Women's Tennis advances to finals of OAC Tournament with 5-2 victory over Otterbein
By Tim Glon
MASON -- Ohio Northern posted a 5-2 victory over Otterbein in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament Friday afternoon at the Lindner Tennis Center.
The top-seeded Polar Bears improve to 19-3, while the fourth-seeded Cardinals end their season at 12-7.
ONU advances to the finals Saturday afternoon at 2 pm against second-seeded John Carroll, who topped third-seeded Mount Union 5-2 in the other semifinal on Friday.
Northern got off to a strong start by sweeping the three doubles matches.
Junior Christina Corbean and sophomore Brittany Toney won 8-1 at No. 1 doubles and junior Taryn Stromback and freshman Lynn Kelly won 8-0 at No. 3 doubles to give Northern a quick 2-0 lead.
Senior Michelle Tuma and junior Meghan Letizia battled at No. 2 doubles for more than an hour before pulling out a tight 9-7 win.
Letizia gave ONU a 4-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No.4 singles.
The Cardinals pulled within 4-2 win victories at No. 1 singles and No. 6 singles.
But Ohio Northern ended the match with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles by Kelly.
The Polar Bears will be gunning for their sixth OAC Tournament title overall and their third in the last four seasons.
The OAC Tournament champion receives the league's automatic bid into the NCAA III Tournament, which will get underway with preliminary rounds next week.
ONU is hosting the NCAA III Men's & Women's Championships May 18-23 at the Lindner Tennis Center.