No. 1 Seed Buckeyes Head to Big Ten Tournament
4/28/2022 2:02:41 PM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 10 Ohio State women’s tennis team will compete in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament in Iowa City, Iowa, this week. As the No. 1 seed, the Big Ten champion Buckeyes earned a double bye and will open play in the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Friday against the winner of a match between No. 8 seed Minnesota and No. 9 Penn State. All matches are slated to be streamed through Big Ten Plus, with live scoring also available.
The winner of the Buckeyes’ quarterfinal match will play in the semifinals at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, with the final set for 1 p.m. ET Sunday. The tournament winner receives the Big Ten’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Big Ten Tournament Central (bracket, live scoring and video links)
Ohio State, on a 10-match winning streak, enters the Big Ten Tournament 18-4 on the year and was 11-0 in Big Ten action.
Buckeyes and the Big Ten Tournament
- Ohio State has won the Big Ten Tournament title three times, in 2016, 2017 and 2021.
- This is the fifth time the Buckeyes are the No. 1 seed, along with 2000, 2016, 2017 and 2021.
- The squad won the tournament title as the No. 1 seed three times, in 2016, 2017 and 2021. In each of those tournaments, Ohio State topped Michigan in the final, with a 4-2 win in 2016 when the Wolverines were the No. 2 seed, a 4-0 victory in 2017 when UM was seeded third and a 4-1 win last year over the No. 2 seed Wolverines.
- As the No. 1 seed in 2000, Ohio State defeated Michigan in the quarterfinals, 4-1, before losing to Minnesota in the semifinals, 4-2.
- All-time, the Buckeyes have reached the championship match of the Big Ten Tournament five times (2004, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021), winning four championships.
- Last year, the Buckeyes defeated Michigan State in the quarterfinals, 4-0, and Iowa in the semifinals, 4-2, before the win over the Wolverines.
In the Quarterfinals
- Ohio State will take on Minnesota (17-9, 5-6 B1G) or Penn State (11-12, 5-6 B1G) in the quarterfinals Friday. The squads are meeting in the second round at 4 p.m. ET Thursday.
- In the regular season, the Buckeyes won 7-0 on the road over the Nittany Lions March 4 and posted a 4-0 win at Minnesota April 15.
- The Buckeyes and Penn State last met in the Big Ten Tournament in 2012, with Ohio State, the host school that year, winning 4-2.
- The Golden Gophers and Buckeyes last faced off in the conference tournament in 2014, with Ohio State prevailing 4-0 in the quarterfinals.
- The Buckeyes are 25-25 all-time vs. the Gophers, including a 16-1 record in the last 17 meetings between the teams. Minnesota is ranked 57th this week.
- Ohio State is 36-17 all-time against the Nittany Lions and on a 10-match winning streak against Penn State. The Nittany Lions are No. 69 in the most recent ITA rankings.
B1G Champs
- Ohio State was a perfect 11-0 in Big Ten play to capture the outright Big Ten regular season title.
- The 2022 crown is considered Ohio State’s third by the Big Ten, along with 2016, 2017 and 2021. The Buckeyes won the Big Ten regular season title in 2000 with a 9-1 regular season record; at that time, the tournament winner was considered the Big Ten champion. Since 2009, the regular season winner is declared the Big Ten champion.
- This is the third time the team was 11-0 in conference play, along with 2016 and 2017. In 2017, Ohio State and Michigan did not meet in a conference match in the regular season and were the co-champions with matching 11-0 records.
- The Buckeyes won six unofficial Big Ten championships from 1974-79 when women’s tennis was not a sport sponsored by the Big Ten.
In the Rankings
- Ohio State remained at No. 10 in the ITA team rankings this week. The squad has been in the Top 10 all but one week since Feb. 2.
- In the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 this week, Ohio State is No. 8.
- Nine of the teams the Buckeyes have faced this season are ranked in the ITA Top 20 this week – No. 1 North Carolina, No. 5 Duke, No. 7 North Carolina State, No. 8 Pepperdine, No. 9 Oklahoma State, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Auburn, No. 16 Florida and No. 20 Michigan.
- Three Buckeyes and a doubles team are in the ITA individual rankings released this week. Junior Irina Cantos Siemers is eighth in singles, while senior Isabelle Boulais is No. 37 and freshman Sydni Ratliff is No. 72. The duo of Cantos Siemers and Ratliff is No. 30.
Buckeye This and That
- Ohio State extended its winning streak to 10 with two home wins last weekend. The Buckeyes topped Maryland 5-2 Friday and defeated Rutgers 4-0 Sunday outside at the Auer Tennis Complex.
- After dropping the doubles point against Maryland, Ohio State came back with five singles victories in a row to clinch the win. Kolie Allen, Irina Cantos Siemers and Luna Dormet all won in straight sets before Sydni Ratliff clinched the team win with a three-set victory and Lucia Marzal followed with a three-set win. Against the Scarlet Knights, the Buckeyes dropped just one game across the top two courts to clinch the doubles point. Ohio State won all six first sets and Marzal, Ratliff and Cantos Siemers posted wins to seal the victory.
- Cantos Siemers was 10-0 in Big Ten singles matches this spring. Ratliff followed with an 8-2 mark and Marzal and Isabelle Boulais were 7-2. In doubles, Cantos Siemers was 9-1 and Marzal was 9-2, with Boulais 8-1. As a team, Ohio State was 43-11 in Big Ten singles dual matches, with a 21-7 mark in B1G doubles action.
- Overall, Cantos Siemers has a team-high 17 dual match wins, followed by Ratliff with 15 and Boulais with 14.
- Cantos Siemers is first with 32 overall singles wins, tying for fifth in program history for single-season victories. Ratliff is second with 25, followed by Lucia Marzal with 22.
- In doubles dual matches, Cantos Siemers has a team-best 14 victories and Marzal and Boulais have each recorded 12.
- Ohio State has won the doubles point in 10 of its last 13 matches.
- In singles, Ohio State has compiled a 16-4 record on court two and is 15-4 on court one, with court four 13-5. Court here has contributed 13 wins and court six has posted 12.
The Schedule Ahead
- The NCAA selection show is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday and will be streamed through NCAA.com.
- Ohio State is looking to make an eighth consecutive and the 18th overall NCAA appearance in program history.
- Last year, the Buckeyes hosted first and second round matches, defeating UIC and Vanderbilt, before falling to eventual national champion Texas in the Round of 16 in Orlando.
No videos available.
