DETROIT (2/28/13) – The Detroit men's and women's tennis teams will be in action this Friday night at the Franklin Athletic Club as the women host Wayne State and the men square off with Duquesne starting at 7:00 pm.

Detroit Women
Detroit enters the match with a 2-3 record after blanking its previous two opponents. UDM shutout both Oakland (2/2) and Dayton (2/22) by a score of 7-0 in its' last two matches. Valery Kulikovskaya and Elena Strakhova lead the team with three wins so far as Kulikovskaya is 3-1 and has won her last three matches, while Strakhova is 3-2 with two-straight wins.

Detroit has three doubles pairs that have won their previous two matches led by Julia Fernandes and Strakhova at first doubles. The pairs of Chloe Karoub and Kulikovskaya along with Irina Slizovskaya and Raina Halabi are also both 2-0 on the season.

The Warriors
Wayne State is a combined 87-23 in singles and 51-13 in doubles play. Anne Li Briand leads the team with a perfect 17-0 record at fourth singles, while Julia Kamenko is 16-0 in the second position. Alex Poissant is 16-1 in third singles and Yahsha Moore is 12-4 at the first position. In doubles play, Moore and Li Briand have teamed-up for a 15-2 mark at first doubles and the pairs of Kamenko and Poissant and Tanya Joseph and Jessica Kruczek are both 14-4 in dual matches this year.

The Warriors (16-2) are on a 13-match regular season winning streak dating back to Sept. 12, when they lost to Northwood University, 5-4. This is WSU's first match of the spring season, not having played since they defeated Ferris State, 5-0, in the GLIAC Tournament on Oct. 28.

Detroit Men
UDM has won three-straight matches after dropping its first six. The Titans took care of Grand Valley State (2/1) and Wayne State (2/2) by a score of 6-1 and are riding high after they defeated Dayton (2/24) by a 5-2 tally.

Freshman Rafael Orantes leads the team with five wins in the dual match season, while senior Chris Cheung has a recorded four wins and has won his previous two matches. Cesar Escobar Serrano is 3-0 after returning to singles action following an early season injury that held him out of the singles lineup until Feb. 1. Serrano currently has 50 career singles wins, five shy of the all-time Titans' record held by current UDM women's head coach Pjotrs Necajevs with 55.

The doubles pairs of Jay Joshi and Pablo Nunez are 3-0 at second doubles, dropping only six sets in their previous three matches, including an 8-0 shutout at Wayne State. The pairs of Mike Basha and Alex Latosinsky and Cheung and Serrano have both recorded three wins on the season. Cheung sits within one win of Anthony Granssadonia ('89-'91) for most career doubles wins as he has tallied 42 wins over his career with teammate Latosinsky right behind him with 41 career triumphs.

The Dukes
Duquesne is 7-3 on the year, but is 2-2 away from Pittsburgh. DU has lost two of its previous three matches with the lone win coming in a 5-2 victory on the road against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 22. Duquesne dropped its last match against Buffalo, 5-1, on March 23.

Duquesne is led by youth with only one senior and a pair of juniors on the roster. Sophomore Alex Aleman leads the team with a 6-2 record with five of his wins coming at fourth singles, where he holds a record of 5-1. Junior Max Rubin is 5-3 at third singles and freshman Harry Walshe has recorded five victories at the sixth position. In doubles play, Aleman and Pete Carpenter are 5-1 at first doubles and lone senior Ben Klass and sophomore Rich Robbie lead the team with six wins at third singles.

Detroit's men's tennis team will open Horizon League play on the road when they travel to Youngstown State on March 24 and Cleveland State the following day, while the women's team will head to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne on March, 13 before returning to Detroit to battle Butler on March, 17.