Cleveland State's Shabib, Youngstown State's Sadovnikova Collect #HLTennis Honors

INDIANAPOLIS –Cleveland State junior Ali Shabib (Copenhagen, Denmark) is the Horizon League men’s tennis Player of the Week, while Youngstown State senior Margarita Sadovnikova (Ufa, Russia) is the Horizon League women’s tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 3-9.

Cleveland State split weekend play on the road with a 5-2 loss to Binghamton Friday before bouncing back the following day to defeat St. Bonaventure 6-1. Shabib went undefeated in the two matches collecting wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles.

At No. 2 singles against Binghamton, Shabib defeated Ismael Dinia in straight-sets 6-3, 6-0. With teammate Joe VanMeter at No. 1 doubles, the duo collected a 6-5 (2) victory over Robin Lesage and Dinia. The next day facing St. Bonaventure, Shabib collected his second victory at No. 2 singles on the weekend 6-4, 5-6 (5), 6-0 taking on Elliot Fanshel. The pair of VanMeter and Shabib tabbed another No. 1 doubles victory against Ramazan Nureev and Fanshel 6-3.

Youngstown State fell to Pittsburgh Friday 5-2 but finished off weekend play with a 6-1 victory over Duquesne on the road. Sadovnikova was unbeaten in No. 1 singles play and captured a No. 1 doubles win on Saturday.

Against Pittsburgh at No. 1 singles, Sadovnikova collected a straight-set victory for the Penguins over Taylor Washington 6-4, 6-3. She continued her strong singles play taking on Judy Li of Duquesne at No. 1 singles with another straight-set victory 6-1, 6-3. At No. 1 doubles with teammate Marta Burak, the team defeated the Dukes’ Sarah Shashura and Spencer Caravaggio 6-1.

The Vikings men’s team hosts Youngstown State in their first Horizon League match of the year, facing the Penguins at 11:00 a.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 16. The match will take place at the Chagrin Valley Athletic Club in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The Youngstown State women’s team plays its first home match of the year, hosting Akron at the Boardman Tennis Center Saturday, Feb. 15 at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Top Men’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Dave Bacalla, Valparaiso (Fr.): Went 2-0 in singles, including one win at No. 1 singles. Also went 3-0 at No. 1 doubles, dropping just six games in three matches.
Jay Joshi, Detroit (Jr.): Picked up two victories against IPFW while winning at No. 2 singles in a strong 6-1, 6-5 (4) performance. He also won at No. 3 doubles 6-5 (4) in the Titan’s 4-3 loss.
Michael Tenzer, Green Bay (Jr.): Went 4-0 at No. 1 doubles with teammate Howard Scott, including a win over a No. 8 Drake doubles duo. Tenzer also went 2-1 in singles action, playing at No. 1 and No. 2.

Top Women’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Jana Knoppe, UIC (Sr.): Collected singles wins at No. 4 singles against Toledo and Bowling Green.
Viktoria Laskutova, Detroit (Fr.): Went 2-0 in the match against Toledo picking up victories at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles.
Mathilde Oragne, Cleveland State (So.): Went 2-0 in singles play at No. 5 singles and 1-1 at No. 3 doubles in matches against Northern Illinois and Ball State.

Men’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Jan. 20: Silviu Mistreanu, Youngstown State
Jan. 27: Jorg van der Vloet, Cleveland State
Feb. 3: Ali Shabib, Cleveland State

Women’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Jan. 13: Lauren Smith, Wright State
Jan. 20: Nino Sujashvili, Detroit
Jan. 27: Jana Knoppe, UIC
Feb. 3: Margarita Sadovnikova, Youngstown State