Sept. 15, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Contact: Kevin Zeise
Sept. 15, 2003
CLEVELAND - The Cleveland State women's tennis team will open the fall schedule when it hosts St. Francis on Saturday at noon at the Malaga Tennis Center on the campus of CSU. The men are idle this week after opening last weekend with some strong performances at the St. Bonaventure Invitational in Olean, N.Y.
About the Viking Women
The Vikings add three new faces to the squad in 2003 to go along with a trio of returnees. Rebekah Bicksler (Lexington, Ohio/Mansfield Christian) and Paulina Reyes (Puebla, Mexico/Institudo D'Amicis) are back for their junior and senior seasons, respectively, while Amanda Cerny (North Olmsted, Ohio) also returns for her second season. Last year, the Vikings struggled with a lack of numbers, and finished with a record of 2-24, and 0-7 in the Horizon League.
Men's Tennis Shows Well At SBU
The men's tennis team opened the 2003-04 season at the St. Bonaventure Invitational on Friday-Sunday, and came away with several strong finishes. Brett Aronson (Ashtabula, Ohio/Lakeside) opened his Cleveland State career with a perfect 3-0 mark in singles, and finished the weekend 2-1 in doubles with teammate Chris Whitten (Chardon, Ohio). Jay Tee (Davenport, Iowa/Central), last season's Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, went unbeaten in doubles play at No. 1 doubles to lead all Vikings. On the weekend, every member of the Viking roster picked up at least one singles win, as CSU finished 9-9 in singles matches and 5-4 in doubles play.
Head Coach Brian Etzkin
In his second season as head coach of the Viking tennis program, Brian Etzkin has compiled a combined record of 11-43 (9-19 men, 2-24 women). Etzkin has been been given the task reviving the men's tennis program, which returned in 2000 after an eight-year hiatus. Prior to his arrival at Cleveland State, Etzkin spent two years as an assistant at Western Illinois before being named an assistant coach at Michigan State.
National Pride
The Vikings have a number of players from around North America on both the men's and women's roster this season. The men feature Jay Tee from Iowa and Eric Winn and Paul Haley (San Antonio, Texas/Judson) from Texas. The women's team, meanwhile, adds Sarah Galon (Wahiawi, Hawaii/Leillehua) and Marcie Capozziello (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) to go along with senior Paulina Reyes.
Up Next
Cleveland State's women will face UW-Green Bay in the Horizon League opener on Sun., Sept. 28 at the Malaga Tennis Center at 10 a.m. The next match for the men's team will be on Oct. 4, 2003, when they will face UW-Green Bay in Valparaiso, Ind., in their first league match of the season.
