Green Bay's Gomez Islinger, Youngstown State's Brendel Collect #HLTennis Accolades

INDIANAPOLIS –Green Bay sophomore Leopold Gomez Islinger (Weiden, Germany) is the Horizon League men’s tennis Player of the Week, while Youngstown State sophomore Annina Brendel (Hagenbach, Germany) is the Horizon League women’s tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 10-16.

The Green Bay men’s tennis team competed in a full slate of matches over the weekend beginning with Western Michigan on Friday, IPFW on Saturday and finished Sunday with Toledo. The Phoenix lost to the Broncos 4-3 but rallied to collect victories over the Mastodons 5-2 and the Rockets 6-1.

Gomez Islinger dominated in singles competition, winning in straight-sets twice at No. 2 and once and No. 3. Against Western Michigan’s Ruben Greiner at No. 3 singles he won 6-4, 6-1 for the Phoenix. At No. 2 singles taking on Jonathan Raa of IPFW, Gomez Islinger collected the point for Green Bay with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. With teammate Rowan Isaaks at No. 3 doubles, the duo defeated the Mastodons’ Raa and Connor Andrews 6-2. To finish out weekend competition, the sophomore tallied his third singles win at No. 2 singles against Stjepan Sisko of Toledo 6-4, 6-4.

Youngstown State’s women’s tennis team took on Akron in a dual match on Saturday at the Boardman Tennis Center. The team collected its first win over Akron since 2000, winning 5-2 over the Zips.

At No. 3 singles, Brendel clinched the victory for the Penguins defeating Akron’s Martina Zerbola in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. The sophomore paired up with teammate Dominicka Lackova at No. 2 doubles to pick up an 8-5 win against the Zips’ Zerbola and Ksenia Berestetska.

The Penguins are back in action this week in Florida competing against Florida Atlantic Thursday, Feb. 20 and Florida International Saturday, Feb. 22. The Green Bay men’s team hosts South Dakota State on Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Western Racquet and Fitness Club at 11 a.m. EST.

Top Men’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Matt Kuelker, Cleveland State (Sr.): Picked up a singles win at No. 2 singles against Youngstown State. He was also part of the Cleveland State doubles team that won 8-1 at No. 2 doubles.
Silviu Mistreanu, Youngstown State (Jr.): Won the lone match for the Penguins against Cleveland State at No. 1 singles 6-1, 7-5.

Top Women’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Paige Heuer, Valparaiso (Fr.): Won her second match of the season at No. 3 singles after being down one set.
Jana Knoppe, UIC (Sr.): Won both of her singles matches against Michigan State and Western Michigan. With teammate Kathryn Sharples, won at No. 2 doubles against a duo from Michigan State.
Mathilde Orange, Cleveland State (So.): Picked up Cleveland State’s lone point against Bowling Green winning at No. 4 singles.

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
Feb. 10: Leopold Gomez Islinger, Green Bay

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
Feb. 10: Annina Brendel, Youngstown State