lorenzo has 29 wins this season, tying for the fifth-most in a single campaign, while Ferny Angeles Paz has 27 to tie for ninth. Di Lorenzo is third in program history for wins by a freshman in a single season.
• Starting with the last home match of the 2015 season, the Buckeyes have won their last 14 home matches, tying the program record for consecutive home wins. The mark was first set in 2002 and then again combined between the 2014 and ’15 seasons.
• Ohio State posted six consecutive shutouts March 18-April 15, setting the program record for consecutive shutouts. The old record was four whitewashes in a row, first set in 1986, 2002 and 2010. Overall this season, the Buckeyes have a program-record 13 whitewashes, topping the 11 posted by the 2010 and ’15 teams.
SCOUTING INDIANA
The Hoosiers are 14-9 this spring and one of five Big Ten teams with a 4-5 ledger in conference play. Indiana has one ranked singles player, junior Paula Gutierrez, who checks in at No. 98. Gutierrez is 10-13 in dual matches and 4-5 in conference play this season. The Hoosiers have topped Iowa, Rutgers, Michigan State and Minnesota but have fallen to Big Ten foes Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern and Wisconsin.
Ohio State is 11-32 all-time vs. Indiana but has won the last two matches vs. the Hoosiers, with a 6-1 win in 2015 and 7-0 victory in 2014, both played in Columbus. The teams last met on the Hoosiers’ courts in 2013, with IU winning 5-2.
A LOOK AT THE BOILERMAKERS
No. 70-ranked Purdue is 11-11 this season and holds a 4-5 ledger in conference play along with Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota and Penn State. The team has posted league wins over Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Nebraska. The squad checks in two ranked doubles tandems. Junior Nicole Robinson and junior Andjela Djokovic are No. 46, while the pair of senior Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and senior Krisztina Kapitany checks in at No. 86. The Boilermakers host Penn State Friday before the match vs. the Buckeyes Sunday.
The Buckeyes are 26-23 all-times against the Boilermakers and have won the last two matches, with a 4-3 win last season and 5-2 victory in 2014, with both matches in Columbus. The teams last met in West Lafayette, Ind., in 2013, when the Boilermakers posted a 5-2 win.
LAST TIME OUT
Ohio State extended its winning streak to eight with two Big Ten home victories last weekend.
Friday, the Buckeyes shut out Big Ten foe Illinois, 7-0, notching the squad’s seventh shutout in a row. Ohio State clinched the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. The Scarlet and Gray posted five straight set victories, along with a super tiebreak victory, in singles for the sweep. Junior Miho Kowase, junior Sandy Niehaus and sophomore Anna Sanford all posted singles and doubles wins against the Illini.
Against Northwestern, the Buckeyes dropped the doubles point after splitting the first two matches and the Wildcats winning a close tiebreak on court three. It marked the first time the team dropped the doubles point in 17 matches and the first time in conference play this season. Ohio State came back to sweep Northwestern in singles to post a 6-1 win. The squad posted five straight set victories and a super tiebreak win to defeat the Wildcats.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Buckeyes were ranked sixth in the ITA rankings released Tuesday. Among Big Ten teams, Ohio State is joined by No. 10 Michigan in the Top 10. Other ranked B1G teams include No. 39 Northwestern, No. 54 Illinois and No. 70 Purdue.
Ohio State has five ranked singles players and three ranked doubles tandems. Freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo and junior Sandy Niehaus each moved one spot down to No. 4 and No. 75. Sophomore Olivia Sneed, junior Gabriella De Santis and sophomore Anna Sanford checked in at No. 110, No. 111 and No. 114, respectively.
In doubles, the duo of junior Miho Kowase and Sanford fell one place to No. 8. The junior pair of Ferny Angeles Paz and Niehaus and the tandem of Kowase and Sneed checked in at No. 44 and No. 75, respectively.
BUCKEYE BULLET POINTS
• Ohio State is second nationally with 23 wins this season, behind only UNC (26). Wichita State (22), Auburn (21), Texas A&X-Corpus Christi (21) and UNLV (20) are the other teams with 20 or more wins on the year.
• Overall, the duo of Miho Kowase and Anna Sanford are first with 22 doubles wins as a team. The duo is 14-5 in dual matches, with all 19 matches on court one.
• Kowase enters the weekend on a 15-match winning streak, while classmate Angeles Paz has won her last 13 decisions. Sandy Niehaus is on a nine-match winning streak.
• In singles, Francesca Di Lorenzo leads the team with 20 dual match victories, followed by Paz, Sneed and Kowase with 19 each. Overall, Di Lorenzo leads the team with 29 wins, followed by Paz with 27.
• Ohio State has won the doubles point in 21 matches this season, including in 17 of the last 18. The team is 51-14 in doubles dual matches, with a 21-5 mark in B1G outings.
• In singles, the Buckeyes are 21-1 (.955) on court five this year, with a 22-2 (.917) ledger on court six. The team has combined for a 20-2 (.909) mark on court four. Combined, the squad is 118-21 (.849) in dual matches in 2016, with a 53-0 mark in conference play.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes will head to East Lansing, Mich., for the Big Ten Tournament April 28-May 1. The Buckeyes are assured of a Top four finish and will receive a first round bye.
