Season Review: Women's Tennis wins the OAC Championship and makes fourth NCAA III Tournament appearance in 2015
July 13, 2015
By: Ashley Birchmeier
ADA — The Ohio Northern Women's Tennis team made its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance during the 2014-15 season.
The Polar Bears finished with a 21-4 overall record and won the OAC Regular Season Championship with an 8-0 mark. ONU also won the OAC Tournament crown and received an automatic bid into the NCAA III Championship.
ONU had five Polar Bears named All-OAC in 2014-15, senior Michelle Tuma, freshman Lynn Kelly, junior Christina Corbean, junior Meghan Letizia, and junior Taryn Stromback.
Head coach Scott Wills earned his fifth OAC Coach of the Year honor and is currently the winningest coach in ONU women's tennis history with a 288-76 record. He is also ranked third in wins in Ohio Collegiate Women's Tennis history.
Northern opened up its season with a 8-1 road win at St. Francis Ind. and closed out the fall season with a 9-0 victory over Ursuline.
The Polar Bears kicked off its spring season in Glendale, Ariz. where they claimed a 9-0 victory.
Northern continued its spring break trip in Arizona, competing at Paradise Valley and Pima. Winning both matches and moving to 6-1 on the season.
The ladies then returned home from Arizona where they dropped their second match of the season to Oberlin, 7-2.
The Polar Bears opened OAC play against Heidelberg, defeating the Student Princes 9-0.
After defeating Wittenberg at the University Courts 9-0, ONU took to the road for a four game road trip picking up wins against Mount Union, Ohio Wesleyan, and Otterbein.
Northern then participated in the OAC Tennis Festival, hosted at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio where ONU went a perfect 3-0 defeating Baldwin Wallace 9-0, Marietta 9-0, and Muskingum 7-0.
ONU would close out the regular season defeating John Carroll and Capital to remain perfect in the OAC.
The Polar Bears earned the number one seed in the OAC Tournament and defeated Capital 5-0 to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, the Polar Bears defeated Otterbein 5-2 to advance to the finals and face-off with John Carroll.
Northern defeated John Carroll in the finals 5-2 and received an automatic bid into the NCAA III Tournament where they took on Coe, Ind. in the first round.
ONU defeated Coe 5-3 following a three set victory by Corbean to advance to the second round and face nationally ranked DePauw, Ind.
The Polar Bears saw its season come to an end in the second round of the Tournament as they fell to nationally ranked DePauw 5-0.
Kelly posted a strong season, going 44-11 overall. The First Team All-OAC selection recorded a team leading 22-5 singles recorded, as well as a team leading 22-6 doubles record.
Tuma also picked up First Team All-OAC honors as she posted a 23-16 overall record during the 2014-15 season.
The four time First Team All-OAC honoree, concluded her career ranked 11th all-time at ONU with 54 singles wins, third all-time with 77 doubles wins, and sixth all-time with 131 wins overall.
Letizia also posted a strong season, as she tied a team-best 22-4 singles record and was third with a 21-7 doubles record.
The junior is currently ranked eighth all-time at ONU with a 64-17 singles record, ranked sixth with a 70-12 doubles record and is fifth with a 134-29 overall record.
Stromback finished the season with a team-best 22-6 doubles record. The All-OAC honoree also excelled in the classroom as she earned Academic All-OAC honors for her efforts during the 2014-15 academic year.
The junior was also appointed a member of the NCAA Management Council in 2015, the first in Ohio Northern and Ohio Athletic Conference history.