Graduate Akanksha Bhan had a great day, winning both singles and doubles to help the Buckeyes to a 4-0 win over Rutgers. Credit: Gaurav Law | Web Editor
After hosting two Big Ten foes over the weekend, the Ohio State women’s tennis team improved to 12-6 on the season, with a 5-1 conference record.
The No. 12 Buckeyes posted victories against No. 49 Maryland (11-9, 2-5 Big Ten) Friday and No. 73 Rutgers (10-8, 1-6 Big Ten) Sunday at the Auer Tennis Complex in Columbus.
“As a team we are working and competing really hard,” head coach Melissa Schaub said. “It’s a long season and we have a lot of our goals still in front of us, but I am really happy with this group and where we are at right now.”
Previous to Friday afternoon’s matchup, Ohio State was 11-1 all-time against Maryland and it continued that streak beginning with a 6-3 doubles point clinch by the No. 26 pair of fifth-years, Irina Cantos Siemers and freshman Luciana Perry, over senior Minorka Miranda and fifth-year Maria Budin.
“I think we are getting our confidence back in doubles, which is going to help us moving forward,” Shaub said.
With the Buckeyes in a 1-point lead, they continued their momentum into singles by winning five of six singles matches in straight sets for the 6-1 conference victory.
“We had some quick starts in singles today and that is something we have really talked about a lot,” Schaub said.
Freshman Audrey Spencer was the first Buckeye to finish after dropping only two games on court six, as she topped junior Francesca Feodorov 6-2, 6-0.
Soon after Spencer, Perry earned the Buckeyes their third point with her 6-0, 6-4 win on court two over Miranda. Perry is now ranked as the NCAA’s No. 41 player in singles — a career.
To clinch the day’s match, junior Shelly Bereznyak posted a 6-4, 6-3 win against Budin on court four.
“I feel like I was hitting the ball way better than I have been in other matches, and I’m happy that I clinched,” Bereznyak said.
With the remaining courts set to finish their matches, freshman Teah Chavez downed freshman Diya Challa, 6-4, 6-3, on court five while Maryland’s fifth-year Selma Cadar rallied for a singles win over No. 12 Cantos Siemers after playing three sets on court one. Cadar’s win allowed the Terrapins to get their lone point of the day.
After taking the first set in a 7-6 tiebreaker and ending the second set with a 6-2 win over junior Kallista Liu, junior Sydni Ratliff closed out the match.
“Today was a good win, Maryland is a very good team,” Schaub said. “Now we need to get ready for a tough Rutgers team on Sunday.”
The Buckeyes ended their weekend matchups with a 4-0 victory over Rutgers and are now 10-2 all-time against the Scarlet Knights.
The morning’s match began with another doubles-point win for the Buckeyes after fifth-year Akanksha Bhan and Perry topped senior Tara Chilton and junior Minchae Kim 6-0 on court two. The point was clinched when Spencer and Ratliff claimed a 6-4 win against fifth-year Yana Gurevich and sophomore Mai Nguyen on court one.
“Today was a total team effort,” Bhan said. “We came out playing really well in doubles, and had good starts in singles across the board.”
To kickoff singles, Perry lost just three games on court two against Nguyen to put the Buckeyes up 2-0 after a straight-set win.
On court three, Bereznyak lost just one game in each set against junior Jackeline Lopez, and moved the Buckeyes’ advantage to 3-0. Bereznyak is now 10-2 this spring, sharing the team lead in dual wins.
Bhan clinched the Buckeye win after a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over sophomore Arina Valitova on court six, allowing Ohio State to continue its five-game winning streak in conference play.
“The momentum was in our favor for most of the match, which helped us secure another home win,” Bhan said.
The Buckeyes are headed to State College, Pennsylvania for another Big Ten match against Penn State at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
