Season Preview VideoDETROIT (1/15/16) – The University of Detroit Mercy women's tennis team kicks off the spring season Sunday, hosting Bowling Green State University for a 6 p.m. match from the Franklin Athletic Club in Southfield, Mich.
Detroit returns six of seven players from last year's record-setting team. A season ago, the Titans set a school-record with 16 wins as they went 16-9 overall, 7-1 in the Horizon League, and finished runner-up in the HL Championship.
The Titans feature a roster full of upperclassmen, with three seniors and three juniors. Five of the six have earned all-conference honors at some point in their collegiate careers, setting the bar very high heading into the season. Detroit also adds newcomer
Iris Thioux, who is expected to see plenty of action on the court.
Second Team All-Horizon League selections last season, senior
Valeryia Kulikovskaya and junior
Anna Davydova are back to lead the team. Kulikovskaya tallied 11 singles wins and nine doubles wins in 2015, while Davydova tied a school record with 26 wins.
Bolstering the strong roster are seniors
Irina Slizovskaya and Nino Sujashvilli. Slizovskaya posted an 18-win season in singles a year ago, with Sujashvilli picking up 15 wins.
Juniors
Viktoria Laskutova and
Nynke Van Der Goot are also back, with each posting 15 and 13-win seasons, respectively.
The match against BGSU will be Detroit's first since the ITA Regional Championships in October.
The Falcons had a successful fall season with two top-flight champions in both singles and doubles. Each member of the team had at least one win for the Orange and Brown. The seven-player roster features one senior, two juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen.
Following Sunday's match, Detroit returns to action Friday, Jan. 22 at Western Michigan University. The match between the Titans and Broncos is set to begin at 1 p.m. from Kalamazoo, Mich.
2016 HORIZON LEAGUE PRESEASON POLLThe Titans were selected third and received one first-place vote in the 2016 Horizon League Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's coaches, the conference office announced Friday afternoon. The top-six teams in the HL standings will make the Horizon League Tournament, hosted by the University of Michigan in 2016.
| Women's HL Preseason Poll |
| Rank | School | Points (1st place votes) |
| 1 | Youngstown State | 80 (8) |
| 2 | Illinois-Chicago | 70 (1) |
| 3 | Detroit | 62 (1) |
| 4 | Cleveland State | 60 |
| 5 | Milwaukee | 43 |
| 6 | Wright State | 41 |
| 7 | Northern Kentucky | 36 |
| 8 | Oakland | 32 |
| 9 | Valparaiso | 16 |
| 10 | Green Bay | 10 |
