Youngstown State's Mistreanu, Detroit's Sujashvili Collect Horizon League Tennis Weekly Honors

INDIANAPOLIS –Youngstown State junior Silviu Mistreanu (Iasi, Romania) is the Horizon League men’s tennis Player of the Week, while Detroit sophomore Nino Sujashvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) is the Horizon League women’s tennis Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 20-26.

Mistreanu was undefeated over the weekend, leading Youngstown State in both singles and doubles play. The Penguins fell to Butler 5-2 in Indianapolis, Ind. but bounced-back the next day with a 4-3 victory over Bradley at the Clubs at River City North. Against Bradley, the match was tied at three following singles play until Youngstown State clinched the final point with two doubles match victories.

In the Penguins dual opener against Butler, Mistreanu collected an individual win at No. 1 singles defeating Pulok Bhattacharya after losing the first set 3-6. He rallied to win the second set 6-1 and finished the match with a 6-4 third set victory.

At No. 1 singles, Mistreanu defeated Bradley’s Arthur Romanet after dropping the first set 6-5 (7-3). He then came from behind for the second-straight match winning 6-4, 6-3 to collect the singles point for the Penguins. In doubles play with teammate Max Schmerin, the duo beat Nico Rakitin and Daniel Tiboldi 6-3 to clinch the doubles point and win the match for Youngstown State.

Sujashvili collected four wins over the weekend for the Titans while the team went a perfect 2-0. Against Chicago State, Detroit tallied a 6-1 win at the Franklin Athletic Complex and followed up its performance two days later sweeping Dayton on the road 7-0.

The sophomore won in straight sets at No. 2 singles defeating Chicago State’s Gema Bolado Yusta 6-0, 6-2. At No. 1 doubles play with teammate Julia Fernandes, she captured her second victory of the day in a close match over Carynne Lloyd and Faith Huckabee 7-6 (7-3).

At No. 1 singles, Sujashvili won again in straight-sets defeating Sannu Hornbarger of Dayton 6-0, 7-5. Pairing up with teammate Viktoria Laskutova at No. 1 doubles, the duo collected a 6-0 victory against Hornbarger and Carly Peck.

Youngstown State is back on the court Saturday, Feb. 1 in Toledo, OH as they take on Toledo at 1 p.m. EST while the Detroit women’s team travels to Indianapolis, Ind. to face Butler Sunday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. EST.

Top Men’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Manuel Bellutti, Cleveland State (Jr.): Went 2-0 in singles play on the weekend at No. 5 singles, defeating players from Western Michigan and Ball State.
Bobby Cawood, Detroit (Sr.): Part of the Titans’ first win of the season with a win at No. 2 singles against Duquesne.
Leopold Gomez Islinger, Green Bay (So.): Went 3-0 in singles play winning at No. 1 singles against Cardinal Stritch and No. 2 singles over DePaul and IUPUI.
Hayden Joblin, Wright State (Sr.): Won at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles against SIU Edwardsville and is currently No. 10 on Wright State’s singles wins list.
Michael Savaglio, Valparaiso (So.): Won two singles matches at No. 2 and No. 3  singles and won a doubles match at No. 3 doubles.

Top Women’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Annina Brendel, Youngstown State (So.): Got the sole win for Youngstown State against Bowling Green while playing at No. 4 singles.
Elizabeth Guy, Oakland (So.): Won two singles matches on the weekend over Ball State and Eastern Michigan. Against Ball State, she rallied for a tiebreaker victory.
Kara Sherwood, Cleveland State (Sr.): Only Viking to pick up a point against Akron, winning at No. 2 singles.
Diana Tokar, Milwaukee (Fr.): Won in both singles and doubles play against Drake while winning in straight sets at No. 1 singles.

Men’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Jan. 20: Silviu Mistreanu, Youngstown State

Women’s Tennis Player of the Week:
Jan. 13: Lauren Smith, Wright State
Jan. 20: Nino Sujashvili, Detroit