DETROIT (2/5/16) – The University of Detroit Mercy women's tennis team looks to return to form Saturday with a road trip to Ball State University. The match is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. from the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center in Muncie, Ind.
SCOUTING THE TITANSDetroit returns six of seven players from last year's team, featuring an experienced roster with three seniors and three juniors. Five of the six have earned all-conference honors at some point in their collegiate careers. The Titans added one newcomer for the spring in freshman
Iris Thioux.
The Titans are 0-2 in the early going, with losses at Bowling Green State and Western Michigan. Juniors
Anna Davydova and
Nynke Van Der Goot lead the team with a win apiece in singles, while
Viktoria Laskutova and Thioux own Detroit's lone doubles win.
LAST TIME OUTThe Titans have not seen action since Jan. 22, when they finished on the wrong end of a 7-0 match at WMU.
Van Der Goot and Thioux put up a solid fight from the third position of doubles, but ultimately dropped a back-and-forth 6-4 decision. In singles, senior
Valeryia Kulikovskaya bounced back from a disappointing 6-1 loss in the opening set to record a hard-fought 7-5 win in the second, but fell in a narrow 6-3 third frame.
Thioux jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the opening set, before a furious rally gave WMU a 7-5 victory in the first singles set. WMU went on to win the second set, 6-1, and escape with a point.
Davydova fell in a tight affair, 6-3 and 7-5. Davydova clawed back with a strong second frame, but could not complete the comeback.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALSBall State is 1-1 through two matches this spring. The Cardinals fell, 5-2, at No. 44 Purdue, but bounced back with a 7-0 sweep against Butler.
The Cardinals are a combined 8-4 in singles, led top seeded Carmen Blanco, who is 2-0 from the top seed. Audrey Berger is also 2-0 from the fifth spot. In doubles, Ball State is 3-2, with the duos of Blanco and Rosalinda Calderon and Berger and Peyton Gollhofer each at 1-0.
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 |
ON TAPThe Titans will have a three-week break before returning to action against Northwestern Ohio from the Franklin Athletic Club.
