Women’s Tennis to Host Oakland in Saturday Match

Saturday, March 16

Toledo, Ohio

1:00 PM

University of Toledo

Oakland

Kiersten Carlson and the Rockets host Oakland at Twos Athletic Club on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Women’s Tennis to Host Oakland in Saturday Match

3/12/2019 10:26:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Toledo, Ohio - The Toledo women's tennis team will host Oakland on Saturday, March 16 at 1:00 p.m. at Twos Athletic Club. This will be the Rockets' last non-conference match before opening MAC play against Northern Illinois in DeKalb, Ill. on March 22.

The Rockets are coming back from their spring break trip to Boca Raton, Fla. seeking a win after facing some tough competition down south. In the span of a week, Toledo had four outdoor matches against Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, UT Arlington, and Lynn.

Toledo fell to Florida Atlantic and UT Arlington 4-1 each, earning their sole point in both matches with wins on the doubles court from junior Dee Dee Leenabanchong/senior Kokoro Chishaki and senior Thalita Rodrigues/freshman Kiersten Carlson. Toledo fell 4-0 to Charlotte. To round off their spring break competition, the Rockets clashed against Division II opponent No. 2 Lynn, falling 6-1. Despite Carlson/Rodrigues' win on the No. 2 court, it wasn't enough for the Rockets to take the doubles point. Senior Claire Aleck put Toledo on the board with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Anastacia Parkin at the No. 6 singles spot.

Last Time Against Oakland
In their last dual match meeting on Feb. 10, 2018, the Rockets defeated Oakland 6-1. Toledo swept the doubles point with Sidnay Huck/Chishaki and Rodrigues/Mimi Kendall-Woseley defeating their opponents 7-6(2) each on the No. 1 and No. 2 courts, respectively, and Leenabanchong/Colleen O'Brien clinching a win on the No. 3 court 6-2. Kendall-Woseley, O'Brien, Chishaki, and Aleck earned two-set sweeps and Leenabanchong defeated Darya Maltseva in a three-set thriller 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

UT met with Oakland this fall at the Rocket Invitational on October 12-13. In doubles competition Rodrigues/Leenabanchong defeated Alexandra Whall/Amanda Nilsson 6-4. Later on Rodrigues defeated Samantha Galloway in three sets (6-2, 3-6, 11-9), while freshman Christina Fuller and Aleck defeated Sofia Borcuti and Amanda Nilsson in two, respectively. At the end of the tournament Ava Thielman/Samantha Galloway and Dasha Artamonova/Sofia Borcuti won the doubles No. 1 and No. 3 flights and Whall won the singles No. 4 flight. Leenabanchong, Thielman and Duquesne's Margot Pessy tied as singles No. 1 flight winners.

Scouting Oakland
Oakland is currently 6-5, earning three 7-0 sweeps and posting three 6-1 victories. The Golden Grizzlies are 0-4 against MAC teams, with 6-1 losses against Western Michigan, Akron, and Ball State and a 5-2 loss to Buffalo. OU's last match was a 7-0 sweep of Binghamton (0-15).

Darya Matseva went 13-6 in singles at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots as a freshman, earning Horizon League Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Horizon League honors. Maltseva also posted an 11-10 record in doubles, going 7-2 when partnered with Whall. Thielman went 6-1 in singles and 16-3 in doubles play, tieing for second on the team for most dobles wins.

Last season Oakland posted an 11-12 record (5-3 in the Horizon League). The Golden Grizzlies edged out Northern Kentucky, Butler, and Bethune Cookman 4-3 and earned three 7-0 sweeps. In post-season play Oakland was knocked out in the first round of the Horizon League Championships by No. 4 seeded Wright State.