Cleveland State's Folkers Collects Horizon League Tennis Weekly Honor

INDIANAPOLIS – Cleveland State’s sophomore Ellen Folkers (Netherlands) is the Horizon League women’s tennis Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 23-29.

Folkers posted a perfect 8-0 record this past weekend at the Spartan Invitational in both singles and doubles play. She went 4-0 in singles play in the C round-robin flight and 3-0 in the C doubles bracket with teammate Alex Bush to capture the title.

Folkers took on four Michigan State singles players in the round-robin flight achieving victories against Anna Zelechonok (6-2, 7-5), Christina Brown (6-2, 6-2), Emmy Virkus (7-5, 6-4) and Hilary Hager (6-2, 6-2).

In doubles play with Bush, the duo outmatched pairs from Michigan State (8-5), Toledo (8-6) and UIC (8-5) to place first in the C bracket. Folkers and Bush have a perfect season mark of 4-0 against their opponents.

The Vikings continue competition at the ITA Midwest Regional to finish off their fall season. The tournament will take place from Thursday, Oct. 10 through Monday, Oct. 14 at the University of Michigan.

Top Women’s Tennis Players of the Week:

Annina Brendel, Youngstown State (So.) – Won four singles matches in straight sets to win the flight B at the Wright State Shootout. Posted a 3-1 doubles mark with Carolyn Jesko, advancing to the semifinals.
Kristin Kurer, Milwaukee (Sr.) – Won both her singles and doubles flights at Northern Iowa. Won her singles flight with three impressive wins, including a pair over Missouri Valley Conference foes. Now up to 68 career singles wins, second on UWM’s all-time list.
Elene Strakhova, Detroit (Sr.) – Avenged a loss with teammate Nino Sujashvili against IUPUI in the quarterfinal round en route to second consecutive doubles championship.
Linsey Verstrepen, Wright State (Fr.) – Won flight A singles titles at Raider Shootout, picking up singles wins over Dayton, Detroit, Youngstown State and Northern Kentucky. Advanced to the doubles semifinal with wins over Oakland and Youngstown State.

Men’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Sept 16: Howard Scott, Green Bay

Women’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Sept. 16: Victoria Bensimon, Cleveland State
Sept. 23: Ellen Folkers, Cleveland State