Women's Tennis Opens Fall Season with Spartan Invitational

Sept. 24, 2008

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EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2008-09 Michigan State women's tennis team will begin its fall season as it hosts the 19th annual Spartan Invitational Saturday, Sept. 27 and Sunday, Sept. 28. All matches will be played at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Facility beginning at 8 a.m on both days. The tournament will include participants from Akron, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Louisville, Marshall and Toledo. Each will face three opponents in singles and three opponents in doubles in a flighted round robin format.

The Spartans finished the 2007-08 campaign with an overall record of 12-13 and will look to build on that in 2008-09. The Spartans will be led by first-year head coach Simone Jardim, who arrives in East Lansing having been an assistant coach at both William and Mary and her alma mater Fresno State. Jardim has led a doubles team to the NCAA Tournament three times in the past five seasons, with two tandems advancing to the NCAA Championship Finals in 2004 and 2006.

Jardim has the tools to make an immediate impact during the 2008-09 season. Returning for the green and white are seniors Marianne Eelens (Noord, Aruba), Stephanie Kebler (Okemos, Mich.) and Ana Milosavljevic (Johannesburg, South Africa), who will act as tri-captains for the 2008-09 team. Kebler looks to continue her success after an impressive junior season, in which she recorded a team-best 21-15 record. Also returning is sophomore Lindsey Lonergan (Cincinnati, Ohio), who compiled a record of 19-14 during the 2007-08 season. Joining the Spartans is freshman Dana Guentert (Lilburn, Ga.), who was a tennisrecruiting.net five-star recruit. Guentert was a 2008 singles finalist at the ITA Summer Circuit Tournament.

For daily results from this weekends action, please visit www.msuspartans.com.

The weekend schedule is as follows:

Saturday Sept. 27:
8 a.m. (Doubles):
Michigan State v. Bowling Green (Green 4-6)
Detroit Mercy v. Toledo (Green 1-3)
Akron v. Louisville (Green 7-9)
Marshall v. Cleveland State (Green 10-12)

9:30 a.m. (Singles):
Michigan State v. Toledo (Green 1-6)
Cleveland State v. Bowling Green (Green 7-12)

11:30 a.m. (Singles):
Akron v. Marshall (Green 1-6)
Louisville v. Detroit Mercy (Green 7-12)

1:30 p.m. (Singles):
Michigan State v Marshall (Green 1-6)
Toledo v. Akron (Green 7-12)

3:30 p.m. (Singles):
Bowling Green v. Detroit Mercy (Green 1-6)
Cleveland State v. Louisville (Green 7-12)

Sunday Sept. 28:
8 a.m. (Doubles):
Michigan State v. Akron (Green 4-6)
Toledo v. Louisville (Green 1-3)
Bowling Green v. Marshall (Green 7-9)
Detroit Mercy v. Cleveland State (Green 10-12)

9:30 a.m. (Doubles):
Michigan State v. Louisville (Green 4-6)
Toledo v. Cleveland State (Green 1-3)
Bowling Green v. Akron (Green 7-9)
Marshall v. Detroit Mercy (Green 10-12)

12 p.m. (Singles):
Marshall v. Louisville (Green 1-6)
Akron v. Detroit Mercy (Green 7-12)

2 p.m. (Singles):
Michigan State v. Cleveland State (Green 1-6)
Toledo v. Bowling Green (Green 7-12)