Ohio State University Team Page
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s tennis team is set to face South Carolina in the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament May 9 in Durham, N.C. The NCAA announced the 64-team field for the 2014 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Tuesday on NCAA.com, with Ohio State earning one of 32 at-large selections.
“This has been our goal the entire season and I could not be happier for these girls,” Melissa Schaub, Ohio State head coach, said. “They have put in the time and the work and now they are getting a chance to see it all pay off. Looking forward, we have a lot of work to do to get ready for a tough South Carolina team.”
The Buckeyes enter the tournament ranked 36th nationally with a 19-8 overall record, just one win shy of the program-record 20 victories set by the 2010 NCAA tournament squad. The Buckeyes' third-place finish in the B1G standings was the highest since the team tied for third in 2011 and their eight wins in conference play were the most since 2006. The squad compiled a perfect 12-0 record at home this spring and has won eight of its last nine matches, falling to No. 16 Northwestern in the B1G tournament semifinals.
This marks the first trip to the NCAA tournament for the Buckeyes under second-year head coach Schaub and the first for the squad since 2010 when Ohio State advanced to the second round of play in Ann Arbor, Mich. Ohio State has made 11 NCAA appearances all-time.
Ohio State last met South Carolina in 2009, a 4-3 Buckeye win in Columbus, Ohio. The 28th-ranked Gamecocks are 16-10 this season with a 6-7 record in SEC play. Their at-large bid marks the squad’s 20th consecutive NCAA appearance.
Host Duke (24-4), the tournament’s No. 4 seed, will play East Tennessee State, the Atlantic Sun automatic qualifier, in the other first-round matchup. Opening-round matches will be held May 9, with the winners advancing to the second round May 10. Winners from each of the 16 campus sites will advance to the NCAA Championships May 17-20 in Athens, Ga.
The Scarlet and Gray have faced nine tournament-bound squads this season and are one of four B1G squads in the tournament, including B1G Tournament Champion Northwestern, B1G regular season champion Michigan and Purdue.
The individual singles and doubles brackets will be announced at 6 p.m. Wednesday via a live stream on NCAA.com.
