Season Review: Women's Tennis hopes to continue momentum of 2019-20 into offseason
By Tim Glon
ADA — When the Ohio Athletic Conference and the NCAA canceled all spring sports on March 12, 2020, the Ohio Northern women's tennis team was on a roll.
The Polar Bears, under the guidance of 19th-year head coach Scott Wills, returned home from ther annual spring break trip riding a 7-match winning streak and were boasting a 12-3 record.
"We were off to a very good start and had built solid momentum heading into the second half of our season," Wills said. "I feel very bad for our kids, but it is beyond our control - hopefully we can use this momentum and continue it into 2020-21."
The NCAA has allowed all spring sports student/athletes a fifth season of eligibility, opening the door for any or all of ONU's four seniors to return next season.
Two of those seniors, Katie Curry (Oxford/Talawanda) and Mackenzie Wills (Ada), led ONU with 28 and 25 victories, respectively.
Wills was 15-2 in singles, 13-4 in doubles and 28-6 overall, leading the team in all three categories as the Polar Bears played 15 of their scheduled 29 regular season matches.
Curry was 14-1 in singles, 11-3 in doubles and 25-4 overall.
Curry and Wills were named Co-OAC Players of the Week on Feb. 27.
Wills ends her four seasons at Ohio Northern ranked second all-time in school history with an 82-18 singles record. She was also 79-30 in doubles (fifth-most in ONU history) and ranks second with a 161-48 overall record.
Curry is right behind Wills after four season with a 73-20 singles mark (6th), a 58-33 doubles mark and a 131-53 overall record (8th).
Senior Kaleigh Cummins (Springfield/Northeastern) ended her senior season with 69 career wins and senior Jordan Dodson (Worthington) posted 46 wins in her four years as a Polar Bear.
Freshman Jeorgia Templin (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) tied Curry with 25 wins this season, going 11-4 in singles, 14-3 in doubles and 25-7 overall.
Freshmn Regan Landis (Elkhart, Ind./Concord) was 24-9 overall with a 12-5 singles mark and a 12-4 doubles record.
Scott Wills will enter his 20th season at the helm with a career record of 381 wins with just 102 losses in addition to eight OAC Championships, making him the winningest coach in program history.
Wills ranks first on the all-time wins list among active Ohio college women's tennis coaches, which includes all NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA coaches.
He currently is in the top 10 nationally in wins among active coaches NCAA Division III women's tennis.
The OAC did not award All-Conference accolades or host championships in any sports in 2019-20, although ONU was 1-0 in league play with a 9-0 victory over Muskingum during spring break in a match that counted as the teams' regular season contest.