Tag: ITA Indoor National Championships

Team of the Week: OU Women’s Tennis makes history, taking out No. 1 Texas en route to National Championship berth

In the ITA Indoor National Championships, the Oklahoma Sooners women’s tennis team made history, taking out No. 1 Texas on their way to the National Championship match.

In a new feature here at the Sooners Wire, we will be highlighting team and player of the week from Oklahoma Athletics.

In our first installment of the ‘Team of the Week” award, there were several compelling options. OU softball started the season right where they left off the 2021 campaign with a run-rule win to open the season and then went 4-0 in the Mark Campbell Invitational. Women’s gym had a memorable week of their own, putting on several perfect performances in their win over George Washington.

While they had fantastic weeks, it was the No. 8 Oklahoma women’s tennis team that stood out above the crowd. Over the weekend, they did something that no Sooners women’s tennis team has ever done, and that’s take down the No. 1 team in the nation. What’s extra delicious is that the No. 1 team in the nation was Red River Rivals the Texas Longhorns.

According to SoonersSports.com, it was the first time since 2003 that the Sooners had beaten the Longhorns in team play. They did so in a route on Saturday, with a four matches to one win over Texas in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships.

On Sunday, the Sooners beat No. 5 Pepperdine 4-2 to move onto the final of the ITA National Indoor Championships.

Over the weekend, Carmen Corley, Ivana Corley, Anchisa Shanta, and Emma Staker stood out to help the Oklahoma Sooners reach the national championship match against the No. 2 team in the country, the North Carolina Tar Heels. The action gets underway at noon from Madison, Wisconsn and can be streamed live here via Play Sight.

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Ohio State Men’s Tennis survives battle with No. 6 Wake Forest

The Ohio State Men’s Tennis team keeps on being challenged with Top 10 opponents, and the Buckeyes keep coming up with the answers. First it was against then-No. 1 Texas, then it was then-No. 1 USC. The Buckeyes followed that up with a win over No. …

The Ohio State Men’s Tennis team keeps on being challenged with Top 10 opponents, and the Buckeyes keep coming up with the answers.

First it was against then-No. 1 Texas, then it was then-No. 1 USC. The Buckeyes followed that up with a win over No. 7 Texas A&M, and then they knocked off No. 6 Wake Forest in a gritty battle Saturday night.

Wake Forest beat Ohio State for the 2018 National Championship, and the Buckeyes were out for revenge. Ohio State got off to a good start by winning the doubles point, but the Demon Deacons got quick wins by Bar Botzer and Taha Baadi to take a 2-1 lead. After that, this turned into an incredible match.

The Buckeyes got an important come-from-behind third-set victory by Cannon Kingsley on Court 2. Kingsley keeps on taking down tough opponents, and this match was no different.

The Buckeyes and Demon Deacons split Courts 4 and 6 with runaway third sets in each (6-1 win by Ohio State’s Kyle Seelig and 6-3 by Wake Forest’s Sid Banthia). So it all came down to the final set between James Trotter and Eduardo Nava on Court 5.

Trotter earned a break for a 5-3 lead with a huge forehand pass, but he couldn’t serve out the match. He fought back from 0-30 while serving at 5-5, and then celebrated victory when a Nava forehand went long on the deuce point in the next game.

The Buckeyes will face North Carolina in the ITA National Indoor semifinals on Sunday afternoon. North Carolina, last season, upset then-No. 1 Ohio State in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Tar Heels are currently ranked No. 4, and the Buckeyes will be out for revenge in this battle.

The winner faces the winner of USC vs No. 13 Michigan in the Monday final. The ITA rankings haven’t updated in over a week because of the ITA National Indoors this week, so USC is still technically No. 1. That top spot will almost certainly change to Ohio State when the rankings do update, but it would be nice to cap off earning with with a second consecutive National Indoors title.

Ohio State men’s tennis turns back Wisconsin in ITA Indoor quarterfinals

The Ohio State men’s tennis team took a step towards defending its ITA title by taking down Wisconsin in the quarterfinals Friday.

The Ohio State men’s tennis team is on a quest to defend its ITA Indoor Championship from last season. So far so good, as it disposed of Big Ten foe Wisconsin easily 4-0 Friday.

Ohio State got the all-important doubles point when James Trotter and Justin Boulais got a dominating 6-1 result. Then, No. 1 ranked John McNally and Robert Cash clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory to put the team up 1-0.

It was much of the same in the singles matches. James Trotter won easily 6-3, 6-1 over Lenard Soha of Wisconsin to put OSU up 2-0. Then Justin Boulais defeated Jared Pratt 6-3, 6-3, and suddenly Ohio State was within one point of clinching the match. Cannon Kingsley then finished things off with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Gabriel Huber.

Ohio State will take on a familiar foe when it takes on Wake Forest at 7:30 PM for a spot in the semifinals. The Deamon Deacons put an end to OSU’s bid for an outdoor national title a couple of years ago. It also took down Wake Forest in the final of last year’s ITA Championships 4-2.

 

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