Ohio State women’s tennis senior Luna Dormet and sophomore Irina Cantos Siemers celebrate during a doubles match against Michigan Feb. 28. Ohio State lost 3-4. Credit: Christian Harsa | Special Projects Director
Ohio State entered Friday’s match against University of Illinois Chicago on a 13-match winning streak, and it continued its run of success into the NCAA Tournament First Round against the Flames.
The Buckeyes (22-3, 15-1) took care of business in its first NCAA Tournament match since 2019, defeating UIC (19-6, 9-1) 4-0 to advance to the second round where they will play Vanderbilt Saturday at noon on their home court — the Auer Tennis Complex in Columbus.
Ohio State set the tone early with its dominant trio of doubles teams who entered with a combined record of 38-4.
The first of the two matches needed to secure the best-two-out-of-three doubles point was won 6-2 by the team of sophomore Irina Cantos Siemers and senior Luna Dormet. The victory pushes the pair’s undefeated record to a respectable 13-0 on the season.
Ohio State’s No. 2 duo of graduate Lisa Hofbauer and redshirt sophomore Lucia Marzal struggled in the early going against the Flames’ combo senior Lucie Prochazkova and junior Ana Jover, but responded nicely to win the match 6-3 and secure Ohio State’s second doubles victory of the afternoon.
The Hofbauer/Marzal win marked the 20th-consecutive match in which the Buckeyes have taken the 1-0 lead via the doubles point.
Marzal did not lose a step when it came to her singles match against Jover, moving to 9-0 against No. 4 opponents.
The Valencia, Spain, native cruised through the first set 6-2, but found herself in a 3-0 deficit to start the second set. Marzal did not panic, though, claiming the next six games to extend the Buckeyes’ lead to 2-0.
Just a few minutes later on Court 1, Cantos Siemers — Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s No. 18-ranked Division I singles player — clinched her victory over UIC freshman Tamara Malazonia in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.
Despite entering play Friday with just seven singles matches under her belt in 2021 — two of which came in the Big Ten Tournament — Ohio State freshman Madeline Atway was the hero, clinching the third and final singles victory of the afternoon.
Atway battled junior Nell Arendt in the first set, edging out a slim 7-5 victory. The Powell, Ohio, native roared back in the second set, not allowing Arendt to win a single game in the 6-0 sweep.
This marks the first time since 2017 — coincidentally the same year of the Buckeyes’ last Big Ten title — that Ohio State made it out of the first round in the NCAA Tournament. That year it advanced all the way to the semifinals — its best finish in program history.
Ohio State puts its winning streak to the test against Vanderbilt Saturday at noon in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament at the Auer Tennis Complex. The matches will be streamed at https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ncaa-womens-tennis-tournament-2021.
