Women's Tennis Hosts Spartan Invitational
9/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 22, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team begins its 2011 fall tournament season by hosting the 22nd annual Spartan Invitational, Sept. 23rd-25th. Pending weather, Friday's action will be held at both the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts and the Fee Tennis Courts located on the east side of campus. Due to the MSU football game, Saturday's competition is slated to be contested at both Mason High School and East Lansing High School. On Sunday, the invitational returns to the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts. Action is set to begin at 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday and at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Aside from MSU, teams competing are Akron, IPFW, Louisville, Marquette, Michigan, Purdue, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.The invitational will be contested in a compass draw, non-elimination format.
Competing for the Spartans in the tournament will be five returning letter-winners and two newcomers. Junior Amy Barton and sophomore Olga Chernova will represent the Green and White in the Single's Draw A. Barton competed at the No. 1 singles position last season, tallying a 12-8 record. She was honored as an All-Big Ten second team selection. Chernova competed at both the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions last season against seven Big Ten teams. In the fall of 2010, she went 8-5 in tournament play.
Competing in the Single's Draw B for the Spartans will be sophomore Katarina Lingl and junior Nicole Herzog. Lingl saw action in the spring of 2011 at the No. 5 andNo. 6 singles spots. She notched a record of 2-2. Herzog also competed at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions, recording two victories during the season. In the Single's Draw C, sophomore Jennifer Yen will be joined by freshmen Julianne Gruber and Hilary Hager.
The Spartans will have two doubles pairings compete in the Doubles Draw A. Barton will compete alongside of Gruber and Lingl and Herzog will pair up. Barton competed in every dual match last year at the No. 1 doubles position with sophomore Marina Bohrer. The tandem went an impressive 16-8 throughout the course of the season. Lingl and Herzog already have some experience playing alongside of each other. The two went undefeated (2-0) last season at the No. 3 doubles position. In Doubles Draw B, Chernova and Yen will represent the Spartans.
The Spartan's continue tournament play next weekend, Sept. 30th-Oct. 2nd, when they travel to Northwestern for the Wildcat Invite.
For daily results from this weekend's action, please visit www.msuspartans.com.
Spartan Invitational Draws
Players Mentioned
