CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State women's tennis team took a break from Horizon League play Saturday, picking up a pair of wins against IUPUI (6-1) and Oberlin (6-1). The Vikings are now 11-7 overall this season.
With the two wins Saturday, Cleveland State notched double-digit wins for the 12th time under head coach Brian Etkzin, while the Vikings also ran their current winstreak to seven straight matches. Saturday's two victories also kept the Vikings perfect in the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion, as they now stand at 6-0 in their new domicile.
The trio of Victoria Bensimon, Princess Gbadamosi and Mathilde Orange all went 2-0 in singles play on the day, with Orange finishing the day with 52 career wins and Bensimon (49) and Gbadamosi (47) finishing just shy of the 50-win milestone.
Cleveland State 6, IUPUI 1
The Vikings started the day with a 6-1 victory over IUPUI, picking up the doubles point and singles wins at the top three spots along with No. 5 and No. 6 singles.
"I knew we were going to be in for a scrappy fight against IUPUI, and we were able to start out with another doubles point which really helped put the momentum in our favor early on," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "After we were able to get five out of six first sets in singles action, I felt pretty good playing from ahead, and I thought the team did a good job of staying focused and staying in control of their matches on all of the singles courts."
During doubles play, the Vikings got a 6-3 win from Aleksandra Golawska and Isabella Spindler at the No. 1 spot, and got a 6-2 victory from Gbadamosi and Orange at No. 2 doubles.
Morgan Nix picked up Cleveland State's first singles win against IUPUI, posting a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 6 singles, marking her first win of the spring season. Gbadamosi then notched her 46th career win at the No. 3 spot, picking up a 7-5, 6-0 victory against the Jaguars.
The next point came from Bensimon at No. 5 singles, as she extended her current winstreak to six straight matches with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. The win also marked Bensimon's 48th singles victory of her career.
Spindler and Orange picked up the last two singles wins for the Vikings, as Spindler posted a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the top of the lineup and Orange earned a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win at the No. 2 spot. Spindler's victory gave her 10 wins for the spring season, becoming the just Viking to reach double-digit wins during dual match play this season.
Doubles:
1. Golawska/Spindler (CSU) def. Mayer/Sherif (IUPUI), 6-3
2. Gbadamosi/Orange (CSU) def. Swartwood/Pessina (IUPUI), 6-2
3. Bensimon/Nix (CSU) vs. Swartwood/Lavrenchuk (IUPUI), 4-5, unf.
Singles:
1. Isabella Spindler (CSU) def. Valeriia Lavrenchuk (IUPUI), 6-2, 6-4
2. Mathilde Orange (CSU) def. Rachel Swartwood (IUPUI), 6-2, 7-6 (5)
3. Princess Gbadamosi (CSU) def. Sara Sherif (IUPUI), 7-5, 6-0
4. Samantha Mayer (IUPUI) def. Aleksandra Golawska (CSU), 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (7)
5. Victoria Bensimon (CSU) def. Mariella Pessina (IUPUI), 6-2, 6-2
6. Morgan Nix (CSU) def. Bobbi Modesto (IUPUI), 6-4, 6-2
Cleveland State 6, Oberlin 1
The Vikings wrapped up the day with a matching 6-1 victory over Oberlin, once again picking up the doubles point along with wins at No. 1 – No. 4 singles and the No. 6 spot.
"The Oberlin match was great for us because we got to use the entire depth of our lineup, and get some key wins with some different personnel," Etzkin said. "Melissa and Isabella got the first doubles win for us, and then Katy and Jana followed that up with their win to get us the early lead with a different lineup then we are used to. Oberlin was another scrappy team in singles that came out with a lot of energy, but we managed to stay the course and we were able to pick up most of the points. Congrats to Katy on getting her first dual match victory, and overall I thought this was a great team win that we can build on going into the end of regular season league play."
Cleveland State had to battle for the doubles point against Oberlin, with the new doubles teams of Katy Quillin and Jana Schober posting a 6-4 win at the No. 2 spot, and the tandem of Spindler and Melissa Djohan earning a matching 6-4 victory at No. 3 doubles.
Orange then gave Cleveland State a 2-0 advantage after the start of singles play, posting a 6-4, 6-2 victory at the top of the singles lineup. Orange finished the day just three wins shy of cracking the top-10 CSU Singles Wins list – finishing the weekend with 52 career victories.
The next singles point came from Quillin at No. 6 singles, as she posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory in her first dual match of the season. Gbadamosi then clinched the match for the Vikings, notching a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles.
The Vikings then added to their lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles from Bensimon, while Schober posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 4 singles.
Also seeing action for the Vikings against Oberlin was Melissa Djohan, who appeared in the first match of her Viking career playing at No. 5 singles.
Doubles:
1. Hughes/Brezel (OBE) def. Gbadamosi/Orange (CSU), 6-3
2. Quillin/Schober (CSU) def. Audeh/McDermott (OBE), 6-4
3. Spindler/Djohan (CSU) def. Hay/Johnson (OBE), 6-4
Singles:
1. Mathilde Orange (CSU) def. Mayada Audeh (OBE), 6-4, 6-2
2. Princess Gbadamosi (CSU) def. Sarah Hughes (OBE), 6-2, 6-2
3. Victoria Bensimon (CSU) def. Emma Brezel (OBE), 6-2, 6-2
4. Jana Schober (CSU) def. Ariana Abayomi (OBE), 6-3, 6-1
5. Jackie McDermott (OBE) def. Melissa Djohan (CSU), 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (4)
6. Katy Quillin (CSU) def. Erin Johnson (OBE), 6-2, 6-3
Cleveland State will return to action next weekend, hosting Milwaukee and Case Western on Saturday, April 16 and Green Bay on Sunday, April 17.