Ohio State’s women’s tennis team avenged one of its few losses on the season, cruising past Pepperdine 4-1 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
The Buckeyes came out strong, with a dominant showing on Court 1 (from Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson) giving Ohio State a leg up. Court 2 didn’t look great, as the pairing seemed to lack rhythm at times, but the Buckeyes took the doubles point thanks to Sophia Cisse Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer.
The Buckeyes changed up their singles lineup a bit, with Alessia Cau taking Hephzibah Oluwadare‘s usual spot. Cau struggled early but fought valiantly late, losing the first set 0-6. She built rhythm and form as the match went on, though, coming back from an early second-set deficit to actually win the set. She trailed in a back-and-forth third set when the team match ended. This experience will be important if she has to take a singles court again in the semifinals.
Nao Nishino also struggled in her opening set, losing 1-6, but she found her rhythm quickly and dominated the second set, never really being in danger of losing the match.
On the other courts. Perry was her usual dominant self, winning in straight sets (though she gave away a second-set leads before winning in a tiebreak). Cisse Ignatiev added a straight sets win of her own. Teah Chavez stunningly relinquished a big second-set lead and lost the set 5-7, so the Buckeyes relied on Nishino’s comeback to finish the 4-0 victory. The usually-reliable Spencer also seemed to fade late; we’ll see if there is an issue or fatigue that could come into play in the semifinal.
Matchup with Auburn
This will be Ohio State’s second ever trip to the national semifinals. The Buckeyes reached the semifinals back in 2017 (also held in Athens, Ga. that year), where they lost a heartbreaker to Stanford. That match–also the late semifinal–went deep into the night, as Stanford took the final match in a third-set tiebreak for a 4-3 win.
This year, the Buckeyes will face Auburn in the semifinals. Auburn has been one of the hottest teams in the country late in the season, and the Tigers are favored by many to win this entire event. But with the combo of Perry and Chavez near-locks for two points, and with Spencer a very strong out on Court 5, the Buckeyes are one of the few with the lineup to take down Auburn. If the Buckeyes can claim the doubles point, they should be in good position to upset Auburn and reach their first-ever national final. Then again, as we just saw from Chavez and Spencer in this round, nothing is guaranteed. This match will be the highest-pressure occasion for every single player on the court on Saturday evening, so anything can happen.
As the top seed, Georgia received preferential scheduling, which means they have the early match and therefore a longer turnaround between the semis and the final. In that 2017 season, for example, Stanford was exhausted in the final, losing handily to Florida (who was a heavy favorite regardless). If the Buckeyes want to be fresh enough to take down (presumably) Georgia in the final, they’ll need to be relatively efficient in beating Auburn in their semifinal. Ohio State’s semifinal against Auburn begins shortly after the first semifinal ends, not before 7:00 PM Eastern.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State women’s tennis advances to final four