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YSU will meet OSU in Columbus regional
YSU will meet OSU
in Columbus regional
By Steve wilaj
YOUNGSTOWN
When his Youngstown State women’s tennis team got swept, 4-0, the last two seasons at the NCAA Championships — at Virginia in 2014 and at USC in 2015 — Penguins coach Mickael Sopel noticed that his players left the matches with a little regret.
“It’s intimidating the first time you play against those programs that are ranked that high,” the third-year YSU coach said. “Then you get done and feel like you could have played better. I think they don’t want to get out and feel that again this year.
“So I’m sure they’ll play as hard as they can and they know they have the potential to win.”
On May 13, YSU (12-12) — which won the Horizon League tournament this past weekend — will make its third straight appearance in the NCAA Championships with a regional matchup at Ohio State (28-2).
Sopel thinks the Penguins’ past two years of big-time experience should help.
“It’s huge,” he said. “Now you know what to expect. You know what a top-five team in the country looks like. From the last years — even though we had some tough matches — the girls were like, ‘We can do better.’ They know they can do better and they know they have the talent.”
The Penguins showed that talent at the conference tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich., when they downed Wright State, 4-2, on Sunday to claim the title. Noelly Nsimba, Nehel Sahni, Dominika Lackova and Annina Brendel all notched singles wins after YSU dropped the doubles point.
“The Horizon League tournament was great for us,” Sopel said. “We came out strong at the right time. We haven’t been playing our best all season, but we are now playing the best tennis we have this season, which is great.
“That was the plan. We really prepared for that tournament. So I feel really good about how the girls are hitting and playing. I think there will be a lot of great matches.”
Another factor in YSU’s favor, this will be its third time playing Ohio State in Columbus in the past three years. The most recent matchup came on Jan. 31, 2015 (a 7-0 loss), while the Penguins lost to the Buckeyes, 4-0, on Feb. 4, 2014.
“It’s a place we know, so we’re excited,” Sopel said. “They key is going to be just to play well. It’s a team with a lot of talent. So to be able to give ourselves a chance, we’ll have to start strong in the doubles. That will be really important.”
Ohio State, the Big Ten champions, is the No. 4 seed in the entire NCAA Championship. UCLA and Notre Dame are the other teams in the Columbus region.
The YSU-OSU match is set for a 1 p.m. start.