April 29, 2012

Contact: Renee Adam

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CSU-UIC Results

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - After making it to the Horizon League Championship match for the second straight year, the Cleveland State women's tennis team came up short in a 4-0 decision to top-seeded UIC. The Vikings end the year with an overall record of 16-9.

"I really thought we had something special going today and I really thought we were going to be able to pull out the victory," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "During the regular season we played some great doubles against UIC, but we weren't able to do that today, giving UIC the early lead. We battled hard during singles matches, forcing some to three sets, but UIC played better tennis today and they definitely deserved to win this match."

After losing the doubles point, CSU dropped three hard fought singles matches, giving UIC the 4-0 victory. The Flames earned their 16th consecutive Horizon League title with Sunday's victory.

In doubles action the No. 2 team of Alex Power and Alex Bush fell 8-2, while Nicole Janek and Kara Sherwood fell 8-4 at No. 3 doubles. Catrine Bjerrehus and Maria Lazaris were still in the midst of their doubles match, trailing 6-5 at the No. 1 spot.

The first singles match to finish was Lazaris, who fell 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 2 spot. The No. 5 singles match was the next to finish, with Bush falling, 6-4, 6-3. The final match to play out was the No. 6 singles match, where Power fell 2-6, 6-1, 6-0.

At No. 1 and 5 singles, Bjerrehus and Janek were tied one set a piece and just starting their third set when the match was called, while Sherwood was trailing 7-6, 4-2 at No. 3 singles.

"We have a core of players returning next year and I would think that we would be the favorites at the beginning of the season. I think we definitely have an advantage over other teams next year since we are returning all but one of our players from this season. We will work hard in the offseason and do what we need to do to put ourselves in championship match again next year."

UIC 4, Cleveland State 0
Doubles:
1. Kovaleva/Craig (UIC) vs. Bjerrehus/Lazaris (CSU), 6-5 UF
2. Simonetti/Tsertsvadze (UIC) def. Bush/Power (CSU), 8-2
3. Knoppe/Hricistova (UIC) def. Sherwood/Janek (CSU), 8-4

Singles:
1. KOVALEVA, Mariya (UIC) vs. Bjerrehus, Catrine (CSU) 6-4, 3-6, unfinished
2. TSERTSVADZE, Teona (UIC) def. Lazaris, Maria (CSU) 7-5, 6-4
3. CRAIG, Haley (UIC) vs. Sherwood, Kara (CSU) 7-6, 4-2, unfinished
4. SIMONETTI, Elisa (UIC) vs. Janek, Nicole (CSU) 6-7, 6-0, unfinished
5. KNOPPE, Jana (UIC) def. Bush, Alexandra (CSU) 6-4, 6-3
6. SHARPLES, Kathryn (UIC) def. Power, Alex (CSU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-0