DETROIT, Mich. – Behind strong singles play, the Cleveland State women's tennis team picked up its second Horizon League victory of the season Saturday evening, defeating Detroit 4-3. The Vikings now have five wins on the season and stand at 2-0 in league play.
"This was a great team win for us today, although our doubles play left something to be desired, the team fought hard throughout singles and battled back for the victory," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We were able to get early leads in a lot of the singles matches which shifted the momentum into our favor. I was happy with the way that the team fought today, this was a good league matchup between two solid teams. The team is extremely happy to come away with the win and hopefully we will be able to continue this throughout tomorrow's match."
After falling behind 1-0 at the conclusion of doubles play, Cleveland State was able to knock off three straight singles wins to put the score at 3-1 CSU. The Vikings' first point of the day came from Victoria Bensimon who cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 6 singles, while Alex Bush followed with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 2 singles. Lauren Golick then picked up a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles to give CSU a 3-1 advantage with three matches left on the court.
Detroit was then able to put the score at 3-2 with a win at No. 5 singles, but Kara Sherwood clinched the match for the Vikings with a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory at the No. 3 position. Sherwood's win was her fifth straight and gave her 68 singles wins on her career – now just two wins shy of becoming the sixth Viking with 70 career singles wins.
No. 4 singles was the final match on the court, as Detroit earned a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-4 tiebreak victory to put the final score at 4-3 Cleveland State.
The Vikings will continue their Horizon League roadswing tomorrow, facing Oakland at 4:30 p.m.
Cleveland State 4, Detroit 3
Doubles:
- Sujashvili/Laskutova (UDM) def. Power/Folkers (CSU), 8-2
- Slizovskaya/Fernandes (UDM) def. Bush/Gbadamosi (CSU), 8-0
- Sherwood/Bensimon (CSU) vs. Kulikovskaya/Davydova (UDM), 5-3, unfinished
Singles:
- Lauren Golick (CSU) def. Irina Slizovskaya (UDM), 6-2, 6-2
- Alex Bush (CSU) def. Viktoria Laskutova (UDM), 6-3, 6-3
- Kara Sherwood (CSU) def. Valery Kulikovskaya (UDM), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
- Julia Fernandes (UDM) def. Mathilde Orange (CSU), 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-4
- Anna Davydova (UDM) def. Princess Gbadamosi (CSU), 6-1, 7-6 (1)
- Victoria Bensimon (CSU) def. Elena Strakhova (UDM, 6-1, 6-1
