The Ohio State Buckeyes women's tennis program has been one of the country's better programs for over a decade now, though it has had a few down years recently. This year, though, the Buckeyes are definitely a threat to win it all. They're also potentially upset-prone, though. So let's look at their path in the NCAA Tournament and where the biggest threats are.
First of all, let's review how NCAA Tennis works. Each team puts up three doubles pairs, who play a one-set match each. Whichever team wins two doubles sets gets one point. After that, there are six singles matches (best-of-three sets). Each singles match is worth one point. So, that makes seven points in total (one doubles, six singles). The first team to four total points wins.
Ohio State earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament on the back of an impressive season. The Buckeyes have, without question, the third-most-talented roster in the country (behind Georgia and Texas A&M--more on them later). Luciana Perry and Teah Chavez are two of the top five singles players in the country. Nao Nishino, Audrey Spencer, and Sophie Cisse-Ignatiev are also ranked.
However, the Buckeyes also put in three bad days at the office over the course of this season. Two of those came on West Coast road trips, when the Buckeyes got crushed by Pepperdine and USC. The third came against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament final on Sunday. In all three of those matches, multiple Buckeyes played well below their best (or even medium) levels. It led to losses that this team really shouldn't have taken. If anything like that happens again in the NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes could be going home early.
If that doesn't happen, though, this team has a real chance to go all the way. Youngstown State poses no threat in the opening round. Nor should Arizona or Notre Dame in the second round. Vanderbilt could be a real potential threat in the third round, though. The Commodores have played a lot of great teams this season, and they performed well in almost all of those matches. They also have three of the best singles players in the country. If two of them can upset Perry and Chavez, the Buckeyes could end up in trouble.
Likely fourth-round opponents are Pepperdine and Oklahoma. Pepperdine already beat the Buckeyes in Ohio State's worst match of the season. Still, as long as the Buckeyes are playing well, they should beat either of those two teams.
In the semifinals, the Buckeyes would likely face No. 2 seed Auburn, and No. 1 Georgia will likely be in the final. We'll preview those matches if Ohio State gets that far, but those are the only two teams with top-to-bottom rosters that are equal to (or better than) the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes have already faced Georgia this year, in the final of the ITA Indoor Nationals, and Georgia won 4-3 in a third-set tiebreak in the final singles match.
Ohio State's first-round match at the NCAA Tournament is in Columbus, on Saturday, May 2, at Noon ET. If it wins, the Buckeyes will host the second round at 1:00 PM ET on Sunday.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State women's tennis NCAA Tournament preview: A deep run?