The Ohio State women’s tennis team (1-2, 1-0 Big Ten) opened its Big Ten season with a big win Sunday as it swept Penn State 7-0 at Jesse Owens West Recreational Center.

OSU began the match by taking two of three doubles courts. The No. 1 court team of OSU’s Erica Fisk and Jackie Leskovar defeated Leigh Ann Merryman and Maaria Husain 8-4.

The No. 2 Buckeye team of Lindsay Williams and Meaghan Colville then clinched the doubles by defeating Penn State’s pair of Lindsay Downing and Sarah Spence 8-2.

“I think (Williams) and I played really well,” Colville said. “We’ve played tough teams and we didn’t think Penn State would be different. This was the first time we got a lead and kept it. We’d been digging ourselves into holes before.”

OSU’s Lindsey Adams and Meredith Vincent couldn’t overcome the Nittany Lion pair of Megan Marton and Katelyn BeVard, but that match was deemed meaningless as the Buckeyes had already clinched the doubles point.

“I thought we competed really well.” OSU coach Chuck Merzbacher said. “I wasn’t expecting our best, but I was really pleased.”

Only one singles match went to a third set as the Buckeyes overpowered Penn State. The first singles victory came in the No.1 match, as Williams defeated Merryman 6-3, 6-1.

The next victory came in the No. 2 match when Leskovar beat Marton in three sets.

The clinching win came from the No. 6 position where freshman Kristin Messmer swept past BeVard 6-3, 6-1.

Fisk, Adams and Emily DeCamilla all took out their respective Nittany Lion opposition to give the Buckeyes their first Big Ten shutout since March 2, 2001 when they defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

“I feel like I played well. I’ve played her few times before and she’s tough,” Adams said. “But it was good to get my first singles win of the season.”

Fisk, a senior from Indianapolis, Ind., was happy to have beaten Penn State so soundly.

“I started off pretty well and got up quick and had a lot of energy coming out of doubles. I let her back in to the match but I closed it out which was good. We really needed to beat up on someone, we were looking to give ourselves a boost and to get a confidence boost for the upcoming matches,” she said.

This is the eighth consecutive for the Buckeyes over their neighbors to the East but the players are looking forward to future challenges in the league.

“The Big Ten is excellent this year, the best I have ever seen it,” Colville said. “Left and right, there are Big Ten teams beating ranked opponents. It’s going to be really competitive this year.”

The Buckeyes begin a three-game homestand Friday as they take on Nebraska. On Sunday, OSU will match-up against Yale and Cleveland State.

“We lost to Nebraska and Yale last year in tough matches, and I think they are going to be tough this year and we are going to practice hard for those upcoming matches,” Adams said.