Senior Ashley Ochsenhirt notches 100th career victory as Women' Tennis concludes Spring Break trip with victories over Rio Hondo (Calif.) CC, El Camino (Calif.) CC
By Blake Moore
WHITTIER & TORRANCE, Calif. — Senior Ashley Ochsenhirt (Birmingham, Ala./Briarwood Christian) surpassed the 100 career victory plateau and posted a 4-0 record Thursday afternoon, guiding the Ohio Northern women's tennis squad to 8-1 and 7-2 wins over Rio Hondo (Calif.) CC and El Camino (Calif.) CC, respectively, to conclude the program's 2019 Spring Break trip.
Ochsenhirt is now 101-39 in three seasons at Ohio Northern after transferring from Mississippi College following her freshman campaign. She joins junior teammate Mackenzie Wills (Ada) in the 100-Win Club after the latter eclipsed the same standard on Monday.
With the victories, the Polar Bears improve to 8-2 overall in the 2018-19 season. Northern finishes their five-match Spring Break trip with a 3-2 overall record after defeating Cypress (Calif.) CC 8-1 on Monday and falling to Occidental (Calif.) 5-4 and California Lutheran 5-1.
Meanwhile, Rio Hondo fell to 2-5 overall while El Camino dropped to 4-3 on the year.
Northern also received 4-0 performances from Wills and junior Katie Curry (Oxford/Talawanda) on Thursday afternoon. Additionally, freshman Abigail Staskiewicz (Mars, Pa./Oakland Catholic) ended the day with a perfect 3-0 mark.
In the opening match, the Polar Bears raced out to an early 3-0 lead after sweeping the doubles courts, including 8-0 triumphs from Ochsenhirt and Wills at No. 1 doubles and Curry and freshman Olivia Schrager (Dayton/Miami Valley) in the No. 3 doubles slot.
ONU capped their opening act with five victories in the six contested singles matches, sweeping the No. 1-5 courts.
Ohio Northern also started out strong against El Camino, claiming two of the three doubles matches to lead 2-1. Ochsenhirt and Wills claimed another victory, an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles, while Curry and Staskiewicz pitched an 8-0 shutout in the No. 3 slot.
As in the first match, the Polar Bears claimed five singles matches to seal the nonconference win. Ochsenhirt took home her 101st win with a 6-0, 6-4 decision at No. 1 singles while junior Kaleigh Cummins (Springfield/Northeastern), Staskiewicz, Curry, and Wills swept the No. 3-6 contests.
Ohio Northern will now break from action until Friday, March 22 when it opens a three-match home stand with a nonconference contest against Ohio Wesleyan. First serve is set for 5 p.m. at the University Tennis Courts.