Ohio State women's tennis defeats Pepperdine, advances to final four

Ohio State's women's tennis team avenged one of its few losses on the season, cruising past Pepperdine 4-1 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. The Buckeyes came out strong, with a dominant showing on Court 1 (from Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson ) giving Ohio State a leg up. Court 2 didn't look great, as the pairing seemed to lack rhythm at times, but the Buckeyes took the doubles point thanks to Sophia Cisse Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer .

The Buckeyes changed up their singles lineup a bit, with Alessia Cau taking Hephzibah Oluwadare 's usual spot. Cau struggled early but fought valiantly late, losing the first set 0-6. She built rhythm and form as the match went on, though, coming back from an early second-set deficit to actually win the set.

She trailed in a back-and-forth third set when the team match ended. This experience will be important if she has to take a singles court again in the semifinals. Nao Nishino also struggled in her opening set, losing 1-6, but she found her rhythm quickly and dominated the second set, never really being in danger of losing the match.

On the other courts. Perry was her usual dominant self, winning in straight sets (though she gave away a second-set leads before winning in a tiebreak). Cisse Ignatiev added a straight sets win of her own.