EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Cleveland State women's tennis team faced a tough Michigan State team Friday afternoon, falling to the Spartans, 7-0. The match, which was broadcast live on RadioTennis.com, put the Vikings at 0-3 overall this season.
"I thought we came out and played some strong doubles today, we definitely had chances to pick up the doubles point at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots today, but just weren't able to close out the matches," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "In singles, we need to focus on not digging ourselves a hole, and getting ahead early on so that we don't have to work so hard to pick up points. I know our doubles play will improve tomorrow and hopefully we can work on getting out to an early lead in the singles matches. If we do that and continue to improve throughout the season this will be a tough team to beat."
During doubles play, the highlight for CSU came at the No. 3 spot, as the duo of Mathilde Orange and Ellen Folkers were battling with a 5-5 tie against their Spartan opponent until the match was called when MSU picked up the doubles point.
In singles, Alex Bush had the best showing for the Vikings, as she pushed her MSU opponent to the limit during the second set, forcing the Spartan to a 7-5 second-set victory after dropping the first set 6-2.
"After going into the first three matches as the underdog on paper, we should now be evenly matched against our opponents and really be able to show what we are capable of. Tomorrow we face a tough Ball State team – that recently played Michigan State – so it will be interesting to see what we can do tomorrow," Etzkin said.
The Vikings will continue their four-match roadswing at Ball State tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 1) afternoon, facing the Cardinals at 1:00 p.m.
Michigan State 7, Cleveland State 0
Doubles:
1) Bohrer/Faulkner (MSU) def. Sherwood/Bush (CSU) 6-1
2) Meyers/Gruber (MSU) def. Gbadamosi/Power (CSU) 6-4
3) Trouillot/Zelechonok (MSU) vs. Orange/Folkers (CSU) 5-5, unfinished
Singles:
1) Marina Bohrer (MSU) def. Princess Gbadamosi (CSU) 6-1, 6-2
2) Erin Faulkner (MSU) def. Kara Sherwood (CSU) 6-3, 6-1
3) Catherine Parenteau (MSU) def. Victoria Bensimon (CSU) 6-0, 6-0
4) Olga Chernova (MSU) def. Alex Bush (CSU) 6-2, 7-5
5) Emily Meyers (MSU) def. Mathilde Orange (CSU) 6-3, 6-1
6) Athena Trouillot (MSU) def. Ellen Folkers (CSU) 6-1, 6-3
