Women’s Swim & Dive
Ohio State’s women’s swim and dive team won its second-straight Big Ten Championship on Feb. 27 after a tremendous week at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota. The Buckeyes took the lead at the event on day two and never relinquished it, taking the final victory with a team total of 1,584 points. Michigan finished second with 1,326.5 points, followed by Indiana, Northwestern and Wisconsin with 1,066.5, 992 and 749.5 points, respectively.
Along with the team title, Ohio State led the league in All-Big Ten selections with nine: Amy Fulmer, Emily Crane, Freya Rayner, Hannah Bach, Katherine Zenick, Katie Trace, Kristen Romano, Taylor Petrak and Sally Tafuto.
Bach (200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay, 100 Breaststroke); Crane (200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay); Fulmer (200 Free Relay); Petrak (400 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay); Rayner (200 Medley Relay); Romano (200 IM, 400 IM); Trace (400 Medley Relay); Tafuto (500 Free) and Zenick (200 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay) all won individual championships.
Men’s Dive
The men’s swimming team won’t get to hop into the pool until March 2-6, but the diving portion of the men’s swim and dive Big Ten Championships took place at Purdue from Feb. 25-27 and saw the Buckeyes perform well. On day one, Lyle Yost led the way for the Buckeyes in the 1-meter, coming in third with 388.35 points. He was followed by teammates Joseph Canova (4th, 380.25 points); Jacob Fielding (6th, 367.70 points); Jacob Siler (7th, 352.50 points) and Hunter Grannum (20th, 274.40 points).
Day two was even stronger for the Buckeyes, sweeping the 3-meter podium. Canova took first with 435.35 points, followed by Yost (2nd, 425.80 points); Siler (3rd, 416.85 points); Fielding (7th, 325.20 points) and Grannum (24th, 320.60 points)
The Buckeyes ended the diving portion of the event with 102 team points after another good showing in the platform event: Siler (2nd, 416.25 points); Fielding (5th, 387.20 points); Yost (7th, 351.60 points) and Canova (8th, 310.45 points).
Women’s Volleyball
Ohio State toppled Rutgers on Feb. 26-27 to remain unbeaten on the season and sits at 11-0 now as it hits the exact halfway point of the season. In match one, the No. 19 Buckeyes took a clean sweep over Rutgers, 25-21, 25-19, 25-19.
Match two saw the Buckeyes win 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-18, 22-25, 16-14) and take over sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. This is Ohio State’s best start in the Big Ten since 1991 and has the most consecutive wins since 2013. Freshman Rylee Rader also made some history, as her career-high 11 blocks were the most by a Buckeye since 2015 and the most by a freshman since 1987.
Men’s Tennis
No. 7 Ohio State was dominant again on Feb. 27, taking a 7-0 victory over Penn State to improve to 6-1 on the season. The John McNally/Robert Cash pairing defeated Christian Lakoseljac/Christos Antonopoulo, 6-4, while Cannon Kingsley/JJ Tracy toppled Alp Sentay/Bora Sengul, 6-2 to earn Ohio State the doubles point.
Then, in singles, Ohio State dropped just a single set (between Kingsley and Lakoseljac) on the way to a resounding victory.
Men’s Soccer
Ohio State split its first two games of the men’s soccer season. The Buckeyes opened their season with a 3-0 loss to Indiana on Feb. 23, with the Hoosiers scoring in the 48th minute to take the lead, extending it with a penalty kick in the 62nd minute and notching its final goal in the 83rd minute.
However, the Buckeyes were able to break into the win column on Feb. 27 with a 1-0 road win over Maryland. Joe Ortiz scored in the 72nd minute off of a snappy pass from Laurence Wootton, giving the English freshman his first assist and the Air Force transfer his first goal of the season and second as a Buckeye (he scored once in 2019). Cincinnati transfer Noah Lawrence recorded three saves in the clean sheet.
Track & Field
Ohio State finished third and eighth in men’s and women’s track and field respectively at the Big Ten Championships on Feb. 27.
The men were led by Tyler Johnson, who took the crown in the 200 meters and the 400 meters races.
Johnson ran the fastest time in the nation to win the 400 meters in a Big Ten championship meet record time of 45.07 and then notched a 200 meters personal-best of 20.86. He was also a part of the 4×400-meter relay-winning team, along with Donnie James, Tyrese Fajardo and Frank Hayes. The team won in 3:08.45. All four were named first-team All-Big Ten Conference. Clarence Foote-Joyner.
On the women’s side, Adelaide Aquilla defended her shot put title, while Marcia Sey ran the 60 hurdles in a personal best time of 8.27 to take third.
The men’s team (83 points) finished behind Iowa (119) and Indiana (92), while the women’s 42 points was just enough to edge out No. 9 Penn State (41).
Softball
The softball team had a perfectly balanced start to its season, splitting all three of its season-opening double headers against Iowa on Feb. 26, Minnesota on Feb. 27 and Nebraska on Feb. 28.
To start the season, the Buckeyes knocked off the Hawkeyes 3-2, but fell in the second leg 4-3. Freshman Allison Smith got the nod to start the season on the mound and pitched a complete game, featuring nine strikeouts to just five hits.
On day two, Ohio State went 11 innings in game one with the Golden Gophers on the way to a 2-1 victory. Senior Payton Buresch went 10.1 innings without giving up an earned run. Kaitlyn Coffman knocked in the winning run on a RBI double in the top of the 11th. Smith closed out the game.
