Penguins Claim First Regular Season Title With Win Over Valparaiso

by YSU

Thursday, Apr 23, 2015 7:54 am

The Youngstown State women's tennis team picked up its first regular season title in program history following a 6-1 win over Valparaiso on Sunday at the YSU Tennis Courts.

The Penguins (15-8) finished the league slate with a perfect 8-0 record. YSU has now won a school-record nine straight matches and will be the top seed at the Horizon League Championships which start on Friday. The Guins get a bye to the semifinals as one of the top-two teams in the field. Valparaiso ends its season at 3-17 and 1-7.

On Sunday, the Guins quickly won the doubles point with 6-0 wins at No. 2 and No. 3. Winning at No. 2 were Nehel Sahni and Annina Brendel while Dominika Lackova and Sofia Macias Mendoza cruised in the three spot.

In singles, YSU won at the top five spots in the lineup.

Marta Burak picked up a strong 6-0, 6-0 win over Kaitlyn Hamel at No. 1. For Burak, it was the 93rd win of her YSU career and her 30th straight conference win.

At No. 2, Lackova earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Kathleen Hebble. The win marked the second straight season that Lackova posted an unbeaten mark in Horizon League play. Lackova is 16-0 the past two years in conference regular-season matches.

The conference-championship clinching point was by Sahni. Sahni beat Paige Heuer 6-2 and 6-3 to give the match to the Penguins. Sahni was 6-2 this year in conference singles contests.

Brendel fought off a game effort by Cary Milanes to win 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2. Brendel won for the fifth straight time and posted a 7-1 mark in league play.

Mendoza ended her first HL campaign on a high note with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Megan Barthels. Mendoza had a 6-2 record in league play this year.

Stepping in at No. 6 was Victoria Ferry. Ferry had a back-and-forth match with Michele Fredlake. Fredlake won the first set before Ferry rallied to force a third. Fredlake prevailed in the third set 10-8.

YSU's first match at the league meet will be on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the semifinals against a to-be-determined foe. The HL bracket will be released on Monday.

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