The Ohio State Women’s Tennis team stands for the National Anthem before the Ohio State-Vanderbilt NCAA Tournament match May 8, 2021. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
The No. 10 Ohio State women’s tennis team played against No. 6 Duke Friday and No. 8 North Carolina State Sunday, dropping both matches.
Both losses came by the skin of the Buckeyes’ teeth, falling 4-3 in each match of the road trip.
Duke
In doubles, Duke senior Kelly Chen and freshman Ellie Coleman were victorious against Ohio State junior Lucia Marzal and graduate student Luna Dormet 6-1, while No. 29 Ohio State junior Irina Cantos Siemers and freshman Sydni Ratliff defeated Duke freshman Emma Jackson and graduate student Eliza Omirou 6-3.
The last doubles match saw Duke junior Chloe Beck and senior Margaryta Bilokin take down Ohio State seniors Kolie Allen and Isabelle Boulais in a close tiebreaker match.
In singles, No. 15-ranked Beck defeated Ohio State No. 123-ranked Ratliff 6-0, 6-1. The Buckeyes bounced back when Allen notched an upset win over No. 48 Coleman 6-4, 6-1.
Boulais picked up a team point with a win over No. 26 Jackson 6-4, 6-1. Duke battled back as senior No. 73 Georgia Drummy defeated Cantos Siemers 7-6, 6-4.
Dormet tied the meet once again, defeating Omirou behind a tiebreaking win in the first set and a 7-5 triumph in the second.
The deciding singles match pitted No. 72 Marzal against Chen, who defeated Marzal 6-4 in the first set. Marzal fought hard, winning 6-3 in the second set, but was ultimately defeated 6-3 in the third set — giving Duke the 4-3 win.
North Carolina State
Against North Carolina State, the Buckeye duo of Cantos Siemers and sophomore Madeline Atway lost 6-2 to senior Sara Nayar and freshman Priska Nugroho to kick off doubles play. The Wolfpack earned the doubles point behind a victory from graduate student Jaeda Daniel and senior Nell Miller over Ratliff and junior Kathleen Jones 6-3.
No. 72 Marzal was defeated 6-2 and 6-1 by Miller in the opening singles match.
Boulais picked up her second consecutive win against a top 25 opponent with a 7-6, 1-6, 6-0 over sophomore No. 25 Abigail Rencheli.
No. 123 Ratliff won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 against Nugroho to tie the match, but the Wolfpack regained the lead thanks to sophomore Sophie Abrams winning in straight sets over Allen.
No. 6 Cantos Siemers took on No. 8 Daniel in a top 10 showdown, in which Cantos Siemers won 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-0) and tied the team score.
The last match saw Ohio State freshman Shelly Bereznyak against sophomore Amelia Rajecki. Bereznyak played her first collegiate dual match with the added pressure of breaking the team score tie, which she was unable to do in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 loss to Rajecki.
Ohio State will host ITA Kickoff Weekend Saturday at 10 a.m. against Oklahoma State, and will play either No. 21-ranked LSU or No. 22-ranked Tennessee Sunday, depending on the result of the Oklahoma State match.
