SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Cleveland State women's tennis senior Mathilde Orange recorded the 50th singles win of her career Sunday afternoon, as the Vikings extended their winstreak to four straight matches with a 4-3 victory at Detroit. Sunday's victory kept the Vikings perfect in Horizon League play this season, as the Vikings are now 8-7 overall and 4-0 in league action.
Cleveland State has now tied the program record for the best start to league play under head coach Brian Etzkin, as the Vikings also started 4-0 during the 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons.
"This was another battle against a tough Detroit team, and I'm very proud of how hard the team fought throughout the entire match today," associate head coach Frank Polito said. "We played some tough doubles and came away with the early point after our No. 2 team of Mathilde and Princess was able to clinch the point for us with a hard fought battle. We were then able to carry this momentum into singles play, and had great energy on all six singles courts."
To begin the match, the Vikings battled for the doubles point, coming away with the early 1-0 lead for the fourth straight time in league play this season. The Cleveland State duo of Morgan Nix and Victoria Bensimon picked up a 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles and Mathilde Orange and Princess Gbadamosi battled for a 7-6 (5) win at the No. 2 spot to clinch the first point of the match for the Vikings. Gbadamosi and Orange improved to 9-5 this spring, and are undefeated in league play at 4-0.
"Singles play was a tough battle just like the doubles matches, with Mathilde picking up our first singles point after battling back from 4-1 to win the first set 6-4 before her opponent retired. Victoria then played a very clean match for us on her court, focusing on her game and not letting anything distract her. These two singles wins then set up the stage for Aleksandra, who played a great third set to clinch the match for us," Polito said.
Orange gave the Vikings a quick 2-0 lead at the start of singles play, as she notched the 50th singles win of her career with a 6-4, ret. victory at No. 2 singles against Detroit. Orange is the 12th Viking all-time to reach 50 career singles wins, and is now just five wins shy of cracking the top-10 Cleveland State All-Time Singles Wins list.
After Detroit got on the board with a win at No. 6 singles, Bensimon extended Cleveland State's lead to 3-1 after cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 win at the No. 5 spot. The win marked Bensimon's 10th of the season, while it also kept her perfect in league singles play, standing at 4-0 after this weekend.
The Titans then evened the match with a pair of singles wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, putting the deciding point on the No. 4 singles court.
At No. 4 singles, Golawska was able to pick up a 6-3 win in the first set, but dropped a tight second set 6-7 (1) to force a third set. Golawska then swept through the third set, posting a 6-1 victory during the frame to clinch the match for the Vikings.
Cleveland State will put its winstreak on the line next weekend, hosting Youngstown State in league action on Friday, April 8 in the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion.
Cleveland State 4, Detroit 3
Doubles:
1. Davydova/Slizovskaya (UDM) def. Spindler/Golawska (CSU), 6-2
2. Orange/Gbadamosi (CSU) def. Kulikovskay/Laskutova (UDM), 7-6 (5)
3. Nix/Bensimon (CSU) def. Thioux/Sujashvili (UDM), 6-2
Singles:
1. Anna Davydova (UDM) def. Isabella Spindler (CSU), 7-5, 6-3
2. Mathilde Orange (CSU) def. Valeryia Kulikovskay (UDM), 6-4, ret.
3. Irina Slizovskaya (UDM) def. Princess Gbadamosi (CSU), 6-2, 6-3
4. Aleksandra Golawska (CSU) def. Nynke Van Der Goot (UDM), 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-1
5. Victoria Bensimon (CSU) def. Viktoria Laskutova (UDM), 6-2, 6-2
6. Iris Thioux (UDM) def. Jana Schober (CSU), 6-1, 6-2
