Valpo's Schorsch, YSU's Lackova Earn #HLTennis Honors

INDIANAPOLIS –Valparaiso freshman Jeffrey Schorsch (Perrysburg, Ohio) is the Horizon League men’s tennis Player of the Week, while Youngstown State freshman Dominika Lackova (Bratislava, Slovakia) is the Horizon League women’s tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 17-23.

The Valparaiso men’s tennis team defeated Western Michigan for the first time in program history 4-3 at the West Hills Athletic Club in Kalamazoo, Mich. The two squads split singles matches and the winning point was decided by two doubles victories for the Crusaders. The following day, Valparaiso fell to Big-Ten foe No.29 Northwestern 6-1.

Schorsch went undefeated in his matches against the Broncos at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles. In singles play he had a straight-set victory against Nadin Indre 6-2, 6-4. With fellow freshman Charlie Emhardt, the duo won a tiebreaker match over Jim Beckwith and Ruben Greiner 8-7 (7-3). On Sunday, Schorsch collected the sole point for the Crusaders defeating his second nationally-ranked opponent this season. He collected the victory at No. 1 singles versus Northwestern’s No. 81 Sam Shropshire 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Youngtown State won both of its matches as the team traveled south to Florida for competition. On Thursday, the Penguins defeated Florida Atlantic 4-3 at the Patch Reef Park. The squad then collected another close 4-3 victory taking on FIU Saturday afternoon at the FIU Tennis Courts.

Lackova helped the Penguins overcome two 3-0 deficits with two singles victories at No. 4 singles. Against Florida Atlantic, the freshman won in straight-sets over Catalina Ene 6-3, 6-4. In the following match at Florida International, Lackova collected another straight-set victory defeating FIU’s Tina Mohorcic 6-3, 7-5.

Valparaiso takes a break from competition until its spring trip in Orlando, Fla. where the team will compete in six matches over a six-day span. Youngstown State travels back north to take on IPFW at the Boardman Tennis Center Saturday, March 1 with a 4 p.m. EST start time.

Top Men’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Leopold Gomez Islinger, Green Bay (So.)—Won at No. 2 singles and No. 3 doubles in a 7-0 victory against South Dakota State.
Sebastian Hagn, Youngstown State (Sr.)—Went undefeated in singles and doubles play against IPFW and Carnegie Mellon. Also won his first No. 1 singles match of the 2014 campaign.
Matt Kuelker, Cleveland State (Sr.)—Went 2-0 in singles play over the weekend against IPFW and Oberlin. He became the seventh Viking to reach 70 career singles wins.

Top Women’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Lauren Golick, Cleveland State (Fr.)—Picked up a victory in her first match back from injury and was one of two Vikings to earn a point against Toledo.
Jana Knoppe, UIC (Sr.)—Went undefeated in singles and doubles play taking on Grand Canyon and Illinois State. She also competed at No. 3 singles for the first time this season in the match against Illinois State.
Elena Strakhova, Detroit (Sr.)—Won two singles and one doubles match over the weekend against Duquesne and Grand Canyon to help the Titans go 1-1.

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
Feb. 17: Jeffrey Schorsch, Valparaiso

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
Feb. 17: Dominika Lackova, Youngstown State