Feb. 24, 2010
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's tennis team continues its six-match homestand when the Vikings host three matches at River Oaks Racquet Club this weekend. The Vikings will entertain Bowling Green at 7:00 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 26) and then host Toledo (10:00 a.m.) and Oakland (2:00 p.m.) on Sunday, Feb. 28.
"It was great playing our first two home matches last weekend and we look forward to continued success at home over the next two weeks," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We have not beaten Bowling Green since I've been here, but I know we are at the level now to get it done. We set a goal to finish in the top three in our conference this year and UIC, who finished firsts last year, just beat Bowling Green, 6-1, so our goal setting will be tested this weekend."
The weekend is big for Etzkin on a coaching level as he is one win shy of reaching 100 career wins with the CSU women's team. Already the all-time winningest coach in school history, Etzkin is 99-101 in eight seasons at the helm.
"It will be special when I reach the milestone, but I guess it just means that I have been coaching for a long time," Etzkin said. "Really, it's a testament to some great players who have come through the program and go out and produce on a day-to-day basis."
CSU opened its home slate by splitting a pair of matches on Saturday (Feb. 20), falling to Akron (7-0) before coming back to blank Robert Morris (7-0).
The split kept the Vikings overall record at .500 (5-5) this spring, quite an accomplishment considering CSU dropped its first four matches of the season, including three to Big Ten schools.
"Although we didn't get on the scoreboard against Akron, I thought we had several competitive matches," Etzkin said. "It's matches like those that are going to help us down the road with the way we hung in there and battled. It was really good to see how we were able to come back strong against Robert Morris to."
Sophomore Catrine Bjerrehus put up a good battle at No. 1 singles against a nationally-ranked player before falling, 6-4, 6-4.
CSU did not lose a match against the Colonials, losing just three games in the three doubles matches and only four games during singles play.
Maria Lazaris picked up her team-leading 10th victory of the season with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles. Sanda Bjelan (No. 4) and Charlotte Gibbons (No. 5) also picked up 6-0, 6-0 wins against the Colonials.
Following this weekend's contests, the Vikings will be back in action on Sunday (March 7) when CSU opens Horizon League play by hosting Youngstown State at 2:00 p.m. at River Oaks Racquet Club.
