No. 33 Hope (Mich.) tops No. 40 Women's Tennis 5-1 in First Round of NCAA III Tournament

| NCAA III Women's Tennis Tournament Site |

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. — No. 33 Hope (Mich.) defeated the No. 40-ranked Ohio Northern women's tennis team 5-1 in the First Round of the NCAA III Tournament on a beautiful sunny Thursday.

The Polar Bears made their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and the program's seventh overall.

The Basics

• Records: #40 Ohio Northern (18-5 Overall), #33 Hope (Mich.) (17-7 Overall).
• Venue: Tao Tennis Center - Saint Louis, Mo.
• The match finished 5-1 as singles courts 2 and 3 were completed simultaneously.

Match Highlights

• Sophomore Lauren Okrainec (Ingersoll, ON, Canada/Ingersoll Collegiate) and freshman Amy Grace Beebe (Hudson/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) won 6-1 at No. 3 doubles for Ohio Northern.
• Sophomore Leah Schleibaum (West Chester/Lakota West) won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 6 singles to make it 2-1.
• Hope won the doubles point by taking courts 1 and 2, then captured singles courts 1, 2, 3 and 4 to clinch the match.

Notables

• Ohio Northern is now 3-7 all-time in NCAA III Tournament play.
• In tournament play, the matches are played to completion, where the match is stopped as soon as a team reaches four team points.
• ONU won its third consecutive OAC Tournament title and its second straight OAC Regular Season title this season.
• Freshman Audrey Austin (Perry) was leading 3-6, 6-1, 3-2 at No. 5 singles when the match was completed.
• The Flying Dutch lead the all-time series with the Polar Bears by a 4-1 margin, including a 2-0 mark in NCAA III Tournament play.
• Senior Abby Cruser (Pendleton, Ind./Pendleton Heights) led the Polar Bears this season with 38 victories, going a team-best 23-9 in singles and 15-13 in doubles.
• Senior Jamie Hurst (Granger, Ind./Penn) is second with a 20-10 singles mark.
• Senior Jenna Bell (Latrobe, Pa.) has a team-best 20 doubles wins.
• Okrainec and Beebe each have 18 doubles wins and sophomore Caroline Robinson (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) is 16-6 in doubles play.
• Cruser is 138-82 overall in her career. She is 5th all-time in ONU history with 79 singles wins and is ninth with 138 overall wins.
• Bell is 137-80 overall in her career. She ranks 10th all-time with 137 overall wins.
• Hurst is 124-67 overall in her career. Her 72 singles wins puts her eighth all-time in ONU history in that category.
• Ohio Northern is in its 53rd season of women's tennis with a 671-280-1 record, a winning percentage of .705.
• Fourth-year head coach Sean Swisher is 71-21 at the helm of the ONU women's tennis team, a winning percentage of .772.

Up Next

• Season complete.