NCAA Play Opens at Home for No. 12 Buckeyes - Ohio State (2024)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women's tennis team is the No. 12 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and will host first and second round matches this weekend in Columbus.

Saturday, Ohio State will take on Toledo at 1 p.m., preceded by a match between Wake Forest and Vanderbilt at 10 a.m. The first-round winners will meet at noon Sunday for a spot in the Super Regionals.

Admission and parking are free to all matches. Play is scheduled to be outdoors in the Auer Tennis Complex and will be inside the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in the case of inclement weather. Match location will be updated on the women's tennis social accounts if necessary.

Live video and results will be available for all matches and Columbus will also be part of the coverage on the Cracked Racquets YouTube channel.

Tournament Central (information, live results, video links)

Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament

• Ohio State is making the 10th consecutive and 20th overall NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
• This is the sixth time the Buckeyes have been selected to host first and second round matches and the squad is 9-1 at home in NCAA action.
• The squad topped Youngstown State and UCLA in 2016 as the tournament's No. 3 seed and in 2017 defeated Buffalo and Notre Dame when it was seeded fourth. In 2021 as the No. 15 seed the Buckeyes beat UIC and Vanderbilt in Columbus and the following year the No. 10 seed Buckeyes topped Illinois State before falling to Vanderbilt. Last season, Ohio State was the No. 12 seed and defeated Xavier and Vandy.
• The team's first NCAA appearance was in 1996. The squad qualified six years in a row from 1999-04, had a three-year stretch from 2008-10 and began the most recent streak in 2014 (with no tournament in 2020).
• Under head coach Melissa Schaub, the Buckeyes are 12-9 in NCAA play and have Round of 16 (2021, 2023), quarterfinal (2016) and semifinal (2017) appearances.
• Four current Buckeyes have played in at least one NCAA tournament singles and/or doubles dual match.
  • Irina Cantos Siemers: 8 singles (5-1, 2 UF), 8 doubles (5-3)
  • Sydni Ratliff: 4 singles (2-2), 4 doubles (2-2)
  • Shelly Bereznyak: 4 singles (2-1, 1 UF), 3 doubles (1-2)
  • Madeline Atway: 1 singles (1-0)

Ohio State and the 2024 Columbus Teams

• Ohio State is 11-1 all-time vs. Toledo, with the last meeting a 7-0 Buckeye victory Jan. 23, 2013 in Columbus.
• Toledo is 18-5 this year and was 9-1 in MAC play, entering the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed and claiming the title with a 4-1 win over Miami to earn the program's first NCAA tournament berth.
• Against Vanderbilt, the Buckeyes are 6-2. The teams met in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Columbus the last three seasons. Ohio State won the 2021 matchup 4-3 and the Commodores were victorious in 2022, 4-2. In 2023, Ohio State prevailed 4-2 over Vandy to advance to the Super Regionals.
• Vanderbilt, ranked 31st this week, is 12-10 this year and was 6-7 in SEC action. The squad fell to Texas A&M in the conference tournament quarterfinals. Celia-Belle Mohr is ranked 13th in singles, with Bridget Stammel No. 74. In doubles, Anessa Lee and Mohr are ranked 33rd and Holly Staff and Mohr are in the No. 53 spot.
• The Buckeyes are 2-2 in the series vs. Wake Forest, with the last meeting a 4-0 Ohio State win during ITA Kickoff Weekend in Stillwater, Okla., in 2020.
• No. 38-ranked Wake Forest was 15-13 in the regular season, posting a 6-7 ACC ledger. The squad fell to Duke in the ACC tournament second round. In the rankings this week, Casie Wooten is No. 36 in singles and the duo of Brooke Killingsworth and Marcella Cruz is No. 86.

Trio of Buckeyes Selected for NCAA Championships

• Irina Cantos Siemers and Luciana Perry were selected for the NCAA Singles Championship, while Perry and Sydni Ratliff were named to the doubles field.
• The 64-player singles tournament and 32-team doubles competition will be held May 20-26 at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla., following the conclusion of the team championship.
• Cantos Siemers is a No. 9-16 seed, which earns her All-America status. She joins Kristy Dascoli as the only Buckeyes to earn four NCAA singles berths; both are also the only two with more than two selections. Cantos Siemers is the first three-time singles All-American in program history.
• Perry is the fifth Buckeye freshman selected for the singles tournament. Ratliff, a junior, will be competing in the doubles tournament for the second time after she and Cantos Siemers were selected in 2022.
• Perry is the eighth Buckeye to earn a spot in both the singles and doubles championships, joining Cantos Siemers, Ratliff, Isabelle Boulais, Anna Sanford, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Monica Rincon and Dascoli.

In the Rankings

• The Buckeyes remained at No. 12 in the ITA team rankings this week. The squad has been in the Top 16 all spring, reaching a season high of No. 7 Feb. 20.
• In the most recent singles rankings, Irina Cantos Siemers is No. 17, with Luciana Perry No. 50 and Sydni Ratliff No. 114.
• In doubles, Ohio State has three duos in the rankings: No. 23 Perry/Ratliff, No. 25 Perry/Cantos Siemers and No. 73 Teah Chavez/Cantos Siemers.

Buckeye This and That

• Ohio State enters the weekend 19-7 on the year and was 10-1 in B1G play. The squad had a 12-match winning streak end with a 4-2 loss to Michigan in the final of the Big Ten Tournament.
• Irina Cantos Siemers leads the Buckeyes with 16 dual match wins, followed by Shelly Bereznyak with 14 and Luciana Perry with 13. Audrey Spencer has 11 and Sydni Ratliff has notched 10 victories in dual play.
• Perry has wins in her last nine completed dual matches and Cantos Siemers has six consecutive wins.

• The Buckeyes are 16-5 on court one this spring, with a 14-5 record on courts two and five. Ohio State has picked up 12 wins on court six, 11 on court three and 10 on court four.
• In doubles, court one is 15-5, with court two 10-9 and court three 9-10. Ohio State has won the doubles point 15 times.
• Perry and Cantos Siemers share the team lead with 15 wins in doubles dual matches. Perry has a team-best 27 overall this year, tying for second among Buckeye freshmen all-time. Cantos Siemers is second with 25 overall doubles victories this season.
• Cantos Siemers broke the Buckeyes' all-time singles wins record in the match vs. UCLA Feb. 4. She now has 124 total singles wins and in fourth place in career doubles victories with 97.
• Cantos Siemers also became the program's all-time leader in combined singles/doubles victories this spring and now has 221. She is third in career singles dual match wins with 76 and tied for fourth in career dual match doubles victories with 66.
• Melissa Schaub, in her 12th year as head coach of the Buckeyes, is 239-79 in her career. She broke the program record for all-time coaching wins with a victory over UCLA Feb. 4.
• Ten Buckeyes were recognized as Ohio State Scholar-Athletes this year – Atway, Megan Basil, Bereznyak, Bhan, Cantos Siemers, Alessia Cau, Perry, Ratliff, Dani Schoenly and Spencer.
• Cantos was also named a finalist for the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor, awarded to the top male and female senior student-athlete on each Big Ten campus.

The Schedule Ahead

• The winner of the Columbus Regional will advance to the Super Regionals next Saturday (May 11) against the winner of the Charlottesville Regional, set to be played on the campus of the highest remaining seed of the matchup.
• The NCAA quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be in Stillwater, Okla., May 17-19.
• The singles and doubles championships will be in Stillwater May 20-25.