University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Ohio State
Lady Vols Suffer Tough Loss to OSU
February 13, 2015 | Women's Tennis
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Lady Vols dropped their second match of the season in a harsh 7-0 loss to the 27th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
The matched started out with a shakeup in the lineup for doubles as senior Caitlyn Williams was held from the lineup to rest.
Sophomores Eve Repic and Laurence Guevremont found their names under the No. 1 spot instead of Williams and fellow senior Henderson, who played at the No. 2 spot with sophomore Victoria Olivarez.
Repic and Guevremont were on an eight-match winning streak heading into the day and recently found themselves as the No. 30 ranked team on the latest ITA polls, but their matchup today wasn't an easy one as they faced off against the sophomore duo of Gabriella De Santis and Sandy Niehaus, who are ranked No. 25 in the country. Unfortunately for the Lady Vols, the Buckeye duo played to perfection in a 6-1 win, snapping the win streak and spoiling the season debut for Repic and Guevremont at the No. 1 spot.
The rest of the day wasn't much better for the Volunteers as junior Tiffany Tavares and sophomore Ashlee Boles watched their comeback-hopes disappear in a 6-4 loss. Henderson and Olivarez were close to finishing their match with a win, but the doubles point was clinched and forced the pair to going stop play with a 5-4 lead.
In singles, the Lady Vols failed to find a win as each player fell to their respective opponents on the day. Repic managed to fight to a third set, but she came up just short in a tight 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 loss. No other Lady Vol won a set on the afternoon.
"Ohio State wanted it more than we did today, which is something I can say hasn't happened very many times in our time," said co-head coach Mike Patrick after the loss. "We've played better teams, and we've lost plenty of times. But to get out-worked, that bothers me. That tells me our character's not where it needs to be right now. We need to readjust our character and get after it and be ready to outwork our opponents. Hopefully, we'll work on that the next few days."
The eye-opening loss was tough to swallow for the Lady Vols, and to make matters worse, the team travels to Atlanta to face No. 19 Georgia Tech on Sunday at noon.
"We have go down there and show we are ready to compete more," Patrick said on the upcoming match. "Georgia Tech is a good team, probably a better team than Ohio State. They'll have a good match, but we have to learn how to compete. We can't accept the fact that we're missing players and let that be an excuse. We have to step up and do the job, and it's not easy. I can have a lot of pride if we get beat after we giving one hundred and ten percent, but today, we didn't and that's why I'm not too pleased."
Tennessee vs. Ohio State
Singles
1. Gabriella De Santis, OSU, def. Joanna Henderson, UT, 7-5, 6-3
2. Anna Sanford, OSU, def. Eve Repic, UT 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
3. No. 125 Sandy Niehaus, OSU, def. Victoria Olivarez, UT, 6-4, 6-3
4. Ferny Angeles Paz, OSU, def. Laurence Guevremont, UT, 6-4, 6-4
5. Miho Kowase, OSU, def. Tiffany Tavares, UT, 6-3, 6-3
6. Olivia Sneed, OSU, def. Ashlee Boles, UT, 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
1. No. 25 De Santis/Niehaus, OSU, def. No. 30 Repic/Guevremont, UT, 6-1
2. Henderson/Olivarez, UT, vs. O'Neill/Sanford, OSU, 5-4 unf.
3. Kowase/Sneed, OSU, def. Tavares/Boles, UT, 6-4
Order of Finish Doubles (1, 3); Singles (3, 6, 1, 5, 4, 2)
