Trip to Valparaiso and UIC Up Next for Women's Tennis

Posted: Apr 02, 2010

April 2, 2010

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's tennis team will put its undefeated Horizon League record on the line with two road matches this weekend.

The trip begins with a 3:15 p.m. match at Valparaiso on Saturday (April 3) and concludes with a 10:00 a.m. match at UIC on Sunday, April 4.

The match at Valpo will be played at Homewood-Flossmorr Racquet and Fitness Club in Homewood, Ill., on the south side of Chicago. The match was originally scheduled to be played outdoors, but was moved indoors due to the forecast.

CSU enters the weekend with an 11-10 overall record and a perfect 3-0 mark in league action.

"These will be our first league matches away from home so we are going to have to go out and try and control the match right from the start," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We defeated Valpo last year and should be favored against them again this year. UIC beat us 6-1 last year, but I think we have been able to close the gap and this has a chance to be a very tight match."

CSU moved back above .500 by winning all three of its matches last weekend, including 6-1 wins over league foes Milwaukee and Green Bay. The Vikings also defeated Case Western, 7-0.

Sophomore Catrine Bjerrehus won all three of her singles matches and all three of her doubles contests to earn Horizon League Player of the Week honors.

Bjerrehus and senior Charlotte Gibbons have teamed to win 10 consecutive doubles matches at the No. 1 position.

"Cat and Charlotte have really been playing some good doubles over the last few weeks," Etzkin said. "They are really feeding off each other and hitting some great winners and hopefully will be able to keep that intensity up this weekend.

"Overall, I have been pleased with the way our doubles play has continued to improve this spring. The doubles point is going to be huge in several of our upcoming league matches and we have to continue to win that point."

Maria Lazaris (No. 2), Gibbons (No. 3) and Nicole Janek (No. 4) each won all three of their singles matches last weekend.

Lazris continues to lead the team with 17 victories, while Bjerrehus is close behind with 15. Sanda Bjelan and Janek have each won 14 singles matches for the balanced Viking squad.

Bjerrehus, Gibbons, Janek and Lazaris are all undefeated in league singles matches (3-0).

Following this week's matches, the Vikings will return home to host Wright State at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday (April 10) and Butler on Sunday (April 11) at 10:00 a.m.