No. 13 Buckeyes Open Dual Match Slate Hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend
1/22/2021 3:37:05 PM | Women's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 13-ranked Ohio State women’s tennis team begins dual match play at the new Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus this weekend, hosting four ITA Kickoff Weekend matches.
The Buckeyes (0-0) will take on Syracuse (0-0) at 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by a match between No. 10 Virginia (0-0) and Tennessee (3-0) at noon. The winners will meet in the championship match at 1 p.m. Sunday, preceded by the consolation match at 10 a.m.
There will be no general public access to the event in Columbus; live scoring and video will be available for all six courts. In addition, Cracked Racquets will be providing play-by-play commentary on its YouTube stream and switching from site to site to create the “RedZone of college tennis” throughout the weekend.
There are seven sites hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend matches, with each site winner advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship Feb. 5-7 at Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls will complete the eight-team field.
The Columbus Teams
- Ohio State has not yet played a dual match. It opened its campaign last weekend at the Michigan Invitational, a hidden dual event.
- Syracuse is opening its competitive season this weekend in Columbus.
- Virginia started its 2021 slate with the UNC Invitational, an individual event last weekend.
- Tennessee began its season at the Duke Winter Classic, an individual event. The Lady Vols are 3-0 in dual matches, as they defeated UT Martin twice (7-0, 7-0) and topped Furman (5-2). All three matches were in Knoxville.
- Ohio State is 4-0 all-time vs. Syracuse, with the last matchup a 5-2 Buckeye victory at ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle in 2019.
- The Buckeyes are 4-4 vs. Virginia. The teams last met in March 2017, with Ohio State claiming a 5-2 win in Columbus.
- Against Tennessee, the Buckeyes are 5-13, but Ohio State has won the last three dual match between the squads, including a 6-1 victory in February 2016 in the last matchup.
In the Rankings
There will be 11 ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams in the Ty Tucker Tennis Center this weekend.
Ranked Singles Players
No. 11 Natasha Subhash (Virginia)
No. 47 Rosie Johanson (Virginia)
No. 52 Rebeka Mertena (Tennessee)
No. 78 Irina Cantos Siemers (Ohio State)
No. 80 Emma Navarro (Virginia)
No. 81t Guzal Yusupoval (Syracuse)
No. 85 Johanna Silva (Tennessee)
No. 91 Sofia Munera (Virginia)
No. 104 Amber O’Dell (Virginia)
No. 118 Carly Briggs (Tennessee)
No. 121t Viktoriya Kanapatskaya (Syracuse)
Ranked Doubles Teams
No. 31 Rosie Johanson (Virginia)
No. 42 Irina Cantos Siemers/Kolie Allen (Ohio State)
ITA Kickoff Weekend
- This is the 11th time Ohio State will compete in ITA Kickoff Weekend (previously known as the ITA National Indoor Qualifier). This is the third time the Buckeyes are hosting Kickoff Weekend matches; the team was a host site in 2017 and ’18.
- Ohio State has reached the ITA Team Indoor Championship four times in the last five years.
- Last season, the Buckeyes won the Stillwater, Oklahoma, site, defeating Wake Forest, 4-0, in the first round and then topping host Oklahoma State, 4-3, to clinch a spot at ITA National Indoors.
- In 2019, the Buckeyes traveled to Atlanta with Georgia Tech as the site host. Ohio State opened its dual match season with a 4-0 victory against the Yellow Jackets in the first round and then downed Kentucky, 4-1, to advance.
- In 2018, Ohio State was a Kickoff Weekend site. The Buckeyes defeated Kansas, 4-1, in the first round before a 4-2 loss to Wake Forest in the championship match. In 2017, the Buckeyes advanced to National Indoors with 4-0 wins over Florida State and Alabama in Columbus. In 2016, the Buckeyes beat Pepperdine and TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, to earn a spot at National Indoors for the second time in program history.
- The Buckeyes’ other ITA Kickoff Weekend results include going 1-1 at Duke in 2009 and at Fresno State in 2010 and dropping two matches at Tennessee in 2011, at Florida State in 2012 and at Miami in 2014.
Last Time Out
- Ohio State started the year in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Invitational, a hidden dual event, last weekend.
- Irina Cantos Siemers led the Buckeyes with a 3-0 singles record, while Luna Dormet, Lucia Marzal and Madeline Atway each posted two singles victories.
- Buckeye freshmen Atway, Tanisha Kashyap and Lina Ali all notched their first collegiate singles victories. Atway and Kashyap also combined for a doubles win.
- In doubles, the tandem of Luna Dormet and Lisa Hofbauer had a team-best two victories.
Up Next
The Big Ten has not yet announced the 2021 dual match schedule for women’s tennis.
