Michigan State University
La Salle Bank Spartan Invitational
MSU Tennis Completes Day Two of Invite
9/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 17, 2006
Spartan Invite-Day 2
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EAST LANSING, Mich.-The Michigan State women's tennis team completed play at the LaSalle Bank Spartan Invitational on Sunday with strong performances against Ball State, Detroit Mercy and Indiana State. Stephanie Kebler, Pascale Schnitzer, Ana Milosavljevic and Aglaya Kokurina all remain undefeated after the weekend.
"I think we had a really good weekend after just one week of practice," said senior captain Sarah Andrews. "We all played at a higher level than we have in the past at the Spartan Cup,"
The Spartans began the day against Ball State in doubles play, winning each of the three matches played. The Okemos, Mich., duo of Christine Bader and Kebler defeated Ball State's Haly Calderwood and Polina Askerko, 8-1. Andrews and Milosavljevic took down their Ball State counterparts, 8-3, while Marianne Eelens and Pascale Schnitzer also won their matchup, 8-5.
In the final round of doubles for the weekend, Michigan State's teams again went 3-for-3 against Detroit Mercy. Bader and Andrews paired up to defeat Detroit's Annie Moore and Svetlana Flankova, 8-2, while Milosavljevic and Schnitzer disposed of the Detroit team of Aneta Maricevic and Kelly Davis, 8-2. Kebler and Kokurina blanked Stephanie Hill and Ingrid Stensvaag, 8-0.
The Spartans had mixed results in the final singles round against a tough Indiana State team. Kebler, Schnitzer and Milosavljevic easily defeated members of the Indiana State team in two sets. After a 6-2 loss in the first set, Bader played a well-fought second set against Indiana State's Jennifer Migan, although Migan eventually came away with a 7-5 set, and match, win. Andrews was bested by Indiana State's Fadzai Masiyazi in two sets (6-1, 6-3). Kokurina played a one-set match against Katherine Rist of Ball State, coming away with an 8-1 victory.
"I was very pleased with the weekend," said first-year head coach Erica Perkins. "Anytime you come in as a new coach, it's very exciting to see the girls compete for the first time. Across the board, I think we were really impressive. It's also nice to have concrete goals and specific things we want to work on with each player before the upcoming weekend."
Michigan State will continue action next weekend, with Bader and Andrews traveling to the 2006 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships at UCLA on Sept. 30-Oct. 1. The remaining members of the MSU team will compete again on Oct. 6-8 at the Wildcat Invitational in Evanston, Ill.
Players Mentioned
