Successful Weekend of Fall Competition for Men's and Women's Tennis

Raider Shootout

Wright State Women’s Tennis

The Wright State women's tennis team wrapped up competition at the Raider Shootout Sunday at Thomas Cloud Park.

Raider freshman Linsey Verstrepen won the Flight A Singles title after picking up a default win over Northern Kentucky in the finals.

Wright State closes out the fall portion of its schedule at the USTA/ITA Great Lakes Regional in Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 10-15.

Doubles Results

Back Draw

Burak/Sadovnikova (Youngstown State) def. Elaine Cloern/Linsey Verstrepen 8-4
Jesko/Brendel (Youngstown State) def. Tori Turner/Vanessa Madrigal 8-7
Celis/Guy (Oakland) def. Lauren Smith/Aby Madrigal 8-7
Megan Brdicka/Megan McNamara def. Hornbarger/Marchant (Dayton) 8-6

Singles Results

Flight B Back Draw

Slizovskaya (Detroit) def. Tori Turner 6-1, 6-0
Halabi (Detroit) def. Vanessa Madrigal 7-5, 2-6, 10-5
Sabourin (Oakland) def. Chelsea Girgash 6-2,6-1
Fernandes (Detroit) def. Elaine Cloern 7-5, 6-4
Lauren Smith def. Marchant (Dayton)  6-4, 6-1
Liz Steingass led Filbrandt (Dayton) 6-2, 5-4 did not finish, rain
Aby Madrigal def. Guy (Oakland) 6-2, 6-1
Megan McNamara def. Herdina (Dayton) 6-0, 6-3

Flight A Singles Champion

Linsey Verstrepen (Wright State)
Flight B Singles Champion
Annina Brendel (Youngstown State)
Flight C Singles Champion
Sierra Nellessen & Nicole Soutar co-champions (Northern Kentucky)

Doubles Champions

Viktoria Slizovskaya/Nino Sujashvilli (Detroit)

Oakland Women’s Tennis

DAYTON, Ohio - Juliana Guevara and Karine Celis each won the back draw of their individual singles flights to lead the Oakland women's tennis team as they finished the final day of action at the WSU Raider Shootout, hosted by Wright State.

"Overall, we had a good weekend," said coach Heather Redshaw. "We had very solid singles play today from everyone."

Celis won the back draw of the "A" singles flight with a victory over Dayton's Carly Peck 6-4 and 6-2, while Guevara won the back draw of the "C" singles flight with a win over Youngstown State's Gimena Puppo 6-1 and 6-2.

In other singles action, Cam Sabourin defeated WSU's Chelsea Girgash 6-2 and 6-1, and Maxime Colen earned a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over IUPUI's Rachael Bridegroom. In doubles play, Elizabeth Guy and Celis won over the Raiders' Lauren Smith and Vanessa Madrigal 8-7 (1).

The Golden Grizzlies will be back on the court in two weeks when they travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. to compete in the Western Michigan Invitational Oct. 11-12.

Detroit Women’s Tennis

Dayton, Ohio (9/29/13) – Irina Slizovskaya and Sujashvili of the University of Detroit Mercy women's tennis team reeled in their second consecutive doubles championship over the weekend in the Wright State women's fall tennis shootout.

Day One

On the opening day of the Wright State women's fall tennis shootout the Titans went perfect in doubles action. The senior tandem of Raina Halabi and Elena Strakhova defeated the duo of Sierra Nellessen and Yasmine Xantos from Northern Kentucky (8-2) in the first round while Julia Fernandes and Valery Kulikovskaya defeated Oakland's Puppo/Geuvara (8-5) in the second round of the main draw.

In singles play, five Titans picked up tournament opening wins. In the flight "A" main draw, Fernandes took down IUPUI's Rachel Swartwood in straight sets (7-6, 6-1), but came up short in a hard fought quarterfinals battle with host Wright State's Linsey Verstrepen (2-6, 6-1, 6-1).

