Cantos Siemers, Boulais and Ratliff Headed to NCAA Championships
5/3/2022 9:50:46 PM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The NCAA announced its selections for the 2022 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships Tuesday. Ohio State junior Irina Cantos Siemers received the Big Ten’s automatic qualifier spot in singles and she and freshman Sydni Ratliff earned the conference’s automatic spot in doubles. Senior Isabelle Boulais was an at-large selection to the singles draw. Ratliff is the fourth alternate for the singles draw.
The 64-player singles competition and 32-team doubles bracket will be held May 23-28 at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Ill., after the conclusion of the team championship.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.
Cantos Siemers is a No. 9-16 seed in the singles draw and is making her second straight singles appearance in the NCAA Championships. Boulais was in the NCAA singles tournament as a freshman in 2019 and earned a spot to the doubles championship with Kolie Allen last season. Cantos Siemers and Boulais are the third and fourth Buckeyes to make multiple NCAA singles appearances, joining Kristy Dascoli, a four-time choice from 1998-01, and Francesca Di Lorenzo, who was selected in 2016 and ’17. Ratliff is the first Buckeye freshman to earn a spot in the doubles draw since Dascoli and Briana Harris in 2000. Cantos Siemers and Boulais join Dascoli, Di Lorenzo, Monica Rincon and Anna Sanford as Buckeyes to qualify in both singles and doubles, with Cantos Siemers, Dascoli (1999, ’00, ’ 01) and Di Lorenzo (2017) all earning singles and doubles berths in the same season.
Cantos Siemers, eighth in the most recently released ITA singles rankings, leads the Buckeyes with a 33-9 overall record this season and is 18-4 in dual matches, including a 10-0 mark in Big Ten regular season play. Boulais, ranked 37th last week and as high as 19th this year, is 17-10 on the year and has a 14-6 mark in dual matches, going 7-2 in conference matches. Ratliff, ranked 72nd last week and as high as No. 43, has notched a 26-10 record in her first collegiate season and has a 16-6 dual record, with an 8-2 mark during the conference regular season. Cantos Siemers and Ratliff, who won the ITA Midwest Regional championship in the fall, have compiled a 15-6 record on the year, with a 7-3 ledger in dual matches. The tandem is currently ranked 30th and has reached a high of 15th.
The Buckeyes are the No. 10 seed in the NCAA team championship and will host first and second round matches this weekend. Saturday, Xavier and Vanderbilt will meet at 10 a.m., followed by Ohio State and Illinois State at 1 p.m. The winners will meet at noon Sunday for a spot in the Round of 16.
Matches are set to be played outside at the Auer Tennis Complex. In the event of inclement weather, play will be moved inside the Ty Tucker Tennis Center. Check OhioStateBuckeyes.com and the Ohio State women’s tennis social media accounts on match day for location information. Admission and parking will be free for all NCAA matches in Columbus. Live scoring and video, through the Tennis One app, will be available for all matches.
