March 30, 2009
Contact: Dana Ingraham
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland State women's tennis suffered a flashback to the 2008 Horizon League tournament on Sunday, dropping a 4-3 decision to Detroit just as it happened almost one year ago.
When the two teams met in last year's conference tournament, Detroit handed CSU an identical 4-3 loss, forcing the Vikings to settle for fourth place in the Horizon League.
Cleveland State, although steadily improving its doubles game since the start of the spring season, was unable to put it all together against the Titans this time, dropping all three matches to surrender the deciding point.
In singles play, CSU matched up evenly to an opponent it had seen once before in fall tournaments this year. Charlotte Gibbons and Sanda Bjelan battled through three sets to post wins for Cleveland State at No. 3 and No. 6, respectively. Jackie Tabb, who has seen consistent success at No. 4, won the third point for the Vikings, defeating Detroit's Svetlana Flankova, 6-3, 6-4.
"It was good to see Charlotte return to form and play a solid match today," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Sanda has been playing some good tennis and Jackie has been solid for us all year. It was the doubles point though that played a huge role today and unfortunately we just didn't have enough to get it done.
"We know we have still have some work to do. It has been a few times now that Detroit has beaten us 4-3, especially last year in the conference tournament, but we have been doing a lot of good things on the court and have a chance to peak at this year's tournament time in just a few weeks."
The women are now 11-8 and 1-1 in the Horizon League. CSU will return to the courts today, hosting Valparaiso at 1:00 p.m. indoors at River Oaks Racquet Club.
Detroit 4, Cleveland State 3
March 29, 2009, at River Oaks Racquet Club
Doubles
1. Moore/Minic (Detroit) def. Gibbons/Bjerrehus (CSU), 8-5
2. Sjoberg-Sundstrom/Flankova (Detroit) def. Pepino/Bjelan (CSU), 8-4
3. Maricevic/Weldon (Detroit) def. Holzinger/Tabb (CSU), 8-3
Singles
1. Annie Moore (Detroit) def. Catrine Bjerrehus (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
2. Zeljka Minic (Detroit) def. Melissa Holzinger (CSU), 6-4, 6-3
3. Charlotte Gibbons (CSU) def. Aneta Maricevic (Detroit), 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
4. Jackie Tabb (CSU) def. Svetlana Flankova (Detroit), 6-3, 6-4
5. Sophie Sjoberg-Sundstrom (Detroit) def. Myra Pepino (CSU), 6-2, 6-2
6. Sanda Bjelan (CSU) def. Erin Weldon (Detroit), 7-5, 2-6, 10-2