In the flight "A" second round back draw, Irina Slizovskaya took down Dayton's Sammi Hornbarger in straight sets (7-6, 6-1), while Elena Strakhova defeated Dayton's Claire McNulty (6-3, 6-4) in the flight "B" beginning stage and went onto win her quarterfinals match against Wright State's Chelsea Girgash (6-3, 6-1) and Raina Halabi was victorious over Oakland's Santos (6-1, 6-4) in the flight "C" back draw.

Day Two

In the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw, Slizovskaya and Nino Sujashvili made quick work of IUPUI's Swartwood and Vanessa Whyte (8-3), before toughing it out in the semifinals over Elanie Cloern and Verstrepen of Wright State (8-7(6)).

To advance to the flight "B" championship match, Strakhova defeated Oakland's Elizabeth Guy (6-1, 6-0) in straight sets, while Halabi attempted to do the same, but dropped her flight "C" semifinals match (7-5, 6-2) to Northern Kentucky.

Day Three

On championship Sunday, the Titans had the opportunity to bring home a pair of titles. After winning the double championship last weekend in the Bowling Green Invitational, Slizovskaya and Sujashvili made it a repeat by conquering Northern Kentucky's Maria Voscekova and Danielle Donahue to take home their second consecutive doubles championship.

The attempt to bring home a second championship on the day fell short as Youngstown State's Annina Brendel defeated Strakhova in straight sets (6-2, 6-2).

UDM will get a weekend off before returning to action on Thursday, Oct. 10th in the ITA Midwest Regional.

Youngstown State Women’s Tennis

Dayton, Ohio - Youngstown State sophomore Annina Brendel won the Flight "B" Championship at the Wright State Raider Shootout which was held over the weekend Thomas Cloud Park. As a group the Penguins won 14 singles matches and nine doubles matches.

Brendel highlighted the way winning four matches in straight sets to win her Flight. In Sunday's championship, she defeated Detroit's Elena Strakhova 6-2, 6-2.

Head Coach Mickael Sopel said Brendel has been practicing extremely well and was happy to see that translate to the court.

"I am very proud of what Annina achieved," Sopel said. "She played great tennis throughout the weekend while being able to apply everything we worked on this last month at practice. It is exciting to see that the hard work she has been putting on every practice is already paying off."

Marta Burak won her first two singles matches to reach the Flight "A" semifinals where she lost a hard-set three-set match to WSU's Linsey Verstrepen, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Margarita Sadovnikova won her opening match before losing in three sets in the quarterfinals.

In Flight B with Brendel, Carolyn Jesko advanced to the quarterfinals before dropping her match in three sets. For the weekend, Jesko was 2-1. At Flight C, Gimena Puppo went 2-2.

In doubles play, Burak and Sadovnikova won their first two matches to reach the semifinals while Jesko and Brendel won twice to reach the quarterfinals. After being eliminated, each tandem won in the back draw.

The Penguins return to action on Oct. 10 when they will compete at the ITA Midwest Regionals.

Singles Results

Flight "A" Main Draw

Burak (YSU) def. Donahue (NKU) 4â€Â6, 6â€Â1, 6â€Â1
Sadovnikova (YSU) def. Celis (OAK) 6â€Â1, 6â€Â2

Flight "A" Main Draw Quarterfinals

Burak (YSU) def. Blum (OAK) 6â€Â1, 6â€Â1
Voscekova (NKU) def. Sadovnikova (YSU) 2â€Â6, 6â€Â3, 6â€Â4

Flight "A" Main Draw Seminfinals

Verstrepen (WSU) def. Burak (YSU) 3â€Â6, 7â€Â5, 6â€Â3

Flight "A" Back Draw

Sadovnikova (YSU) def. Cloern (WSU) 6â€Â4, 6â€Â4
Sadovnikova (YSU) def. Blum (OAK) 1-6, 6-3, 10-7
Burak (YSU) def. Whyte (IUPUI) 6-4, 7-5

