CLEVELAND, Ohio - Playing in the first ever match in the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion, the Cleveland State women's tennis team picked up a 4-3 victory over Akron Wednesday afternoon. The Vikings are now 4-5 on the season.
The Vikings had a good turnout for the first match in the MMTP, with over 100 fans showing up to support Cleveland State tennis.
"This was a huge win for us today, not only for this group but for our program. It was a very exciting collegiate tennis match, and we were able to pull off the win due in large part to the great crowd that was on hand. There was an awesome fan turnout for our first match in the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion, and to give them a win at the end of the match was so exciting," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We were able to win the doubles point which ended up being huge for us. Going into the match I thought singles was going to be close, and it definitely was. Princess was able to break a personal losing streak, and Victoria and Aleksandra were also able to pick up huge singles wins for us. This was a great win to pick up before we head down south for our annual Spring Break Trip, and hopefully we can continue the momentum next week."
The Vikings got off to a strong start, picking up the early point with wins at No. 3 and No. 1 doubles. Mathilde Orange and Princess Gbadamosi cruised to a 6-1 victory at the No. 3 spot, and then Isabella Spindler and Aleksandra Golawska posted a 6-4 win at the top of lineup giving the Vikings the early 1-0 lead.
The Zips then picked up three straight singles wins at the No. 2, No. 6, and No. 1 spots, gaining a 3-1 advantage and forcing the Vikings to pick up wins on all three remaining singles courts for the match victory.
Cleveland State started it's comeback at No. 3 singles, as Gbadamosi picked up her first singles victory of the spring in a 6-3, 6-3 decision to bring the Vikings within one at 3-2.
The next win for the Vikings came from Victoria Bensimon at No. 4 singles, as she earned a 7-5, 7-6 (1) victory to even the match at 3-3.
The final match on the courts was at No. 5 singles, with Golawska clinching the match with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 three-set victory. The win marked Golawska's team-best fifth singles win of the spring season.
The Viking win snapped a seven-match winstreak for Akron, as Cleveland State picked up its fourth win against the Zips under head coach Brian Etzkin.
The Vikings will return to action next week, when they take their annual Spring Break Trip to Florida, where they will face UCF (March 15) and Florida Tech (March 16).
Cleveland State 4, Akron 3
Doubles:
1. SPINDLER, Isabella/GOLAWSKA, Aleksandra (CSU-W) def. Sophia Geier/Carli Knezevich (AKR) 6-4
2. BENSIMON, Victoria/NIX, Morgan (CSU-W) vs. Martina Zerbola/Luisa Echeverry (AKR) 1-5, unfinished
3. ORANGE, Mathilde/GBADAMOSI, Princess (CSU-W) def. Ariadna Blinova/Karolina Maksimova (AKR) 6-1
Singles:
1. Ariadna Blinova (AKR) def. ORANGE, Mathilde (CSU-W) 7-5, 6-1
2. Sophia Geier (AKR) def. SPINDLER, Isabella (CSU-W) 6-1, 6-0
3. GBADAMOSI, Princess (CSU-W) def. Carli Knezevich (AKR) 6-3, 6-3
4. BENSIMON, Victoria (CSU-W) def. Shannon Newnes (AKR) 7-5, 7-6 (7-1)
5. GOLAWSKA, Aleksandra (CSU-W) def. Martina Zerbola (AKR) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. Luisa Echeverry (AKR) def. SCHOBER, Jana (CSU-W) 6-3, 6-0