Cantos Siemers and Ratliff Set for NCAA Singles Championship
5/21/2023 3:20:18 PM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The draw for the 2023 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship has been announced, with two Buckeyes set to compete. The 64-player bracket is single elimination, with one round each day. All matches are at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
No. 30-ranked Sydni Ratliff will take on No. 45 Carly Briggs of Florida in the Round of 64 at 9 a.m. Monday, with that winner taking on the winner of a match between No. 7 seed and No. 7-ranked Diana Schnaider of NC State and Stanford’s No. 18 Connie Ma Tuesday. No. 20-ranked Irina Cantos Siemers will face Arkansas’ No. 41-ranked Carolina Gomez-Alonso at 11 a.m. Monday. The winner will advance to face the winner of a match between No. 1 seed and No. 1-ranked Fiona Crawley of North Carolina and Florida’s No. 17 Sara Dahlstrom.
Cantos Siemers and Ratliff were both unanimous All-Big Ten selections and were at-large selections into the NCAA Singles Championship. Cantos Siemers, now a three-time All-Big Ten choice, was the 2023 Big Ten Player of the Year.
Cantos Siemers is 24-10 overall and was 17-5 in dual matches. She is 14-10 vs. ranked players this season. Ratliff has a 22-14 ledger and was 10-8 in dual play. She is 12-12 against ranked opponents this year.
Cantos Siemers is making her third appearance in the NCAA Singles Championship, joining Kristy Dascoli, a four-time qualifier, as the only Buckeyes with more than two trips to the singles championship. Ratliff was selected for the second year in a row. The duo, which competed in last year’s NCAA doubles tournament, was an alternate into this season’s doubles championship but did not advance to the bracket. They are two of seven Buckeyes to appear in both the NCAA singles and doubles championships.
A senior, Cantos Siemers is 1-2 in the NCAA Singles Championship. She notched a first-round win in 2021 before falling in the Round of 32. Cantos Siemers (a 9-16 seed) and Ratliff, a sophomore. both fell in the first round last season.
Kristy Dascoli reached the 2001 quarterfinals for the best appearance in program history and Francesca Di Lorenzo advanced to the Round of 16 in 2016.
