Women's Tennis Travels to Wisconsin and Northwestern

April 1, 2010

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team continues a four-match stretch on the road as it travels to Madison, Wis. to take on Wisconsin at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 3, and then to Evanston, Ill. to face No. 4 Northwestern at 12 p.m. on Sunday, April 4.

Last Time Out
The Spartans fell, 6-1, to Minnesota on Friday, March 27, in Minneapolis and then to the Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City on Sunday, March 28, 4-3. The losses left MSU at 6-10 overall and 0-3 in conference play.

Freshman Amy Barton (Brisbane, Australia) earned the only win for the Green and White at No. 4 singles against Minnesota. She defeated Doron Muravnik, 6-3, 6-4, to post the lone point for the Spartans.

Against Iowa, Junior Whitney Wilson (Evansville, Ind.), sophomore Elena Ivanova (Moscow, Russia) and Barton posted the three wins for the Green and White.

Wilson dominated Merel Beelen, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 3 singles while Barton topped Jessica Young at the No. 4 spot, 6-4, 6-3. Ivanova picked up the third Spartan win over Kelcie Klockenga, 6-2, 6-3.

Freshmen Sensations
Currently leading the Spartans at the top of the lineup are freshmen Nicole Herzog (Manilia, Brazil) and Michaela Silesova (Topolcany, Slavakia). Between Herzog and Silesova, the two freshmen have recorded nine wins at the top two positions.

The No. 2 position has tallied six wins so far this season with Herzog leading the way, compiling an individual record of 3-8 at the spot. Herzog's most recent win came against Theadora Kotsiou of Evansville, 6-3, 2-6, 10-3. Fellow freshman Silesova has earned the other three wins at No. 2 singles with her 3-1 record.

With the addition of Barton, who has earned three wins at the No. 4 spot and two at the No. 3 spot, the freshman class has accounted for every match in the top two positions of the singles lineup for the Green and White.

Barton was the only Spartan to pick up two wins over the course of last weekend against Minnesota and Iowa and the only one to post a win over a Minnesota opponent.

Adding Depth
With a combined effort from Barton, Ivanova, Wilson, junior Manon Noe (Liancourt, France), sophomores Ashley Stockwell (Okemos, Mich.) and Dana Guentert (Lilburn, Ga.) and senior Christine Milliken (Traverse City, Mich.) in the lower portion of the lineup, the No. 4 and 5 singles positions have both compiled winning records.

An overall record of 10-6 has been accumulated at the No. 4 spot with four wins coming from Wilson, two from Ivanova, one from Milliken and the three most recent from Barton.

The No. 5 singles spot stands at 8-8 on the season with five wins coming from Ivanova, while one win each was posted by Guentert, Noe and Wilson. Ivanova has had the two most recent wins at this position.

Doubles Delight
Doubles action has proven to be an asset for the Spartans. MSU has attained the doubles point in ten of 16 matches so far this season. The Green and White have claimed the doubles point in four of the ten matches that it has lost overall. Between No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, the Spartans have only given up 18 matches, leaving all three positions with winning overall records.

Herzog and Noe have made the greatest contribution to the overall 9-7 mark at the No. 1 spot as they sit at 5-1 overall. Ivanova and Silesova have added with a 3-3 record and Barton teamed with Wilson to pick up the most recent win at No. 1 doubles over Eastern Michigan opponents.

Barton and Wilson are currently 8-0 at the No. 2 spot in addition to the 1-3 record the pair has posted at No. 1 doubles. The other three positional wins were gained by the doubles pairing of Silesova and Ivanova who tally a 3-2 mark on the season, bringing the No. 2 doubles spot to 11-2 overall.

At No. 3 doubles, Herzog and Milliken have joined forces to tally a 5-3 record. Also posting wins at the position is the tandem of Barton and Wilson (2-2), and the pairing of Ivanova and Milliken (2-0), to contribute to the 9-7 overall mark.

Around the World
Of the 12 girls on the women's tennis roster, six different countries are represented; Brazil, Slovakia, Russia, Australia, France and the United States of America. The Spartans are also represented by four different states; Texas, Indiana, Michigan and Georgia.

Among the coaching staff, head coach Simone Jardim is from Santa Maria, Brazil, assistant coach Shelley Godwin hails from Birmingham, Alabama, and former Spartan, and volunteer assistant coach Ana Milosavljevic arrives from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Wisconsin
The Badgers are currently 5-11 on the 2010 season and 0-3 in conference play, having most recently dropped a match to Indiana, 4-3. The other two losses came at the hands of Illinois and Northwestern. The last time MSU met Wisconsin, the Spartans won, 4-3, in the spring of 2009. Brian Fleishman is in his third season leading Wisconsin.

No. 4 Northwestern
The fourth-ranked Wildcats are 13-3 on the 2010 season and 4-0 in the Big Ten. They most recently lost 5-2 to Duke and their most recent Big Ten win was over Wisconsin, 7-0. Maria Mosolova claims the 13th spot while teammate Samantha Murray holds the 45th spot in the latest ITA National Rankings. Doubles action has seen five different pairings hold national rankings for the Wildcats as Lauren Lui has partnered with Elena Chernyakova and Mosolova to hold the 18th and 23rd spots, respectively. Brittany Wowchuk has partnered with Cheryakova and Mosolova to claim the 54th and 69th spots while Murray and Lui ranked in at 70th. In the spring of 2009, the last time NU and MSU met, NU swept MSU, 7-0. Clair Pollard is in her 12th season leading Northwestern.

Up Next
The Spartans return home to host Ohio State on Saturday, April 10, at 11 a.m. and Penn State on Sunday, April 11, at 10 a.m. Both matches will be played on the campus of MSU.