The Ohio State women’s tennis team cheers on a teammate during the Ohio State-Vanderbilt NCAA Tournament match on May 8. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Ohio State’s women’s tennis team was battle-tested in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
It swept UIC 4-0 in the first round before needing a comeback 4-3 victory over Vanderbilt with a walk-off 6-3, 5-7, and 6-1 singles victory from Buckeyes redshirt sophomore Lucia Marzal.
Now, the No. 15 Buckeyes (23-3, 15-1) face their toughest test of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16 Sunday, entering their match against No. 2 Texas (27-1, 9-0), who has won 4-0 in each of its first two rounds of play.
Five of Texas’ six slated singles lineup feature Intercollegiate Tennis Association-ranked players with a three-headed monster of All-Big 12 first-team singles honorees at the top.
The Longhorns’ singles attack is headlined by ITA No. 37 freshman Peyton Stearns, who is 14-6 on the year and 10-3 against the opposing teams’ No. 1.
The Mason, Ohio, native won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award, and will be featured in a highly anticipated singles matchup against Ohio State No. 18 sophomore Irina Cantos Siemers, who has lost two of her last three decided matches.
Next on the slate for Texas is No. 35 senior Anna Turati, who has alternated between No. 1, 2 and 3 opponents throughout the season. In all five postseason matchups, she faced No. 2 competitors without finishing a single match, but trailing in only two.
Rounding out the dominant trio is No. 62 freshman Lulu Sun, who enters play on a 13-match winning streak. In that time, there were only two matches in which she needed three sets to close it out.
Sun is 19-2 on the season in singles play — her only two losses coming to UCLA then-No. 19 graduate Jada Hart and North Carolina then-No. 3 senior Alexa Graham.
The final three in Texas’ singles lineup are freshmen No. 76 Charlotte Chavatipon — an All-Big 12 second-team honoree — No. 72 Kylie Collins and Malaika Rapolu.
Ohio State’s doubles teams will have to be on top of their game Sunday to gain the ever-so-important 1-0 lead with the dominant singles Texas has to offer.
The Buckeyes lost in doubles Saturday against Vanderbilt for the first time since Feb. 7 against Northwestern, snapping their 20-match streak of winning the doubles point.
They will have an uphill battle again Sunday as the Longhorns are no slouches on the doubles end either, going 23-for-27 in doubles points claimed.
The three-match slate features two ITA-ranked matchups on the No. 1 and 3 spots on the card.
Texas’ No. 19 team of Collins/Sun — who enter on a three-match winning streak in which they did not lose more than three games in each — are scheduled to battle No. 52 duo of juniors Kolie Allen and Isabelle Boulais.
Allen/Boulais have only lost two matches all year to Georgia Tech’s ITA No. 3 pair of seniors Victoria Flores and Kenya Jones and Michigan’s No. 56 duo of freshmen Jaedan Brown and graduate Chiara Lommer.
The third-scheduled match on the doubles card is between the Longhorns’ No. 47 tandem of Stearns/Chavatipon and Ohio State’s No. 80 pair of Cantos Siemers and senior Luna Dormet.
Cantos Siemers/Dormet lost their first match of the season Saturday against Vanderbilt, but Dormet still had herself quite the weekend in more ways than one.
The Tours, France, native won her 12th consecutive singles match Saturday over Vanderbilt freshman Holly Staff. Then one day later — alongside teammate Lisa Hofbauer — she graduated from Ohio State.
Ohio State should look to key in on its overwhelming imbalance of experience, as its youngest competitor is the sophomore Cantos Siemers. Texas’ lineup, on the other hand, features a whopping five freshmen and only two seniors.
Both teams have active winning streaks — Ohio State at 15 and Texas at 20 — but one will come to an end Sunday in Orlando, Florida. First serves of the Third Round matchup begin at 1 p.m. and the victor will face the winner of No. 7 Florida State and No. 10 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals.
