No. 2 Buckeyes Host Three Matches This Weekend
3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 30, 2017
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 2-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team (16-2, 3-0 B1G) returns to action this weekend, hosting Rutgers (5-8, 0-4 B1G) at noon and Dayton (9-9) at 6 p.m. Friday and Maryland (11-3, 2-2 B1G) at noon Sunday. Admission is free. The matches Friday will be played inside the Varsity Tennis Center. The match vs. Maryland will be played OUTSIDE at the Varsity Tennis Courts.
The match vs. the Flyers is the Bucks Go Pink match. There will be a bake sale and “Pink Mystery Basket” raffle, with proceeds going to the Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research, along with a donation box available. Free pink poms and yowies will be handed out to fans.
Live scoring (outdoor) | Live scoring/video (indoor) | Twitter updates (@OhioState_WTEN)
BUCKEYE SNAPSHOT
Ohio State enters the weekend 16-2 this spring, with its losses to No. 1 ranked Florida and No. 3 ranked North Carolina. Overall, the Buckeyes are 7-2 vs. ranked teams this season, with six of the wins over teams in the Top 15 at the time of the match. The squad is 3-0 in Big Ten matches, shutting out Penn State, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and also defeated Michigan in a nonconference match.
The Buckeyes have wins in their last 26 home matches. The squad has won the doubles point in 15 of 18 matches, losing to only Vanderbilt, North Carolina and Florida.
IN THE RANKINGS
In the ITA Rankings released this week, the Buckeyes remained second. Other ranked B1G teams include No. 9 Michigan, No. 37 Maryland and No. 40 Northwestern.
Ohio State has six ranked singles players and three ranked doubles tandems. Sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo is ranked first, junior Anna Sanford is No. 54, senior Sandy Niehaus is No. 70, No. 72 is senior Miho Kowase, No. 80 is senior Gabriella De Santis and senior Ferny Angles Paz is No. 92.
In doubles, Di Lorenzo and Kowase are ranked No. 16. De Santis and Niehaus are No. 31 and Di Lorenzo and Sanford are No. 65.
A LOOK AT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers is 5-8 so far this season and 0-4 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes are 3-2 all-time against the Scarlet Knights. The teams met last season, a 7-0 victory for the Buckeyes on the road.
SCOUTING DAYTON
The Flyers are 9-9 with a 6-5 record on the road. Ohio State is 3-0 in the all-time series vs. Dayton. The squads squared off last season in Columbus, a 7-0 Buckeye win.
BUCKEYES VS MARYLAND
The No. 37-ranked Terrapins are 11-3 and 2-2 in conference play. The squad’s only losses are to William & Mary, Northwestern and Illinois.
The Buckeyes are 6-1 all-time vs. Maryland. The two faced each other last year, a 6-0 win for the Scarlet and Gray on the road.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Buckeyes have combined for a 120-37 record overall in singles this year, with a 74-14 mark in dual matches. In doubles, the squad is 48-24 overall, and 32-12 in dual match play.
Sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo leads the team in singles wins with 24 this season, followed by senior Miho Kowase with 22. Di Lorenzo and Kowase lead the team in dual match victories with 14 each.
In doubles, senior Sandy Niehaus and Kowase lead the team with 16 wins each, while Di Lorenzo has 14. The senior tandem of Gabriella De Santis and Niehaus has a team-best of 11 victories overall, while Kowase and Di Lorenzo are first with nine dual match victories.
The squad has a 14-1 mark on court one, 8-7 on two, 9-4 on three, 14-1 on four, 16-0 on five and 13-1 on six. In doubles, court one is 10-6, court two is 13-2 and court three is 9-4. In doubles, court two is 13-2, with court one 10-6 and court three 9-4.
Kowase enters the weekend on a 14-match winning streak and with 99 career singles victories. Di Lorenzo has nine straight wins and Niehaus has an eight-match winning streak heading into this weekend’s matches.
LAST TIME OUT
The Buckeyes defeated Big Ten foes Wisconsin and Minnesota.
On March 17, the Scarlet and Gray downed Wisconsin, 7-0. The No. 31-ranked senior duo of De Santis and Niehaus posted a 6-0 win on court two for the first doubles victory, while the No. 63-ranked pair of Di Lorenzo and Sanford notched a 6-1 victory on court one to clinch the doubles point. Di Lorenzo, De Santis, Sanford, Niehaus, Angeles Paz and sophomore Olivia Sneed all posted straight set victories to secure the win against the Badgers.
The Buckeyes swept the Gophers, 7-0, two days later. In doubles, Sanford and Sneed were the first off the court with a 6-2 win on court three, while the No. 31-ranked tandem of De Santis and Niehaus clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win on court two. The No. 10-ranked pair of Di Lorenzo and Kowase posted a 6-1 win on court one. The squad posted straight set victories on all six singles courts to secure the win over Minnesota.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to face Big Ten opponent Iowa at 7 p.m. April 7 and will head to Lincoln, Neb., to take on conference foe Nebraska at 1 p.m. April 9.
