COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 12 Ohio State women’s tennis team will host two Top 20 matches this week. The Buckeyes are set to face No. 19 Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Thursday and No. 5 Georgia at noon Saturday. Both matches will be inside the Ty Tucker Tennis Center, with free admission and parking. Live scoring and video will be available HERE.
Buckeyes vs. Cowgirls and Bulldogs
- The Buckeyes are 3-1 all-time vs. Oklahoma State.
- Last season, the Cowgirls came to Columbus for ITA Kickoff Weekend in January, with the Buckeyes posting a 4-1 win. The teams met on Oklahoma State’s home courts in the 2020 Kickoff Weekend event, a 4-3 Ohio State win. A matchup in 2017 was at ITA National Team Indoors in New Haven, Conn., where Ohio State was a 4-3 winner. The first meeting between the squads was in the NCAA Round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla., in May 2016. The Cowgirls won that matchup, 4-2.
- Oklahoma State is 2-1 this year. After starting the season with a 6-1 road win at Tulsa, the Cowgirls were 1-1 at home in ITA Kickoff Weekend matches, downing Oregon 4-0 before falling to Michigan, 4-2.
- OSU has three ranked singles players – No. 72 Sofia Rojas, No. 108 Alana Wolfberg and No. 121 Raquel Gonzales.
- Ohio State is looking for its first win vs. Georgia, dropping the first three matches between the teams.
- Last season the Buckeyes fell 7-0 on the road at Georgia. The Bulldogs eliminated the Buckeyes from the 2000 NCAA Tournament in the second round with a 5-0 win in Athens, Ga., and in March 1983 Georgia posted a 9-0 win over Ohio State in a neutral site match in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
- Georgia, which plays at No. 2 North Carolina Wednesday night, is 2-0 this season, with home wins over Stetson (4-0) and Notre Dame (4-1) during ITA Kickoff Weekend.
- The Bulldogs have four players in the ITA singles rankings – No. 19 Lea Ma, No. 31 Dasha Vidmanova, No. 64 Anastasiia Lopata and No. 100 Meg Kowalski
Buckeye This and That
- The Buckeyes are 3-0 as a team this season. After beginning the year with a 5-2 win over No. 4 Oklahoma, the squad was 2-0 in ITA Kickoff Weekend matches last week, topping Old Dominion 4-0 and No. 22 Tennessee 4-2.
- Kolie Allen was a team-best 4-0 during the ITA Kickoff Weekend matches, with a 2-0 mark at No. 4 singles (including clinching the team win vs. the Lady Vols) and a 2-0 record at No. 3 doubles with Kathleen Jones. Lucia Marzal was also 2-0 in singles, playing at No. 6. The doubles tandem of Akanksha Bhan and Irina Cantos Siemers posted a 2-0 mark as well.
- This marks the seventh time in the last eight years – including five seasons in a row – Ohio State has won two ITA Kickoff Weekend matches to reach the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
- Three Buckeyes are in the ITA singles rankings – No. 15 Sydni Ratliff, No. 30 ICantos Siemers and No. 116 Allen. Cantos and Ratliff are the No. 31-ranked doubles tandem. New individual rankings will be released Feb. 8.
- Ratliff is the fourth Buckeye to be ranked in the Top 15, joining Cantos Siemers, who has been as high as No. 4, Francesca Di Lorenzo, who spent time as the top-ranked player in the NCAA, and Shiori Fukuda, who was as high as eighth.
- Allen and Marzal are both 3-0 in dual match singles, with Shelly Bereznyak and Cantos Siemers 2-0.
- Overall, Ratliff leads the Buckeyes with 13 wins in 2022-23, followed by Allen with 11 and Marzal with 10. Cantos Siemers has a team-best nine overall doubles victories, with Ratliff and Allen each part of eight doubles wins.
Up Next
- Ohio State will head to Seattle for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, which will be held Feb. 10-13.
- The squad will close out February with home matches vs. No. 23 Arizona State Feb. 19 and No. 10 NC State Feb. 22 before traveling to Lake Nona, Fla., to face No. 3 Texas A&M Feb. 26.
