The No. 9 Ohio State women’s tennis team fell to No. 8 Pepperdine 4-2 Saturday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
After a night of top-10 competition, the No. 9 Buckeyes (7-5, 0-0 Big Ten) lost their battle to No. 8 Pepperdine (8-2, 0-0 WCC) at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center Friday.
Previous to this match, Ohio State was 3-1 all-time against Pepperdine with it being the third year straight that both teams were in the top-10 Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings when headed into its match against one another.
To open the match, Ohio State dropped the doubles point after victories on courts one and three for Pepperdine.
Doubles pair Lisa Zaar and Jasmine Conway topped Buckeye freshman Audrey Spencer and graduate Akanksha Bhan 6-1. Pepperdine’s No. 2-ranked doubles team, Janice Tjen and Savannah Broadus, clinched the doubles point over junior Sydni Ratliff and freshman Luciana Perry 6-3.
“We have to figure out the doubles point,” head coach Melissa Schaub said. “It’s tough to come back from the way we started the match.”
The Waves began singles with a 1-point lead and continued their momentum taking two of the first three singles matches.
On court two, No. 6 Broadus earned a straight-set win, 6-3, 6-2, over Ratliff.
With the Buckeyes down 0-2, Spencer responded and won both the first and second sets 6-3 against Vivian Yang on court six.
“Spencer is doing awesome for us as a freshman,” Schaub said. “At six singles, it’s not an easy spot to play. We expect a lot from that spot, and I think she stepped up across the board quickly.”
On court five, Pepperdine’s Nikki Redelijk won the no-ad point in the first set and topped freshman Teah Chavez 7-5. Redelijk continued on to win the second set 6-1 and kept the Waves in the lead 3-1.
Shelley Bereznyak handed the Buckeyes their second point overall after defeating her opponent, Anna Campana, in a straight-set win on court four.
“Bereznyak is having an amazing season,” Schaub said. “She has really taken off from where she was last year.”
The junior Buckeye is now 7-2 in dual matches and on a seven-match winning streak in singles.
With courts one and three both in third-set play, the Waves captured the victory on court one after a matchup between Ohio State’s and Pepperdine’s top 15 players.
The Buckeyes’ No. 12 captain, Irina Cantos Siemers, won her first set 6-4, but No. 13 Zaar made a quick comeback in the second set with a 6-2 win. In the third, Zaar took the final five games of the match and clinched the 4-2 victory over Ohio State.
Play on court three was abandoned in the third set after Perry, who is at a career-best ranking of No. 55, lost her first set against Tjen, but took the second.
“We’ll take ourselves fighting with Irina and Luciana any day of the week,” Schaub said. “Court three was turning our way and for a freshman to be out there, she’s competing hard. For Cantos [Siemers], it’s tough because she’s playing everyone’s best player.”
After the Buckeyes’ loss to Pepperdine, Schaub said she hopes the team will get better at winning the doubles point this season.
“We had chances today, but when you lose the doubles point the way that we did and you’re playing teams that are good, that’s tough,” Schaub said. “We need to figure out that piece of the puzzle and hopefully we can.”
Ohio State will continue its homestand and begin Big Ten play with a match against No. 2 Michigan Friday at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
“In the end, we still feel like we’re out there fighting and competing, and we have a chance,” Schaub said. “Hopefully they feel that, I think they do, and we’ll try to get ready for next Friday night.”
