Buckeyes Head to Orlando to Continue NCAA Play
5/14/2021 10:30:41 AM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – After winning two NCAA matches in Columbus, the Ohio State women’s tennis team (23-3) now heads to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., site of the NCAA Championships. The No. 15 seed Buckeyes will face No. 2 Texas at 1 p.m. Sunday. The winner of that match will take on the winner of a match between No. 7 Florida State and No. 10 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals Wednesday. The semifinals will be Friday May 21, with the championship Saturday May 22. Live scoring will be available for all matches, with matches either streamed through the TennisOne app or televised by Tennis Channel. Tournament Central
How the Buckeyes Advanced
- The Buckeyes notched wins over UIC and Vanderbilt at the Auer Tennis Complex in Columbus to advance to the NCAA Round of 16.
- Against the Flames the Buckeyes posted a 4-0 victory. Ohio State won the doubles point and had singles wins from Irina Cantos Siemers, Lucia Marzal and freshman Madeline Atway (who clinched the team win).
- In the second round, Ohio State prevailed over the Commodores, 4-3, in a match that came down to a court five third set. The Buckeyes dropped the doubles point and trailed 2-0 but Lisa Hofbauer, Luna Dormet and Isabelle Boulais all won in straight sets for a 3-2 Ohio State lead. The Commodores then tied the match at three, leaving court five, which had just started a third set, to decide the match. After dropping the second set, Lucia Marzal broke to open the third set and jumped to a 5-0 lead, taking the set 6-1 to secure the Buckeye team win.
Buckeyes in the NCAA Tourney (and in Orlando)
- Ohio State is making the seventh consecutive and 17th overall NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
- This was the third time the Buckeyes have been selected to host first and second round matches. The squad topped Youngstown State and UCLA in 2016 as the tournament’s No. 3 seed and in 2017 defeated Buffalo and Notre Dame when it was seeded fourth. As the No. 15 seed this year, the squad beat UIC and Vanderbilt.
- The team’s first NCAA appearance was in 1996. The squad qualified six years in a row from 1999-04, had a three-year stretch from 2008-10 and began the most recent streak in 2014.
- Under head coach Melissa Schaub, the Buckeyes are 9-6 in NCAA play and have both quarterfinal (2016) and semifinal (2017) appearances.
- The Buckeyes last played at the USTA National Campus, site of this year’s NCAA Championships, March 1, 2020, in a USTA College MatchDay match televised by Tennis Channel with more than 900 fans in attendance. That day, the No. 5 Buckeyes defeated No. 2 Florida State, 4-3. Current Buckeye Luna Dormet had a singles win in the match and Kolie Allen, the last match on, came from behind to win in three sets and clinch the Buckeye victory.
- Ohio State also played at the USTA National Campus in 2017, when it fell to No. 1 Florida in a College MatchDay series match.
Buckeyes vs. Longhorns
- Ohio State is 1-3 all-time against Texas, with all four matches since 2015.
- The teams met in Austin April 4, 2015, a 4-1 Buckeye victory. Texas then won in back-to-back years, with a 4-0 home victory March 4, 2018 and a 4-3 win in Columbus Feb. 1, 2019.
- The last meeting was a 4-3 decision won by the Longhorns Feb. 9, 2020 at ITA National Indoors in Chicago, decided with a court one win by Texas. In that match, current Buckeyes Irina Cantos Siemers and Kolie Allen both posted singles victories.
- Texas posted 4-0 wins at home last weekend over Denver and Arizona State to advance to the Round of 16.
- The Longhorns are 27-1 this season, with the loss to North Carolina in the final at ITA National Indoors in February. Texas is the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and ranked No. 2 in the ITA computer rankings. Ranked Texas players include No. 35 Anna Turati, No. 37 Peyton Stearns, No. 62 Lulu Sun, No. 72 Kylie Collins and No. 76 Charlotte Chavatipon. In doubles, Collins/Sun are No. 19, Stearns/Chavatipon are No. 47 and Marta Perez-Mur/Fernanda Labrana are No. 75.
Buckeye This and That
- Melissa Schaub was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career, while Irina Cantos Siemers was a unanimous All-Big Ten pick and Isabelle Boulais was also named to the All-Big Ten Team, her second All-Big Ten selection (2019).
- Ohio State enters the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 on a 15-match winning streak.
- The Buckeyes’ 23 wins this season rank third in program history, behind the 32 posted in 2017 and 31 in 2016.
- Ohio State was 12-1 at home this season and 7-0 in road matches. The squad has a 4-2 ledger in neutral site contests.
- Ohio State has won the doubles point in 22 of 26 matches. The squad won the doubles point in 20 consecutive matches, with the streak ending in the NCAA second round match vs. Vanderbilt. In doubles, the Buckeyes are 16-2 on court one and 20-3 on court three, with a 13-8 mark on court two.
- In dual matches, the doubles tandem of Kolie Allen and Boulais is 15-2, all on court one. The duo of Luna Dormet and Irina Cantos Siemers dropped its first match of the season vs. Vanderbilt and is now 13-1 and Lisa Hofbauer and Lucia Marzal are 13-3.
- All six regulars in the Buckeye lineup have double-digit wins overall and in dual matches. Marzal (24-3) leads Ohio State in overall singles wins, followed by Luna Dormet (21-1). In dual play Marzal is 22-2 and Dormet is 19-1. In dual matches, Cantos Siemers is 16-6, with Hofbauer 14-6, Boulais 12-5 and Allen 10-10. Freshman Madeline Atway is 3-2 in dual play.
- Dormet enters the NCAA Round of 16 on a 12-match winning streak, with all 12 wins in straight sets. Marzal is on an eight-match winning streak.
Trio of Buckeyes to Compete for NCAA Individual Titles
- Sophomore Irina Cantos Siemers was an at-large selection to the NCAA Singles Championship and the tandem of juniors Kolie Allen and Isabelle Boulais received the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier spot in the NCAA doubles draw.
- Cantos Siemers will be the sixth Buckeye to compete for the NCAA singles title, joining Boulais (2019), Anna Sanford (2018), Francesca Di Lorenzo (2016, ’17), Monica Rincon (2002) and Kristy Dascoli (1998, ’99, ’00, ’01).
- Allen and Boulais are the sixth Ohio State pair selected, following Di Lorenzo/Miho Kowase (2017), Kowase and Sanford (2016), Dascoli and Rincon (2000, ’01), Dascoli and Briana Harris (1999) and Kelly Story and Abigail Villena (1992). Di Lorenzo and Kowase won the first NCAA title in program history in 2017.
In the Rankings
- In the most recent ITA computer rankings, Ohio State is No. 16 and the squad was sixth in the last USTA poll.
- The squad started the year at No. 13 in the ITA rankings and moved into the Top 10 Jan. 27, remaining there until dropping to No. 15 in the computer poll April 21.
- In singles, Irina Cantos Siemers is No. 18. Three Buckeye doubles teams are ranked – No. 52 Kolie Allen and Isabelle Boulais, No. 72 Lisa Hofbauer and Luna Dormet and No. 80 Cantos Siemers and Dormet.
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