CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State women's tennis team opened Horizon League play Friday afternoon, picking up a 6-1 victory over Oakland.
"This was a great match today, we definitely showed our toughness throughout the lineup and I'm so proud of how we were able to keep fighting until the very end," head coach Frank Polito said. "Doubles got us off to a great start, with our No. 3 team playing well and setting the tone before our No. 1 team was able to close it out and get us on the board early."
The Vikings were able to pick up the early doubles point against Oakland, picking up matching 6-4 wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. Oihane Vicario and Tereze Vevere got on the board first at No. 3 doubles, while Klara Mrcela and Sima Heren picked up the win at the top of the lineup.
With their win at No. 1 doubles, Mrcela and Heren are now tied for the team-lead with nine doubles wins so far this spring.
Oakland was able to even the match after picking up the first singles point of the match at the No. 1 spot, but Heren quickly put the Vikings back on top with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles.
Bethany Yauch then gave Cleveland State a 3-1 lead following a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 6 spot, before Mrcela clinched the match for the Vikings a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles.
Yauch now owns a team-best 19-10 singles record this year, while she also leads the team with 12 singles wins during dual match play.
Cleveland State picked up the final two points of the match at No. 5 and No. 4 singles then, with Vevere earning a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win at the No. 5 spot, and Selma Tounsi posting a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(8) victory at No. 4 singles.
"Sima set the tone for us in singles with a quick win on her court, and although it got a bit tight after that we were resilient and fought back to pick up the 6-1 victory. We had players sick and injured throughout the lineup, and they really battled today and pushed through everything they had going on to help us get a great team win. The fight that we had today is what it's going to take for us to win a championship this year, and I'm excited to see what is next for this team."
Cleveland State will return to action next weekend, traveling to IUPUI on Saturday, April 9 and Northern Kentucky on Sunday, April 10.
