Women's Tennis wins OAC Tournament title with 5-2 victory over top-seeded Otterbein

Women's Tennis wins OAC Tournament title with 5-2 victory over top-seeded Otterbein
May 4, 2024

LIMA — The second-seeded Ohio Northern women's tennis team won the 2024 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament title with a 5-2 victory over top-seeded Otterbein 5-2 on Saturday.

The title is the seventh overall and the first since 2013 for the Polar Bears.

ONU receives the OAC's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament.

| OAC Tournament Site |

The Basics

  • Records: Ohio Northern (18-5 overall), Otterbein (15-5 Overall)
  • Venue: West Campus Courts - Ada, Ohio/Westwood Tennis Center - Lima, Ohio.

Match Highlights

  • Fifth-year senior Regan Landis (Elkhart, Ind./Concord) and junior Miranda Wills (Ada) won 8-7(5) at No. 3 doubles to tie the match at 1-1 just as the rains hit at West Campus Courts.
  • Junior Julianne Sheldon (Ashtabula/Saint John) and sophomore Jenna Bell (Latrobe, Pa.) were tied at 7-7 and 6-6 in the 7-point tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles when Northern won the No. 3 court as the rain began to fall.
  • Aftr a 2-hour, 17-minute rain delay, play resumed indoors at the Westwood Tennis Center in Lima.
  • Sheldon and Bell quickly won the first two points to win the tiebreaker 8-6 and take the court 8-7 to give Northern a 2-1 lead heading into singles.
  • Sophomore Abby Cruser (Pendleton, Ind./Pendleton Heights) won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to put ONU ahead 3-1.
  • The Cardinals won at No. 1 singles to pull within 3-2, but Landis followed with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles to make it 4-2.
  • Sheldon clinched the match and the OAC Tournament title with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles.
  • and Jamie Hurst (Granger, Ind./Penn) won 8-7(2) at No. 1 doubles to complete the sweep and give the Polar Bears a 3-0 lead heading into singles play.
  • Bell then won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles and Hurst won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2 singles to put the match away.

Notables

  • Ohio Northern was the No. 2 seed and Otterbein was the No. 1 seed.
  • The Polar Bears have previously won OAC Tournament titles in 2015, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2005 and 2002.
  • Cruser leads the team with a 21-7 singles mark and a 36-20 overall record.
  • Sheldon has a team-best 19-7 doubles record.
  • Landis eighth all-time in ONU history with a 70-21 singles record. She is also 55-16 in doubles and is 125-37 overall.
  • ONU is now 32-24 all-time against Otterbein, including a 10-6 record in the OAC Tournament.
  • The victory avenged a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals in the regular season.
  • Second-year head coach Sean Swisher is now 34-10 at the helm of the ONU women's tennis team, a winning percentage of .773.

Up Next

  • The Polar Bears will find out their NCAA Tournament opponent and site on Monday afternoon at Noon at NCAA.com.