Michigan State University Athletics
Women's Tennis Closes Big Ten Season This Weekend
4/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 21, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team (11-9, 1-7) will conclude its regular season this weekend with two Big Ten road matches. The Spartan squad will travel to Penn State on Friday (April 22) and No. 40 Indiana on Sunday (April 24) where it hopes to pick up two more wins in the Big Ten.
Tough Fall To Ohio State:
MSU hosted Ohio State in its final home match of the regular season on Sunday (April 17). After dropping the doubles point, MSU needed to grab four of the six singles matches to clinch the win. State managed to pick up victories at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 as the final decision came down to the No. 1 match. Senior Keri Thompson (Clark Lake, Mich.) fell in the first set, 6-3 at No. 1, but regained focus in the second, sweeping OSU's Emily DeCamilla, 6-0. In the third and final set, however, DeCamilla overpowered Thompson 6-3 to seal the 4-3 win for OSU.
"I have nothing to lose now," said Thompson after the match. "I just have to keep battling and working on my mentality in those three-set matches."
Scouting The Opponents:
Penn State (5-11, 1-7)
PSU's only conference win came from a 4-3 victory on April 10 over Ohio State. Last year, the Spartans came away with a 6-1 win over the Nittany Lions in East Lansing. The win brought the series to a tie at 8-8. Penn State's Maaria Husain maintains a 9-4 record at No. 1 singles and a 4-10 record at No. 1 doubles with Sarah Spence. Spence also has posted a 4-10 record at No. 2 singles.
Indiana (12-10, 6-2)
IU poses its biggest threat in singles play with No. 120 Sarah Batty and No. 122 Dora Vastag. Indiana is currently third in the Big Ten with six conference wins. Last year, the Hoosiers captured a 6-1 win over the Spartans. IU dropped the No. 1 singles match as MSU's Thompson bypassed former teammate in Vastag, 7-6(1), 6-3. Vastag, then-ranked No. 38, is the highest ranked opponent Thompson has ever defeated. Vastag is currently 9-13 as the Hoosiers' top singles player. At No. 2, Batty holds a 14-8 record in singles and teams up with Dominika Walterova to make up the No. 1 doubles team where they have compiled a 7-1 mark in the Big Ten.
Bitter Sweet:
The 2004-05 squad will be losing two starters this spring, as each receives their diploma in May.
Thompson, who has been Michigan State's No. 1 singles player since 2003, has made a significant impact on the Spartan tennis program and will leave behind a hard position to fill. Her season goals included a national ranking for herself, which she first achieved on March 22 at No. 100, and a team ranking, also achieved on March 22 when MSU saw itself at the No. 75 spot.
Thompson was the 2004 "Blue" flight singles champion at the Wolverine Invitational and also received her first Big Ten award as the conference's Player of the Week on February 25.
Senior Karen Gustafson (East Lansing, Mich.) made herself a consistent starter for the Spartans at No. 3 doubles with sophomore Pascale Schnitzer (Santiago, Chile). The duo currently runs a 7-6 record at the No. 3 spot.
Gustafson has played in four regular-season matches at No. 6 singles in the Spartan line-up and carries a 3-1 record. Gustafson was invited to play at the ITA Midwest Regional tournament in the fall of 2004. The East Lansing native received the Most Improved award in 2002-03.
As the host of the 2005 Big Ten Championships, the Spartans are guaranteed at least one more match while competing in the tournament. The event begins on April 28 and runs through May 1st.
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