Women’s Tennis Eyes More After NCAA Final Four Finish In 2026 

Following the Ohio State women’s tennis team’s second-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four, the Buckeyes were left with a bittersweet sense of accomplishment and disappointment.

On one hand, the run marked the program’s best finish in the NCAA tournament since 2017 and produced the third-most wins in a single season in program history with 27, as Ohio State finished No. 4 in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. 

On the other hand, the Buckeyes finished just two victories shy of a national championship following their 4-1 loss to No. 2 Auburn in the semifinals.

Adding to the frustration, Ohio State had already proven it could compete with the nation’s best, defeating eventual national champion Texas A&M 4-2 during the regular season.

Ohio State junior Luciana Perry, who earned All-American honors in both singles and doubles in 2026, said the team’s historic run was both rewarding and motivating, as they established themselves as one of the nation’s top teams for much of the year, but remain driven by the feeling that they could have accomplished even more after falling just short of a national title. 

“It’s a very interesting feeling because it’s kind of like it’s the most incredible run I’ve had since I’ve been here, so it makes me feel very ecstatic that we got to the Final Four,” Perry said. “I’ll just quickly add that the NCAA Final Four teams were also the Final Four teams that were at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship earlier in the year, so for me, that’s a feeling of we can play anywhere, we can play inside, we can play outside. We are just a darn good team. So it’s very rewarding to see that we can not only make the Final Four once in a national event, but do it twice in the same year.

 “At the same time, it leaves me feeling hungry, and I know the rest of the girls on the team are also hungry. We wanted to win the national championship, and I think we were fully capable of doing it, but we learned from the loss, and we’ll be back next year.”

Ohio State junior Teah Chavez, an All-American in singles and the Big Ten Player of the Year last season, expressed a similar sentiment.

“Looking back at the year, I don’t really want to take it as a disappointing season just because we lost the Final Four,” Chavez said. “This team has done so much, and it’s been so cool to do it. It was just such a great season and we want more for next year. So obviously we’re happy with it, but not satisfied.” 

While the Buckeyes fell short of their ultimate goal, their postseason run made it clear they are far from finished.

Ohio State only lost senior Megan Basil, and will return all eight players who regularly started for the Buckeyes in singles and doubles.

The Buckeyes bring back four top 100 singles players in No. 4 Perry, No. 5 Chavez, No. 68 sophomore Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and No. 70 sophomore Nao Nishino, as well as two top 35 doubles pairings in No. 8 Perry and freshman Flora Johnson, and No. 34 Chavez and freshman Hephzibah Oluwadare. 

That group is now aiming to turn its Final Four loss into added hunger in pursuit of a national championship, as Perry said she and her teammates plan to begin individual training early during the summer offseason.

Perry added that those workouts have played a significant role in both her individual development and Ohio State’s team success in recent seasons.

“In the past, we’ve had people come in the summer before school starts to get in, start training early and prepare ourselves for the fall, which is the individual season. We want to have success in the individual season to prepare us for the team season (in the spring),” Perry said. “For me, the biggest thing is to start getting everybody on board early. I think that that’s what’s helped us in the past, certainly it helped us this year, my junior year, and I look forward to doing it again.” 

Ohio State head coach Melissa Schaub said she can already feel the team’s desire to get better early into the offseason.

“They want it badly, they want to go after a national championship,” Schaub said. “I definitely don’t think that they were satisfied with the Final Four. I think that they want more, and I love that for them, and I’m glad that’s what we have, and yeah, we’ve got everybody coming back next year. We have two more freshmen coming in that we’re really excited about, so we have to stay healthy and be ready to make a good run, but I know that the team is motivated, the locker room is motivated and they’re in a really good place right now.”

_{Image courtesy of Ohio State Athletics}