OSU sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo holding the ITA national indoor championship trophy. Credit: Courtesy of OSU Athletics
For the second time in her career, Ohio State sophomore, No. 1-ranked Francesca Di Lorenzo was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Women’s National Indoors Champion after defeating University of North Carolina senior, No. 4-ranked Hayley Carter 6-1, 6-1.
Di Lorenzo had won the title in the previous season as a freshman and had also won the ITA All-Americans tourney, making this victory her third ITA title in only her second season of play.
The match began with an incredibly close game. On Carter’s serve, Di Lorenzo and Carter swapped points back-and-forth until the game went to deuce. After a first-serve fault, Di Lorenzo was able to pounce on the second serve and win the opening game. The match would be all Di Lorenzo’s from there.
The Buckeye went on to win each of the next three games, including two that went to a deuce and one of Carter’s own serves.
The fifth game, however, was all Carter. The only point she allowed was on the third serve of the match when Carter double-faulted, bringing the score to 30-15. But two more first-serve points helped Carter secure her first victory of the set. It would be her only victory as Di Lorenzo went on to win each of the next games, going to deuce in each of them.
The second set was more of the same. After an opening victory in the first game of the second set, Di Lorenzo lost the second game after falling behind 40-15 when Carter was serving. But DiLorenzo bounced back in a strong way, scoring four straight points, including two aces to finish the match and shutout Carter.
The next two games in the set went to deuce points, but Di Lorenzo won each of them. She then claimed a victory over Carter in what would prove to be Carter’s final serving game of the set after Di Lorenzo went up 40-30.
The final game of the match followed suit with the dominant performance Di Lorenzo displayed all match. Though she lost the first point of the game, she won each of the next four points and claimed the title.
At the end of the game, the statistics reflected an overwhelming victory for Di Lorenzo. She won 58 percent of the points played, including five out of eight break points she played in (62 percent). She was also able to hold off her opponent in all breakpoint situations, saving the game all four times she was down 30-40.
