Horizon League Tennis Championship Central
Women's Bracket
Men's Bracket
 
DETROIT (4/22/2015) -- Champions will be crowned this weekend in Horizon League tennis as the University of Detroit Mercy men's and women's tennis teams vie for their first-ever league titles.
 
The Horizon League Championships will take place at the Schwartz Tennis Center on the campus of Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, from April 24-26. As long as there are no weather issues, all of the men's matches are set for 11:00 a.m., while the women's matches will be at 3:00 p.m.
 
Tickets to the event are set at $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for youth (18 & under) & seniors (65 & over). Weekend passes can also be purchased for $12.00 for adults and $8.00 for youth & seniors. Horizon League students are FREE with valid ID. 
 
The Titan women will look to accomplish a few things this weekend, most importantly, win their first-ever championship. Detroit (15-8) is the second seed in the championship after going 7-1 in league play with its only loss to the regular season champion Youngstown State. The second seed gave the red, white and blue a bye to the HL Championship semifinals, the eight-straight year that it has made the semifinals. Detroit has twice reached the championship match falling in 2009 and 2010 to UIC.
 
With the bye, Detroit will play the winner of No. 3 Cleveland State and No. 6 Oakland on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Titans beat both of those teams on the road this year defeating CSU, 4-3, on the strength of winning the doubles point and three singles victories. UDM surged past Oakland in the Metro Series, 5-2, after posting triumphs in five of the six singles matches.
 
A win would send the Titans to the championship match and also give them win number 16 on the season, which would set a new school record. Sophomore Anna Davydova is also looking for a school record as she is 25-7 on the year and a perfect 8-0 in the Horizon League, playing at No. 3 and No. 4. Her next win would tie a school record for a single season.
 
Five other Titans have posted double-digit victories in singles with four of those having winning records in the conference. Junior Irina Slizovskaya is 17-15 and 4-3 in the league playing in the middle of the line-up, while freshman Sasha Nionova is 10-12 overall, but has won eight of her last 10 and is 6-2 in the conference, all at No. 1.
 
Sophomores Viktoria Laskutova (14-14, 5-2 HL) and Nynke Van Der Goot (12-12, 4-2 HL) have played well at the back end and junior Valeryia Kulikovskaya (11-19, 3-4 HL) has been steady at the top of the line-up. Junior Nino Sujashvili has been a force in doubles racking up 14 wins in team play.
 
The Detroit men (5-15, 1-5 HL) are returning to postseason play and will be the sixth seed, where the Titans will meet third-seeded Cleveland State on Friday at 11:00 a.m., in the quarterfinals. That match will feature live scoring by clicking here. The winner will then move into the semifinals to battle No. 2 Valparaiso on Saturday with that match also scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
 
UDM lost a tough 5-2 decision at Cleveland State earlier in the year. The Titans won the doubles point and put together a strong singles effort, winning at No. 1 and dropping three other matches in three sets.
 
The young Titan line-up features just two upperclassmen, four sophomores and a freshman. Sophomore Patryk Koscielski leads the team and is 12-11 overall and 2-4 in the HL, all at No. 1. He also has 10 doubles wins to top the team in that category too.
 
Freshman Nathan Ponton is 10-7 and 4-2 in the league, all at No. 2, while junior Rafael Orantes (9-11, 4-2 HL) and Kacper Stelmaszak (9-11, 2-4 HL) have nine wins apiece. Sophomores Ismail Kadyrov (8-10, 1-5 HL) and Chance Conley (6-12, 1-3 HL) and senior leader Jay Joshi (3-8, 0-2 HL) will all have a chance at helping the Titans advance. Conley has added seven wins in doubles and Joshi and Kadyrov have six apiece.
 
The Titans have made the HL Championship five times since 2008, and that includes a trip to the semifinals in 2013 as No. 6 Detroit upended third-seeded Youngstown State. Detroit has one runner-up appearance to its credit finishing second to Notre Dame in 1991 as the Titans recorded 53 points to the Fighting Irish's 78 back when it was based on a point system instead of dual play.