DETROIT (3/27/2014) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's tennis team will play its first home match since Jan. 24 as the Titans will host two doubleheaders this weekend. Detroit will play Cleveland State Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET and then Sunday will match up with Youngstown State at 4:00 p.m. Both matches will be doubleheaders with the UDM men's team and all matches will be played at the Franklin Athletic Club in Southfield.
Horizon League Split
The Titans (6-5, 1-1 Horizon League) opened their Horizon League schedule last weekend with two matches in Wisconsin. On Saturday, March 22, Detroit played at Green Bay winning 6-1 and then followed that with a narrow 4-3 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday. UDM started against Green Bay by capturing the doubles point and then earning five singles wins. Detroit earned all its points against Milwaukee with three singles wins.
Cleveland State
The Vikings (4-10, 1-0 HL) are coming off a 6-1 home win over Wright State on March 23. For the season, Cleveland State recorded a 9-0 win over McMurry (Division II) on March 9, squeaked out a 4-3 win over Saint Louis on Feb. 28, and also had a 5-2 road win at IPFW on Feb. 9. CSU has won two of its last three and three of its last six outings. Alex Bush, Princess Gbadamosi, and Mathilde Orange all have seven dual-match singles victories to lead the Vikings.
Youngstown State
The Penguins (6-9, 1-0 HL) will play at Oakland on Saturday before taking on the Titans Sunday in Southfield. Youngstown State is also coming off a 6-1 home win over Wright State. The Penguins and Raiders played on March 22. Prior to that, YSU has lost its last six matches. Youngstown State started the year winning five of eight matches as they beat Dayton 7-0, won over Duquesne 6-1, and took down Akron 5-2. The other two wins came on a trip to Florida with a 4-3 win over Florida Atlantic and posted a second 4-3 win but this time over Florida International which was the team's last win back on Feb. 22. Marta Burak and Dominika Lackova lead the team with 10 singles wins in 2014 dual matches.
The Match-ups
The Titans fell to both Cleveland State and Youngstown State in 2013. Detroit played on the road for both contests last year falling 4-3 to Youngstown State and then 5-2 to Cleveland State. Detroit finished 5-2 in the Horizon league a year ago and the CSU and YSU matches were the lone Horizon League losses for Detroit. The two matches were also the first two matches of Horizon League play in 2013. In 2012, UDM beat Youngstown State 6-1 but fell 4-3 to Cleveland State both in the regular season and in the HL Semifinals. The last win for Detroit over Cleveland State came back in 2010 in the Horizon League Semifinals when the third-seeded Titans won 4-1 over the No. 2 seeded Vikings. 2010 also marked the last time Detroit advanced to the Horizon League Championship match as the Titans fell to the eventual champions from UIC.
Coming Soon
The year is quickly coming to a close with just four regular season matches remaining and all are Horizon League matches. The next contest for Detroit will be on April 5 in Dayton, Ohio as the Titans will take on Wright State in the final scheduled road match of the year for UDM. The match time is yet to be determined and will be posted on DetroitTitans.com as soon as it is available.
Social Media
Titan fans don't forget to follow #DetroitsCollegeTeam on Twitter and Instagram at @DetroitTitans and remember to like the Titans on Facebook. Also, look for Detroit Titans Women's Tennis on Facebook.