Flight "B" Main Draw Results

Jesko (YSU) def. Filbrandt (UD) 6â€Â1, 6â€Â0
Brendel (YSU) def. Romeo (NKU) 6â€Â2, 6â€Â1

Flight "B" Main Draw Quarterfinals

Guy (OAK) def. Jesko (YSU) 6â€Â4, 4â€Â6, 6â€Â3
Brendel (YSU) def. Modesto (IUPUI) 6â€Â0, 6â€Â0

Flight "B" Semifinals

Brendel (YSU) def. A. Madrigal (WSU) 6â€Â1, 6â€Â3
Flight "B" Finals
Brendel (YSU) def. Elena Strakhova (DET) 6-2, 6-2

Flight "B" Back Draw

Jesko (YSU) def. Chelsea Girgash 6-0, 6-0
Modesto (IUPUI) def. Jesko (YSU) 6-0, 6-2

Flight "C" Main Draw Results

Nellessen (NKU) def. Puppo (YSU) 6â€Â3, 6â€Â3

Flight "C" Back Draw

Puppo (YSU) def. Megan McNamara (WSU) 6-4, 6-4
Puppo (YSU) def. Rebecca Phyle (OAK) 6â€Â3, 6â€Â3
Juliana Guevara (OAK) def. Puppo (YSU) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles Results

1st Round

Puppo (YSU)/Geuvara (OAK) def. Modesto/Bridegroom(IUPUI) - 8â€Â4
Jesko/Brendel (YSU) def. Steingass/Girgash (WSU) - 8â€Â5

2nd Round

Burak/Sadonikova (YSU) def. Romeo/Soutar (NKU) - 8â€Â2
Jesko/Brendel (YSU) def. Hornbarger/Marchant (UD) - 8â€Â5

Quarterfinals

Burak/Sadovnikova (YSU) def. Turner/V.Madrigal (WSU) 8â€Â7 (8)
Cloern/Verstrepen (WSU) def. Jesko/Brendel (YSU) 8â€Â0

Semifinals

Voscekova/Donahue (NKU) def. Burak/Sadovnikova (YSU) 8â€Â3
Back Draw Results
Puppo (YSU)/Geuvara (OAK) def. Brdicka/McNamara (WSU) – 8-5
Puppo(YSU)/Geuvara(OAK) def. Romeo/Soutar (NKU) – 8-3
Burak/Sadovnikova (YSU) def. Elaine Cloern/Linsey Verstrepen (WSU) 8-4
Jesko/Brendel (YSU) def. Tori Turner/Vanessa Madrigal (WSU) 8-7

Spartan Invitational

Cleveland State Women’s Tennis

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Cleveland State women's tennis team concluded play at the Spartan Invitational Sunday, winning six of their seven matches on the final day to capture a doubles title and a singles backdraw crown.

"We had a very good day on the courts, to win six of our seven matches on the final day was awesome," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Overall this was a great tournament for us, the team is getting better each time they go out and we played well with a depleted lineup once again. Ellen had an excellent weekend, going undefeated in singles and doubles to really lead the way for us. Everyone played great matches today for us, including Princess and Kara who had to win tiebreakers for their victories. We definitely have a team full of fighters and they never give up on any match, believing that they can earn the victory every time out."

The doubles title came from the duo of Alex Bush and Ellen Folkers in the C Bracket, as they picked up two victories on the final day over opponents from Toledo (8-6) and league foe UIC (8-5). For the weekend, the Viking tandem went 3-0, improving their season mark to a perfect 4-0.

Freshman Princess Gbadamosi earned CSU's backdraw title, competing in the A Singles Flight. After dropping her first match of the invitational, Gbadamosi came back to post three straight victories including a 6-7, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (7) win over IPFW's Mayu Sato in the consolation championship match.

Folkers also picked up another win in the C Singles Bracket Sunday, finishing the weekend with a 4-0 record in the round-robin bracket. Folker's final win came as a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Michigan State's Hilary Hager.