Finally, Ohio State was able to topple the Cornhuskers in game one 4-2, but couldn’t pull off a late rally attempt in game two, dropping 2-1 to move to 3-3 on the season.
Women’s Tennis
The Buckeyes squared off with both Mitten-state teams on the tennis courts this week, crushing Michigan State 6-1 on Feb. 26 to improve to 8-2 on the season before falling 4-3 to Michigan on Feb. 28. The full scores have been included below, via Ohio State.
Singles (MSU)
- Isabelle Boulais (OSU) def. Mary Lewis (MSU) 7-5, 6-3
- #78 Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU) def. Samantha Memije (MSU) 6-3, 6-2
- Lauren Lemonds (MSU) def. Lisa Hofbauer (OSU) 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-8)
- Luna Dormet (OSU) def. Ayshe Can (MSU) 6-2, 6-0
- Lucia Marzal (OSU) def. Nicole Stephens (MSU) 6-2, 6-1
- Tanisha Kashyap (OSU) def. Tia Makherjee (MSU) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles (MSU)
- Isabelle Boulais/Kolie Allen (OSU) vs. Samantha Memije/Nicole Stephens (MSU) 5-2, unfinished
- Lucia Marzal/Lisa Hofbauer (OSU) def. Ayshe Can/Dagmar Zdrubecka (MSU) 6-2
- Luna Dormet/Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU) def. Mary Lewis/Lauren Lemonds (MSU) 6-2
Singles (UM)
- Kari Miller (MICH) def. #78 Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
- Isabelle Boulais (OSU) def. Chiara Lommer (MICH) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1)
- #101 Alyvia Jones (MICH) def. Lisa Hofbauer (OSU) 6-2, 6-3
- #71 Andrea Cerdan (MICH) def. Kolie Allen (OSU) 6-1, 6-2
- Lucia Marzal (OSU) def. Jaedan Brown (MICH) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
- Gala Mesochoritou (MICH) def. Luna Dormet (OSU) 7-5, 7-5
Doubles (UM)
- Isabelle Boulais/Kolie Allen (OSU) vs. Chiara Lommer/Jaedan Brown (MICH) 0-5, unfinished
- Lucia Marzal/Lisa Hofbauer (OSU) def. Andrea Cerdan/Alyvia Jones (MICH) 6-1
- Luna Dormet/Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU) def. Kari Miller/Gala Mesochoritou (MICH) 6-1
Women’s Lacrosse
Ohio State dropped a pair to Rutgers on Feb. 26 and 28, moving to 1-3 on the season with Johns Hopkins up next on the schedule.
Game one saw the Buckeyes behind early, trailing 4-1 after 10 minutes, but a rally gave them a 7-5 lead nearing halftime that the Scarlet Knights would whittle down to 7-6 entering the break. Four straight Rutgers goals to open the second half was enough to decide the game, as Rutgers cruised to a 12-9 victory. Liza Hernandez had a team-best three points with two goals and an assist.
In game two, Ohio State again led at the half, 7-5, but three straight Rutgers goals opened the third frame. Ohio State battled back to tie the score twice in the final 15 minutes, but Rutgers grabbed a game winner with 4:39 to play, 10-9.
Women’s Golf
It wasn’t a great week for the women’s golf team as a whole, as it finished ninth at the Gators Invitational on Feb. 23 and fifth at the FSU match up on Feb. 28, but the bad fortunes did not apply to sophomore Aneka Seumanutafa.
Seumanutafa was one of just four players under-par at the former, shooting two-under for the event, enough to finish as the runner-up. She shot three-over at the latter, good enough for fourth among all competitors.
Field Hockey
Ohio State’s first match of the 2021 season took more than 400 days of waiting to arrive and required more than the usual 60 minutes assigned to a field hockey game. The Buckeyes went to overtime with Rutgers in their season-opener on Feb. 28, taking a 1-1 tie through the final minute of regulation.
It was Rutgers that came out on top though, with Milena Redlingshoefer scoring late in overtime for the win. Emma Goldean was the lone scorer for the Buckeyes.
Men’s Lacrosse
No. 6 Ohio State came up short against No. 9 Rutgers on Feb. 27, taking its first loss of the season, 22-12. Rutgers jumped all over Ohio State and claimed an early 9-3 lead that it never looked back from.
Griffin Hughes (five goals) and Tre Leclaire (three goals) were strong for the Buckeyes, but Rutgers notched 58 shots on the day.
“Credit to Rutgers,” said head coach Nick Myers. “They are a good team and did a nice job today. For us, we will regroup, refocus and turn our attention to having a great week of preparation for next week at Penn State.”
Women’s Gymnastics
Ohio State finished fourth at its regular season-closing Big Five Meet with 195.275 points. No. 8 Minnesota won the meet with a 197.375, followed by No. 19 Illinois (196.500), Maryland (195.725), Ohio State and Nebraska (195.200).
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team was supposed to play its second and third games of the season over the past week, but had the second part of its two-game week against Nebraska on Feb. 28 postponed out of “an abundance of caution for both teams” according to a school release.
In the first game, however, Ohio State swamped Wisconsin 3-1 to take its first win of the season and improve to 1-1 on the year.
Sophomore Emma Sears scored all three goals for the Buckeyes, first in the 11th minute, followed by a strike in the 36th minute and her last in the 89th minute. She has all four goals on the season for Ohio State.
