DETROIT (3/26/2015) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's and women's tennis teams will both head to the road this weekend as the Titans take on Cleveland State and Youngstown State.
The men will battle Cleveland State on Friday at 7:00 p.m., at the Chagrin Valley Athletic Club in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, while the women will match-up with the Vikings on Saturday at 5:00 p.m., at the Paramount Tennis Club in Westlake, Ohio. On Sunday, both squads will hit the courts against Youngstown State at 9:00 a.m., at the Boardman Tennis Center.
On the women's side, both CSU and YSU received three first-place votes apiece in the Horizon League's Preseason Poll, with the Penguins picked first with 58 total points and the Vikings second at 57. Both of those programs made the HL Championship last season – with Youngstown State winning its first-ever conference championship – and Cleveland State eliminated Detroit in the semifinals.
Detroit has won four in a row and is 10-7 overall and 2-0 in the Horizon League. UDM swept the conference action last week with a 7-0 triumph over Green Bay and a 4-0 decision over Milwaukee. Sophomore
Anna Davydova has won six in a row in singles and leads the team with 19 wins, including a HL-high 13 in dual play. Freshman
Sasha Nionova has won four in a row at the top spot and is the reigning Player of the Week, while junior
Irina Slizovskaya is second on the team with 14 singles wins.
CSU is 3-10 overall and 1-0 in league play as it defeated Wright State, 5-2. Victoria Bensimon tops the team with a 13-10 record as the Vikings No. 1 netter, while Princess Gbadamosi is second on the team with 11 singles victories.
YSU is 8-8 on the season and 1-0 in the league with a 6-1 tally over Wright State. Prior to the match with UDM, the Penguins will host Oakland. Dominika Lackova leads the team with a 16-11 record, mostly at No. 2, while Marta Burak and Annina Brendel have 13 wins apiece playing No. 1 and No. 3, respectively.
The men's team enters the weekend at 4-9 overall and 0-1 in the Horizon League. A couple of the losses were to ranked teams, while the Titans fell to the Big Ten's Michigan State, 4-0, last Sunday. UDM got a big boost with freshman
Nathan Ponton returning to the line-up after missing some time with an injury. He teamed up with sophomore
Patryk Koscielski – the Titan leader with nine singles wins – to beat the Spartans No. 3 doubles tandem for the second time this year.
Cleveland State – who was picked to finish second in the preseason poll - is 8-5 on the season and 1-0 in the league as the Vikings upended the Raiders, 5-2. Joe VanMeter – CSU's No. 1 player - and Manuel Bellutti lead the team with 16 singles victories, while three other players have double-digit wins.
Youngstown State is 5-9 and 1-0 in the HL with a 6-1 score over WSU. Remi Chancerel is 16-11 on the year with six tallies at No. 1, and Hugo Morth and Dawoud Kabli have nine wins each playing No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
There will be no live stats for any of the matches and results will be posted as soon as they are available.