Cleveland State's final two victories came from Kara Sherwood and Victoria Bensimon, as they both picked up consolation singles victories. Sherwood earned a 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (6) victory over Katelyn Nguyen of Toledo in the A Bracket, while Bensimon posted a 6-3, 6-0 win over Michigan State's Julianne Gruber in the B Flight.

The Vikings will now take a week off from competition to prepare for the ITA Midwest Regional – their final tournament of the fall season. The ITA Midwest Regional will take place from Thursday, Oct. 10 through Monday, Oct. 14 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.

CSU Results

A Singles

Princess Gbadamosi (CSU) def. Mayu Sato (IPFW), 6-7, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (7)
Kara Sherwood (CSU) def. Katelyn Nguyen (TOL), 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (6)

B Singles

Victoria Bensimon (CSU) def. Julianne Gruber (MSU), 6-3, 6-0
Helen Rabot (WIS) def. Mathilde Orange (CSU), 6-7, (2), 6-4, 1-0 (8)

C Singles

Ellen Folkers (CSU) def. Hilary Hager (MSU), 6-2, 6-2

C Doubles

Bush/Folkers (CSU) def. Pitt/Hal (TOL), 8-6
Bush/Folkers (CSU) def. Sharples/Lacerda (UIC), 8-5

UIC Women’s Tennis

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The UIC women's tennis team concluded its first tournament of the fall season Sunday at the Spartan Invitational.  During the three days of competition, the Flames collected eight individual wins and four victories in doubles against their opponents.

With singles and doubles split into A, B and C draws, seniors Mariana Palacios and Kathryn Sharples, sophomore Ann-Sophie Hahn and freshman Veronica Lacerda competed for UIC against opponents from Michigan State, Cleveland State, IPFW, Toledo and Wisconsin, while Akron was also present.

Palacios and Hahn combined in Draw B doubles and came away with wins in their first two matches.  The duo took down IPFW's Kristine Lindal and Marcy Huck, 8-7 (1), before taking an 8-3 win against Cleveland State's Mathilde Orange and Kara Sherwood.  The wins led the pair to the championship match, but Palacios and Hahn fell in a close match to Toledo's Chrissy Coffman and Mackenzie Bowman, 9-8 (9).

Sharples and Lacerda were positioned in Draw C doubles, where they took down Michigan State's Christina Brown and Emmy Virkus, 8-2, and went on to collect an 8-3 victory over IPFW's Bianca Avram and Sonya Sorokina.  While competing in the championship match of their bracket, Sharples and Lacerda were unable to fend off Cleveland State's Alex Bush and Ellen Folkers and went down, 8-5.

While competing in Draw A singles, Palacios fell in three sets in her first match to Toledo's Pia Rygh, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Sharples dropped a 6-0, 6-3 decision to Michigan State's Erin Faulkner.  Into the west consolation, Palacios suffered a 7-6 (1), 6-3 loss to Cleveland State's Princess Gbadamosi and Sharples went down to IPFW's Mayu Sato, 6-4, 6-3.

The pair then headed to two additional consolation brackets and won both of their matches.  Palacios defeated IPFW's Ella Norgren, 6-4, 6-2, and Sharples took out IPFW's Mila Shustova, 7-5, 7-5, in the south bracket, before taking to the southeast consolation where Palacios came away with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Shustova and Sharples claimed a 6-0, 6-0 win against Norgren.

The Flames were represented in Draw B singles by Hahn, who dropped her first match to Wisconsin's Anastasia Tipolskaya, 6-3, 6-3, before going on in the west consolation to take three matches to win the west title.  Hahn bested Toledo's Lexy Pitt, 7-5, 6-2, and advanced to take a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Bowman.  In her final match, Hahn claimed a straight-set 6-3, 6-0 victory over IPFW's Carlota Trevino.

Lacerda was set in Draw C singles, which was played in a round-robin format, and split her two matches, falling to Virkus, 6-3, 6-2, and winning in three sets to Michigan State's Hilary Hager, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1.

