No. 5 Buckeyes Head to B1G Opener and College MatchDay
2/25/2020 11:43:08 PM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 5 Ohio State women’s tennis team will head back on the road to West Lafayette, Ind., to face No. 46 Purdue in the Buckeyes’ Big Ten opener. The match will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Schwartz Tennis Center with free admission. (Live Stats and Live Video)
The Buckeyes will then head to Orlando, Fla., to face No. 2 Florida State at the USTA National Campus for a College MatchDay series match Sunday. Tickets are free, but should be reserved online HERE. The match, set for 4 p.m., will be televised by Tennis Channel. (Live Stats)
Ohio State enters this week 6-3 after two wins at home against Kentucky and No. 24 Arizona State last weekend. Purdue is 5-5 on the season and last played Feb. 16, notching a 4-2 win against Tulsa. Florida State is 11-2, coming off a 4-1 victory against Stetson Friday.
The Series
Ohio State vs Purdue
- Ohio State is 31-23 all-time vs. Purdue, including a 4-2 victory in Columbus last season (April 12, 2019).
- The last match on the Boilermakers’ home court was a 5-2 win in 2018.
- The Buckeyes are on an eight-match winning streak against the Boilermakers since 2014.
- The match opens Big Ten play for the Buckeyes. The squad was 8-3 in league action last season.
Ohio State vs Florida State/OSU in College MatchDay
- The Buckeyes and Seminoles last met Jan. 28, 2017, when the Buckeyes won 4-0 at home in the first round of ITA Kickoff Weekend.
- The Seminoles lead the overall series, 6-1.
- Sunday is the Buckeyes’ second College MatchDay appearance at the USTA National Campus. The first was March 14, 2017, when No. 1 Florida topped No. 3 Ohio State, 4-1.
- Four Buckeyes – Kolie Allen, Isabelle Boulais, Irina Cantos Siemers and Shiori Fukuda – competed at the USTA National Campus this past fall at the USTA Fall Ranked Spotlight. Fukuda reached the main draw final of the tournament.
In the Rankings
- The Buckeyes moved up one to No. 5 in the ITA rankings Tuesday.
- The squad had been ranked sixth a week ago, the first time the team was ranked inside the Top 10 since 2017.
- Ohio State started the year No. 25, moving to No. 12 and then to No. 10.
- In the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25, the Buckeyes are 10th last week.
- Purdue is ranked No. 46 by the ITA, with Florida State No. 2 in the ITA rankings.
- Individual rankings were not released this week. Three Buckeyes are in the ITA Top 125. Shiori Fukuda is No. 11, freshman Irina Cantos Siemers is No. 54 and Danielle Wolf is 60th.
- In doubles, Kolie Allen and Cantos Siemers moved into the rankings at No. 53 last week, after defeating the then-No. 9 ranked Vanderbilt duo of Christina Rosca and Georgia Drummy.
- Purdue has no ranked singles players or doubles teams.
- Florida State has one Seminole in the ITA Top 125 rankings: No. 83 Nandini Das. FSU also has three doubles teams in the rankings: No. 21 Emmanuelle Salas/Victoria Allen, No. 30 Petra Hule and Victoria Allen and No. 58 Andrea Garcia/Das.
Buckeye Leaders
- Shiori Fukuda has a team-best 21-7 singles record this season, with six singles wins in dual match play to rank first on the team.
- In doubles, Danielle Wolf leads the team with 12 overall wins, with Fukuda right behind with 11.
Buckeye This and That
- The Buckeyes played Top 25 teams in eight of their first nine matches.
- The squad has won the doubles point in five matches, including each of the last three.
- Five Buckeyes have clinched an Ohio State win this spring. Shiori Fukuda and Luna Dormet both won in three sets for 4-3 wins over Oklahoma State and Michigan, respectively, while Danielle Wolf won in a third-set tiebreaker for a 4-2 win over Duke. Isabelle Boulais clinched the win over Wake Forest and last weekend freshman Irina Cantos sealed the victories for the Buckeyes against both Kentucky and Arizona State.
- Fukuda is 6-3 at court one for the Buckeyes, the most wins on any court so far this season.
- Kolie Allen has notched five wins on court four, while Boulais and Wolf have combined for five wins on court three. Court six leads doubles with a 6-3 record, with three teams playing the position.
- The Buckeyes have made six straight NCAA Tournament appearances and have earned a spot at ITA Indoors in four of the last five years.
Last Time Out
The Buckeyes are coming off two home victories against Kentucky and No. 24 Arizona State.
Against Kentucky Friday, the Buckeyes won 4-1. After an early 2-0 Buckeye lead after clinching the doubles points and a singles win from Kolie Allen on court four, Kentucky won court six for a 2-1 match. Wins from Buckeyes Shiori Fukuda and Irina Cantos Siemers on courts one and five clinched the match for Ohio State.
Ohio State then swept the Sun Devils, 4-0, Sunday. The Buckeyes claimed the doubles point, with wins on courts three and one. Isabelle Boulais, Fukuda, Cantos Siemers and Allen all won their singles matches in straight sets for the Buckeye victory.
Irina Cantos, Fukuda and Allen all were 2-0 in singles for the Buckeyes last weekend. Boulais and redshirt senior Danielle Wolf led the squad with two doubles victories on the weekend.
Up Next
The Buckeyes will be back in action at home March 7 against Northwestern. The match, set for, noon, is scheduled to be played outside at the Varsity Tennis Courts but will be moved inside the Varsity Tennis Center (880 West Henderson Road) in the event of inclement weather. Admission is free. The squads met twice last season, with the Wildcats winning 5-2 in the regular season and 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
