• Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Feb. 28) – Competing against one of top teams in NCAA Division I, the No. 13 Vulcans suffered a 7-0 loss on Sunday evening to No. 17 Ohio State at the Buckeyes' Varsity Tennis Center.

With the loss, the California University of Pennsylvania tennis team drops to 6-2 this season. Meanwhile, Ohio State improves to 11-3 this year after earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament last season.

"Cal U is going to have a good season," said Ohio State head coach Chuck Merzbacher. "I was impressed and I definitely think they're going to make a run at the Division II national championship.”

Ohio State opened the contest by taking all three doubles matches, which marked only the fourth time in the last two seasons that Cal U has been swept in doubles play. At first doubles, sophomore Anastassiya Zherdeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and Galina Vishnikina (Almaty, Kazakhstan/Sport Military) were swept 8-0 by sophomore Kelsey Haviland and junior Cami Hubbs.

In singles play, junior Nina Kowalski (Hofheim, Germany/Man Taunus) suffered a 6-0, 6-1 loss at the first slot to 67th-ranked Kirsten Flowers, who was an All-Big 10 selection as a junior last year. At the fifth position, freshman Jade Pondicas (Johannesburg, South Africa) narrowly missed upsetting Hubbs in the first set before losing the match 7-6, 6-1.

The Vulcans return to action when they compete against several nationally-ranked opponents during a seven-match trip around Florida from March 4-11.