UIC is back in action next weekend, when it takes to the courts at Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., for the Wildcat Invitational.  Competition is scheduled to begin Friday and last through Sunday.

Northern Iowa Invitational | Milwaukee Women’s Tennis

WATERLOO, Iowa - Christina Colarossi and Kristin Kurer won their doubles flight while Kurer beat Colarossi in the final of their singles flight to wrap up play for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the Northern Iowa Invitational.

The doubles title came in the Panther Flight, where Colarossi and Kurer beat Klavdija Rebol and Amanda Dick of Drake, 8-3. In the Campanile Flight of singles play, Kurer claimed an 8-1 win over her teammate in an abbreviated title match.

Also on Sunday, Alysa Straub claimed third place in the UNI Flight by beating Madeline Jolly of Saint Louis 6-3, 6-2, while Aerielle Pendleton captured third place in the TC Flight with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Alexa Harrington of Upper Iowa.

Dana Shannon came up just short in her quest for a singles crown, falling in the final of the Gold Flight to Jordan Eggelston of Drake.

In doubles play, Straub and Hayley Marshall claimed third place in the Gold Flight with an 8-5 win over Mariel Ante and Maddie Johnson of Drake.

Other action on Sunday included Chelsea Bailey winning a consolation singles match, while Hayley Marshall fell in the back draw final of the Purple Flight.

Shannnon and Pendleton also lost the back draw doubles final of the Purple Flight.

Next weekend, UWM heads to Whitewater for more fall tournament action.

Valparaiso Fall Invitational | Valparaiso Men’s Tennis

The Valparaiso Fall Invitational concluded Saturday afternoon with five of the six flights going the way of the hosts.

The Crusaders swept the doubles finals in the morning session. Freshmen Dave Bacalla (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) and Charlie Emhardt (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) were 8-5 winners over Chicago State's Sergiu Muresan and Mario Noboa in the Flight A doubles championship.

In the Flight B doubles title match, Kyle Dunn (Fond du Lac, Wis./Fond du Lac) and Danny Oakes (Elburn, Ill./Saint Charles North) downed Huntington's team of Joseph Straznicky and Diego Inurruteggi to claim that bracket.

Valpo made it a perfect 3-for-3 in doubles play thanks to an 8-2 victory from sophomores Michael Savaglio (Kenosha, Wis./Mary D. Bradford) and Brian Hickey (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) in the Flight C doubles championship tilt over Olivet Nazarene's duo of Alef Guimaraes and Riley St. Clair.

In singles play, freshman Jeffrey Schorsch (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) suffered a semifinals defeat to Huntington's Vlad Khudziy 1-6, 6-2, 10-5 in the A flight. In the other semifinal match, Bacalla also dropped his match after winning the first set. The veteran Eric Honert (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Springs) rallied past the rookie 1-6, 6-4, 10-8. Honert was down 8-4 in the third set tiebreaker before winning the final six points.

Khudziy got the best of Honert in the finals with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

Dunn and sophomore Lucas Waak (Manitowoc, Wis./Roncalli) both won their semifinal matches in three sets in Flight B singles to set up an all-Valpo final.
Waak took the first set 6-3 before yielding the second set by the same 6-3 score, forcing a third-set tiebreaker. Experience proved key as the sophomore edged the freshman 10-7 in the final set.

In the C flight, Emhardt made quick work of Cardinal Stritch's Donnersson Penna 6-3, 6-1 in their morning semifinal match. Teammates Hickey and Oakes battled in the opposite semifinal for the right to face Emhardt in the finals. Hickey, who won a flight in the Purdue Invitational last weekend, advanced to his second straight final in as many weeks with a 6-4, 6-3 win over his fellow sophomore.

Emhardt continued his trend of fast matches as he handed Hickey a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to claim the C flight championship.

The Crusaders will have three weeks off before the ITA Midwest Regionals in Columbus, Ohio. The four-day event begins Thursday, October 17th.