Ohio State University Team Page

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio State women's tennis team will open its 2012-13 slate this weekend when it hosts the second annual Muirfield Collegiate Tennis Invitational at The Country Club at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. Play begins at 9 a.m. Friday with eight doubles matches, followed by singles at 11 a.m.

The host Buckeyes will be joined in the clay court tournament by players from Kentucky, Louisville, Bowling Green, Eastern Kentucky, Akron and Cincinnati.

The tournament features a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw. Friday and Saturday will both begin with doubles matches at 9 a.m. followed by singles starting at 11 a.m. The main draw doubles semifinal match begins at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Play concludes Sunday, starting with doubles consolation matches. The doubles final is scheduled for 10 a.m., with the singles semifinals set for 11:30 a.m. and the final slated for 2 p.m.

Representing Ohio State in the singles draw are No. 3 seed Kelsey Dieters and No. 4 seed Fidan Manashirova, along with No. 5-8 seed Gabby Steele. Niki Flower, Kelsey Becker and Noelle Malley also will be in action. In doubles, the senior tandem of Manashirova and Steele is seeded first, with Becker and Malley forming a duo and Flower and Dieters pairing up.

Steele led the 2011-12 team with 21 singles wins, followed by Manashirova and Dieters with 19 each. In doubles, Steele was first with 19 victories on the year and Manashirova was second with 17 and the duo had a team-best 17 wins as a doubles pair.

At the 2011 Muirfield Invitational, Louisville’s Julia Fellerhoff, the No. 1 seed in the tournament this year who is ranked No. 120 by the ITA, won the singles title. Akron’s duo of Zara Harutyunyan and Prang Pantusart captured the doubles crown; Pantusart is in the field again this year, paired with Madison Cohen.