Season Review: Women's Tennis posts 17th consecutive upper-divison OAC finish in 2017-18

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's tennis team continued to show its dominance in the Ohio Athletic Conference as it posted its seventeenth upper-division OAC finish during the 2017-18 campaign under the watch of 17th-year head coach Scott Wills.

The Polar Bears finished second in the OAC standings for the third consecutive season, and finished in the top-2 of the OAC standings for the eighth straight season.

Northern posted a 19-7 mark, while going 7-1 in OAC play this season.

For their efforts, ONU saw three athletes capture All-OAC accolades as senior Lynn Kelly (Mason), junior Ashley Ochsenhirt (Birmingham, Ala./Briarwood Christian) and freshman Sabine Worthoff (West Chester/Mount Notre Dame) all earned honors.

Kelly and Ochsenhirt were First Team honorees and Worthoff named to the Second Team.

Kelly is now the seventh Polar Bear to be named All-Conference in women's tennis four times. She was a First Team pick the past three seasons and a Second team pick as a freshman in 2015.

This season, Kelly was 21-5 in singles, playing primarily at No. 2. She was 18-9 in doubles and was 39-14 overall.

In her four seasons at Ohio Northern, Kelly was 60-16 in singles, 64-20 in doubles and was 124-36 overall.

The senior also captured Academic All-OAC honors this season for the third time in her career.

Ochsenhirt is now a two-time First Team All-OAC selection, earning the honor both seasons as ONU since transferring from Mississippi College after her freshman campaign.

She was 17-11 in singles, playing the entire season at No. 1, was 17-12 in doubles and was 34-23 overall.

In her two years at Ohio Northern, Ochsenhirt is 40-15 in singles, 40-16 in doubles and is 80-31 overall.

Worthoff had an outstanding freshman campaign, posting a 15-4 singles mark at the Nos. 3 and 4 spots.

She was 9-10 in doubles and finish 24-14 overall.

ONU opened the season with back-to-back 9-0 victories over Defiance and Concordia (Mich.) in early September.

After competing in the Kenyon Invitational and the ITA Regionals, ONU kicked off the new year by winning three of its first four matches.

Northern would drop a contest to Minnesota State Moorhead before posting a 7-2 record to finish out the month of March.

The Polar Bears ripped off six straight victories in April, before falling to Oberlin and John Carroll to claim the No. 2 seed in the OAC Tournament.

In the opening round of the tournament, ONU would claim a thrilling 5-4 victory over Otterbein to advance to the OAC Tournament Championship game, where it would drop a hard-fought 5-1 decision to No. 1-seeded John Carroll.