Vikings Continue Road Swing at Toledo and Western Michigan

Vikings Continue Road Swing at Toledo and Western Michigan

Feb. 24, 2011

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The women's tennis team continues its busy mid-season stretch when the Vikings play two more matches away from home this week, starting with a 6:00 p.m. match at Toledo on Friday (Feb. 25) and concluding with a 6:00 p.m. contest at Western Michigan on Saturday (Feb. 26).

The two matches continue a string of five straight road contests for the Vikings, which also includes 10 of 11 away from home.

"This is a very important stretch of tennis that we are playing," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We have a lot of matches on the road so we will have to come out with a lot of energy and intensity, especially since we are playing some very good teams."

The Vikings enter the week with a 3-5 record this spring after dropping a 5-2 decision at Michigan State on Saturday (Feb. 19) and a 7-0 match at Indiana on Sunday (Feb. 20).

"I thought we competed very well against Michigan State and put up a good fight," Etzkin said. "It was a very fun match for us as there were some opportunities for us to put four points on the board, but we couldn't close out some points and sets. It was another step forward for us as a team and a match that we will learn from moving forward.

"Unfortunately, the Indiana match on Sunday wasn't as close. We played well, but they were too much for us."

The sophomore duo of Maria Lazaris and Nicole Janek stood out against the Spartans as both won their singles matches. Lazaris earned a straight set win at No. 6 singles, while Janek won a three set contest at No. 5.

The freshmen duo of Alex Bush and Alex Power gave CSU an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles, but the Spartans won at the other two positions to earn the point.

Lazaris played well again on Sunday and was the only Viking to push her singles match to three sets before falling.

Bush continues to lead the Vikings with a 12-6 singles mark this season, while Mengdi Liu has 11. Janek is third on the team with nine wins and Kara Sherwood fourth with eight victories.

Following the two matches this weekend, CSU is back in action for a pair of contests next week, playing at Akron at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday (March 6) before hosting Oakland at 5:00 p.m. later the same day.