Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, January 14
Huntington, W.Va.
5 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
at
Marshall
Tennis Opens Winter Season with Double-Dip at Marshall
1/13/2011 2:23:27 PM | Tennis
Team looking to improve from on fall season, 2010 season
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's tennis team will begin yet another season, its 34th, of intercollegiate action as the women get the winter season going with back-to-back matches in Huntington, W.Va. against Morehead state and host school No. 53 Marshall.
Eastern will take on the Marshall Thundering Herd, Friday, Jan. 14, at 5 p.m., and the Morehead State Eagles, Saturday, Jan. 15, at 1 p.m. The matches will mark the first competition of the season for each squad.
The Eagles will look to build off of a solid fall season in which newcomers Nino Mebuke (Tbilisi, Georgia) and Mariya Toncheva (Burgas, Bulgaria) saw a lot of action, with Mebuke having an impressive showing and Toncheva gaining a lot of valuable on-court experience. The Eagles will also look to improve from last year's 8-14 overall record, as the very young squad from a year ago has more experience under their belts.
Going into the 2009-10 season, the Eagles only had one athlete, junior Xu Chang (Beijing, China), on its squad with more than one year of experience. This year, the team returns six, including Chang, the now-senior, Miriam Westerink (Rheden, The Netherlands), Celine Donnet (Hemiksem, Belgium), Marcela Rivero (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), Karina Ahuja (New Delhi, India), and Georgia de'Lisle-Tarr (Adelaide, Australia).
The 2010-11 season marks Ryan Ray's fifth season as Head Women's Tennis Coach at Eastern Michigan University. Ray, last season, led a young Eagles team into a very tough non-conference schedule, with matches against three Big Ten teams (Iowa, Purdue and Michigan State), as well as several ranked teams including No. 42 San Diego State University, No. 46 Long Beach State and No. 48 Nebraska.
Westerink proved to be a pivitol part in the team's success, as the sophomore posted a team best record of 22-12. Chang also had a winning mark at 19-17, while Rivero posted a .500 record, going 14-14. The Eagles also scored a signature win over the previosly unbeaten Syracuse Orange after a controversial decision by 'Cuse.
After initially losing the match 4-3, Ray appealed the decision to the International Tennis Association because Syracuse had placed their best player--as determined by her play on the court to that point in the season--at the five spot instead of the one spot, causing EMU to lose the deciding match. The decision was overturned and the Eagles scored the 4-3 win.
This year's schedule is also peppered with tough contests, as EMU travels to Lincoln, Neb. to face off against Nebraska and Northern Iowa. The Green and White will also face Florida International and Florida Atlantic before playing Ohio State in late March.
Eastern will take on the Marshall Thundering Herd, Friday, Jan. 14, at 5 p.m., and the Morehead State Eagles, Saturday, Jan. 15, at 1 p.m. The matches will mark the first competition of the season for each squad.
The Eagles will look to build off of a solid fall season in which newcomers Nino Mebuke (Tbilisi, Georgia) and Mariya Toncheva (Burgas, Bulgaria) saw a lot of action, with Mebuke having an impressive showing and Toncheva gaining a lot of valuable on-court experience. The Eagles will also look to improve from last year's 8-14 overall record, as the very young squad from a year ago has more experience under their belts.
Going into the 2009-10 season, the Eagles only had one athlete, junior Xu Chang (Beijing, China), on its squad with more than one year of experience. This year, the team returns six, including Chang, the now-senior, Miriam Westerink (Rheden, The Netherlands), Celine Donnet (Hemiksem, Belgium), Marcela Rivero (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), Karina Ahuja (New Delhi, India), and Georgia de'Lisle-Tarr (Adelaide, Australia).
The 2010-11 season marks Ryan Ray's fifth season as Head Women's Tennis Coach at Eastern Michigan University. Ray, last season, led a young Eagles team into a very tough non-conference schedule, with matches against three Big Ten teams (Iowa, Purdue and Michigan State), as well as several ranked teams including No. 42 San Diego State University, No. 46 Long Beach State and No. 48 Nebraska.
Westerink proved to be a pivitol part in the team's success, as the sophomore posted a team best record of 22-12. Chang also had a winning mark at 19-17, while Rivero posted a .500 record, going 14-14. The Eagles also scored a signature win over the previosly unbeaten Syracuse Orange after a controversial decision by 'Cuse.
After initially losing the match 4-3, Ray appealed the decision to the International Tennis Association because Syracuse had placed their best player--as determined by her play on the court to that point in the season--at the five spot instead of the one spot, causing EMU to lose the deciding match. The decision was overturned and the Eagles scored the 4-3 win.
This year's schedule is also peppered with tough contests, as EMU travels to Lincoln, Neb. to face off against Nebraska and Northern Iowa. The Green and White will also face Florida International and Florida Atlantic before playing Ohio State in late March.
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