Women's Tennis: Marietta (0-0 Overall, 0-0 OAC) at Ohio Northern (0-0 Overall, 0-0 OAC)
Saturday, March 6, 2021, 3 pm - Westwood Tennis and Fitness Center, Lima, Ohio
| Match Program (.pdf) | Complete 2021 Women's Tennis Preview |
Saturday's Matches: The Ohio Northern women's tennis team will open its abbreviated 2021 season on Saturday with a 3 pm contest against Marietta at the Westwood Tennis and Fitness Center in Lima ... ONU is hoping to use a balanced approach in its quest for an OAC championship in 2021 under 20th-year head coach Scott Wills ... The Polar Bears feature a good blend of experience and youth with three fifth-year seniors and six first or second year players ... Leading the list of returners are fifth-year seniors Katie Curry, Jordan Dodson and Mackenzie Wills ... All three ladies are four-year letterwinners with 339 career victories between them ... Curry is a returning All-OAC honoree and ranks 8th all-time in ONU history with a 131-53 career record ... She also ranks sixth all-time in ONU history with a singles mark of 73-20 and is 36-9 overall in OAC play. ... Dodson has a career record of 47-20 and is undefeated at No. 5 singles ... Wills ranks second all-time in ONU history with 82 singles wins in her four years ... She needs just one singles win to tie the school record of 83 set by Meghan Letizia from 2012-16 ... She is also second all-time with a career record of 161-48 and is 5th all-time with a 79-30 mark in doubles matches ... Junior Ola Latala returns after going 39-9 as a freshman in 2016-17 ... Sophomores Regan Landis (24-7), Flo Sanchez (10-4) and Jeorgia Templin (25-7.) return after solid freshman seasons last year ... Incoming freshmen Olivia Kesner and Mykaela Schriber will also be key contributors and battle for spots in the starting lineup ... The Pioneers will open their 2021 season on Saturday at Ohio Northern ... MC went 0-1 last season before COVID-19 pandemic ended the season prematurely, so this will be just the program's second match since April 13, 2019, a span of 686 days ... This will be the first match for new head coach Spencer Thom, who was hired Feb. 20, 2020, just four days after MC fell to Wittenberg in the only match of the season that year ... The Pioneers are led this season by seniors Destiny Grimm and Reagan Haas.
ONU Returning Statistical Leaders (2019-20 Stats):
| Singles Wins | Doubles Wins | Overall Wins | ||||||||
| 1. | Wills | 15-2 | 1. | Templin | 14-3 | 1. | Wills | 28-6 | ||
| 2. | Curry | 14-1 | 2. | Wills | 13-4 | 2. | Curry | 25-4 | ||
| 3. | Landis | 12-5 | 3. | Landis | 12-4 | Templin | 25-7 |
Series Notes: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 37-1 margin ... Ohio Northern is 18-1 at home and has won 35 consecutive matches in the series, dating to a 5-4 Marietta victory in 1988.
Head Coach Scott Wills: Wills is in his 20th season at the helm of the ONU women's tennis program … He currently stands first in coaching victories among all active Ohio college tennis coaches (NCAA DI, DII, DIII, and NAIA) and is the winningest coach in school history with a 381-102 (.789) record, including a 141-15 (.898) mark in regular season conference competition … He has also coached the program to eight regular season conference crowns and six OAC Tournament titles ... He was recently recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as one of the top 10 all-time winning women's tennis coaches in the nation.