Women's Tennis Heads to Columbus to Face Ohio State in NCAA Tournament First Round

Friday, May 5

Columbus, Ohio

1 PM

Xavier University

Ohio State

Women's Tennis Heads to Columbus to Face Ohio State in NCAA Tournament First Round

05.04.23 | Women's Tennis

Watch Live Live Stats

Musketeers take on Buckeyes on Friday at 1:00 p.m.

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier women's tennis opens up NCAA Championship play against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday, May 5 in Columbus, Ohio. The match is set for a 1:00 p.m. start, at the Auer Tennis Complex on the campus of Ohio State, and will be live streamed through OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

The winner between the Musketeers and the Buckeyes will advance to face the winner of ETSU/Vanderbilt at Ohio State on Saturday, set for a 4:00 p.m. start.

Xavier enters the NCAA Tournament at 14-7, and earned an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Championships after winning the program's third-straight BIG EAST Championship. The NCAA berth is the fourth in the program's history.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

The Musketeers and the Buckeyes are set for a 1:00 p.m. start on Friday, May 5, with the match set to be played outdoors at the Auer Tennis Complex at Ohio State.
If the match is moved indoors, it will be contested at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center, also on the Ohio State campus.
Admission and parking will be free for all NCAA matches in Columbus.
This is Xavier's fourth NCAA appearance, also playing in the 2016, 2021 and 2022 NCAA Championships after winning the BIG EAST title and earning the automatic qualifier in each of those seasons.
Last season, Xavier traveled to Columbus, facing Vanderbilt in the first round, falling 4-0.
In 2021, the Musketeers traveled to Northwestern to face the host Wildcats, falling 4-0.
In 2016, Xavier faced Kentucky at Michigan in the program's first NCAA match, falling 4-1 to the Wildcats.

OPPONENT INFO

Ohio State earned the No. 10 national seed after going 20-7 overall and 10-1 in conference action.
The Buckeyes finished runners-up in the Big Ten Tournament, falling to Michigan, 4-2, in the championship match.
OSU squad was 10-1 in Big Ten play and finished second in the league regular season standings.
Xavier is 0-4 all time against the Buckeyes, last facing off in 2022, falling 6-1 in Columbus. Kat Lyman picked up a point for the Musketeers on No. 3 singles.
The winner moves on to face the winner between ETSU and Vanderbilt, who are set to play at 10:00 a.m.
Vanderbilt is 15-11 overall, currently ranked No. 31 by the ITA. The Commodores went 7-8 in SEC play, falling to No. 2 Texas A&M in the Quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
The Buccaneers are 19-7 overall and took home the Southern Conference Tournament crown after beating three opponents 4-0.

ALL-BIG EAST

After winning a third-straight BIG EAST Championship, three Musketeers earned All-BIG EAST honors, including a pair of major awards. Imani Graham was selected as the BIG EAST Player of the Year, while Abby Nugent was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. Kat Lyman also earned All-BIG EAST.
Imani Graham was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, earning all-conference honors for a second-straight year. Graham led Xavier with 13 wins in the No. 1 singles spot, going undefeated in BIG EAST
play. Among her win were victories over BIG EAST First Team Selections Emilija Kojcic of Marquette, Maria Constantinou of UConn, and Yuliya Kizelbasheva of DePaul, as well as second team selection Lalita Devarkonda of St. John's. She also picked up wins against Purdue, James Madison, Michigan State, Cincinnati and Wichita State.
Graham, a junior originally from St. Johns, Fla., also had nine doubles wins, primarily playing at No. 2 with Anna Roggenburk, including wins against Indiana, Purdue, UConn, Marquette and Creighton.
Graham was named the BIG EAST Singles Player of the Week for the week of April 17 and was named the Doubles Team of the Week, paired with Anna Roggenburk, for the week of April 10. Graham is Xavier's first BIG EAST Player of the Year since Sydney Liggins earned the honor in 2016.
Abby Nugent earned Freshman of the Year honors and a spot on the All-BIG EAST Second Team after going 10-6 in singles play and 11-5 in doubles.
Among her wins in singles, primarily played at No. 3, were victories over DePaul, Michigan State, Cincinnati and Indiana.
Nugent, originally from Springboro, Ohio, played 19 matches at No. 1 doubles, paired with Kat Lyman. The duo collected wins over BIG EAST opponents DePaul, Creighton and St. John's, as well as Penn State, Purdue, JMU and Memphis.
Nugent was named the BIG EAST Singles Player of the Week for the week of February 20. Nugent is Xavier's fourth BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, joining Anna Roggenburk (2021), Emily Thomas (2019) and Sydney Liggins (2014)
Kat Lyman earned a spot on the All-BIG EAST Second Team after collecting 10 singles wins and 11 doubles wins, helping Xavier to a third-straight BIG EAST Championship.
Lyman, a redshirt junior from Mount Pleasant, S.C., had singles wins over All-BIG EAST honoree Yesica de Lucas of St. John's, as well as conference wins against Creighton, DePaul and Marquette, and wins in the matches against Wichita State, Michigan State and Penn State.
Lyman partnered with Abby Nugent in the No. 1 spot in 19 matches. The duo collected wins over BIG EAST opponents DePaul, Creighton and St. John's, as well as Penn State, Purdue, JMU and Memphis. This is Lyman's second selection to the All-BIG EAST Team, also earning a spot on the All-Conference second team following the 2021 season.

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

Xavier earned an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Championships after winning the program's third-straight BIG EAST Championship.
The Musketeers are coming off a dominating 4-0 performance against the Creighton Bluejays in the BIG EAST Championship match on April 23 to claim the title, the program's fourth overall.
Creighton took the first doubles decision, taking a 6-0 win on No. 3 against Blessing Nwaozuzu and Paulina Franco Martinessi. Anna Roggenburk and Imani Graham took court No. 2, 6-2, the ninth win of the dual season for the pair. Kat Lyman and Abby Nugent claimed the point for the Musketeers, taking the No. 1 court, 6-3, their 11th win of the dual season.
In singles play, Xavier took the first set on five of six courts, claiming the win on three-straight set wins. Anna Roggenburk took the No. 4 court, 6-3, 6-1, her fifth-straight singles win.
Abigail Siminski made it a 3-0 Xavier lead, taking the No. 5 court, 6-4, 6-1, her fourth-straight win and ninth of her freshman season.
Kat Lyman clinched the match on court No. 2, taking the 6-3, 6-2 win, her 10th of the season, to set the final score at 4-0 in favor of the Musketeers.
Xavier advanced to the Championships match for the seventh time since joining the conference with a 4-1 win over St. John's in the semifinals.
The Musketeers took a 4-0 win over Marquette in the Quarterfinals to continue the streak of advancing to the Semifinals in every BIG EAST Tournament Xavier has participated in.

THE MUSKETEERS

Xavier wrapped up the regular season at 11-7 overall with a 3-0 record in BIG EAST, earning the No. 1 seed in the league tournament.
For the week of Feb. 27, Xavier moved in the ITA team rankings, coming in at No. 71.
The Musketeers wrapped up the 2022 spring season at 14-10 overall, brought home the program's third overall and second-straight BIG EAST Championship and earned Xavier's third bid to the NCAA Championships.
Five letterwinners return from last season's BIG EAST Championship squad, including All-BIG EAST selection Imani Graham, Kat Lyman, Anna Roggenburk, Blessing Nwaozuzu and Bella Kirby.
Xavier also added four-person freshmen class, Emily Flowers, Paulina Franco Martinessi, Abby Nugent and Abigail Siminski.