Season Review: Women's Tennis captures third straight OAC regular season title and second consecutive OAC tournament championships
By: Andrew Korba
Under 12th year head coach Scott Wills, the Ohio Northern women's tennis team continued their tradition of excellence on the court and in the classroom during the 2012-13 season.
On the court, the Polar Bears tallied a 27-5 record, including a perfect 9-0 OAC regular season record. ONU captured its third straight OAC regular season title and second consecutive OAC tournament championship.
Northern opened its season winning six straight matches. After dropping its first match to national power Case Western, The Polar Bears won three straight on their spring trip to California.
ONU would hit a brief two match losing streak before topping Wittenberg and defeating Wilmington in its OAC opener. The Polar Bears rolled through OAC regular season play, dropping just six courts in nine matches.
In the middle of OAC play was the Ohio-Michigan Challenge, that saw Northern defeat Albion (Mich.) and regionally ranked Hope (Mich.).
On April 27, Northern defeated Muskingum to clinch the OAC regular season title. The Polar Bears topped Muskingum a few days later in the OAC Tournament Quarterfinals. ONU would then shutout John Carroll 5-0 in the OAC Tournament Semifinals and topple Otterbein in the OAC Tournament Championship, to punch a ticket to the NCAA III Tournament.
In the NCAA III Tournament First Round, the Polar Bears picked up their second ever tournament win with a 5-0 decision over Edgewood (Wis.). ONU's season came to a close at the hands on No. 8 University of Chicago in the second round.
The Polar Bears success on the court was recognized with six members of the squad named All-OAC. Junior Michelle Tuma and freshman Christina Corbean were named First Team All-OAC, freshman Meghan Letizia and sophomore Brittany Miller were named Second Team All-OAC and freshman Rachael Miller and Taryn Stromback earned Honorable Mention All-OAC accolades.
Northern also hit some milestones and broke individual records throughout the season. Junior Lauren Rife and Tuma both picked up their 100th career wins, becoming the ninth and 10th players in program history to accomplish this feat. Letizia tied the single season doubles wins record and recorded 50 wins, which is a new singles season overall wins record.
The Polar Bears also had three members earn OAC Player of the Week honors in junior Carly Olmstead, Brittany Miller and Tuma.
Northern's success also carried to the classroom. Junior Kelsi Wurm, sophomore Kristin Cellentani and Rife were named Academic All-OAC by the league's faculty advisors.