No. 2 Ohio State Heads West for Three Top 15 Matches

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 2 Ohio State women's tennis team will have three matches in California this week against Top 15 foes. The Buckeyes will face No. 6 Pepperdine at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday in Malibu before two Big Ten matches in Los Angeles against No. 8 UCLA at 3 p.m. ET Saturday and at No. 12 USC at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

Ohio State at Pepperdine: Watch & Live Stats
Ohio State at UCLA: Watch & Live Stats
Ohio State at USC: Watch & Live Stats

Ohio State is 10-1 this season, with a 3-0 Big Ten ledger. Pepperdine is 9-3, with UCLA 7-3 (1-1 B1G) and USC 9-4 (2-0 B1G).

The Buckeyes vs. This Week's Opponents
Pepperdine

Ohio State is 3-2 all-time vs. Pepperdine. The teams last met March 8, 2024, a 4-2 win by the Waves in Columbus. Wednesday will be the first match between the teams in Malibu. Ohio State is 1-1 vs. Pepperdine in Columbus and 2-1 at neutral sites.
The Waves have three ranked singles players – No. 10 Anastasiia Grechkina, No. 43 Ziva Falkner and No. 122 Sonja Zhiyenbayeva. In doubles, Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva are ranked 26th.
Pepperdine is 9-3 this year, with a 2-2 home mark. Last week, Pepperdine won road matches at Washington State, Gonzaga, Stanford, Santa Clara and Cal.

UCLA

The Buckeyes have won four of five matches vs. UCLA. The teams met in Columbus the last two years, with a 4-0 Buckeye win Feb. 4, 2024 and a 4-1 Ohio State victory March 28, 2025 in the first Big Ten match between the teams.
The lone meeting between the teams in Los Angeles was a 4-3 Bruin victory March 12, 2023.
Three Bruins are ranked in singles – No. 40 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, No. 54 Mayu Crossley and No. 108 Bianca Fernandez. In doubles, Olivia Center and Kate Fakih are No. 31 in the rankings.
UCLA, 7-3 on the year, opened B1G play with two road matches, falling at Wisconsin, 4-3, March 6 before a 4-1 win at Minnesota March 8. The Bruins are 3-0 at home, including a 6-1 nonconference victory over USC Feb. 27.

USC

The Buckeyes and Trojans met for the first time last year, a 4-1 Ohio State win March 30, 2025, in a Big Ten match.
USC has three ranked singles players, in No. 38 Jana Hossam Salah, No. 39 Emma Charney and No. 98 Eugenia Zozaya Menendez.
The Trojans are 9-4 overall and have a 2-0 B1G record with 4-1 wins at Minnesota and Wisconsin last week. The squad is 3-0 at home and will host Penn State Saturday before the match vs. the Buckeyes Sunday. In doubles, the tandem of Daniela Borruel and Lily Fairclough is No. 15 and Hossam Salah and Fairclough are No. 32.

In the Rankings

The Buckeyes are ranked second in the ITA team rankings for the fifth week in a row.
The squad started the season No. 13 and was No. 12 in the second poll, moving to No. 10 Jan. 28.
Three other Big Ten teams are ranked in the Top 25 - No. 8 UCLA, No. 12 USC and No. 17 Washington.
New singles and doubles rankings will be released next week.
The last two rankings have featured two Buckeyes in the Top 4 of the singles rankings.
Last week, Luciana Perry was No. 3, with Teah Chavez No. 4. The duo was fourth and second, respectively, in the previous release.
Chavez and Perry are the second and third Buckeyes to earn a spot in the singles Top 3, joining Francesca Di Lorenzo, who was as high as No. 1 in 2016 and '17.
Nao Nishino was No. 67 in singles last week, with Audrey Spencer No. 102.
In doubles, the tandem of Hephzibah Oluwadare and Chavez was No. 17 last week.
Flora Johnson and Perry were ranked 59th, with Nishino and Spencer No. 67 and Perry and Chavez No. 69.

Buckeye This and That

Ohio State is 10-1 on the year after a 4-1 win over Michigan last week in Columbus. The Buckeyes' lone loss was to No. 1 ranked Georgia, 4-3, in the ITA Indoor Championship final. The Buckeyes were making their first appearance in the title game at National Indoors.
In dual matches, Teah Chavez and Audrey Spencer lead the Buckeyes with 8-0 ledgers and Luciana Perry is 7-1. Spencer has won her last 12 completed matches.
Overall, Nao Nishino has a team-best 19 victories this year, Perry has 15 and Chavez and Spencer each have 14.
As a team, the Buckeyes are 8-0 on court one this spring, with an 8-1 mark on court two and an 8-3 ledger on court six. Court five is 7-1, with court four 7-2 and court three 3-6.
Seven of the nine teams the Buckeyes have faced this season were ranked in the Top 25 at the time of the match, including three in the Top 5. This week, three Buckeye opponents are in the Top 5 - No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 5 Texas A&M.
Ohio State and Penn State are the only Big Ten teams to play three conference matches so far this season and the Buckeyes lead the way with a 3-0 ledger after wins against Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan. Washington, USC and Iowa are next with 2-0 marks.
The ITA announced Ohio State will serve as a host school for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in both 2027 and 2028. A joint host with Michigan, both schools will host opening rounds of play each year. Michigan will host the semifinals and final in 2027 and Ohio State will host the semifinals and final in 2028. Host schools are automatically in the 16-team tournament field.

Up Next

Ohio State will return home to take on No. 24 Duke at noon March 22, Rutgers at 2 p.m. March 27 and Maryland at 2 p.m. March 29. Matches are scheduled to be played outside at the Auer Tennis Complex and admission and parking are free.

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