Women's tennis defeats Bowling Green, Toledo in doubleheader

By Caleb Nordgren | Originally Published: 02/12/12 7:37pm |Modified: 02/12/12 7:37pm |

It may not have been pretty, but the MSU women’s tennis team survived its first and only doubleheader this weekend, beating Bowling Green 4-3 and then taking down Toledo 5-2. The Spartans improved to 5-1 on the season with the wins.

MSU started off by winning two of the three doubles matches against Bowling Green to snag the doubles point for the match.

However, the Spartans trailed 3-2 after Bowling Green’s Mary Hill beat junior Michaela Silesova. Shortly after, freshman Julianne Gruber won her match, leaving the score tied at three as sophomore Marina Bohrer faced Emily Reuland in the third set of their match.

Bohrer would win the set and her match, handing MSU the win overall.

Less than two hours later, the Spartans were back at it against Toledo when the doubles matches got underway.

Despite the team of Silesova and junior Nicole Herzog taking its match by a score of 8-4, MSU appeared to be in trouble when the other two pairs trailed 7-2 in each of their matches.

But then the momentum shifted. What had been twin 7-2 deficits turned almost simultaneously into 7-6 deficits. Gruber and sophomore Jennifer Yen saw their comeback bid fall short there, as they would lose 8-6, but sophomores Olga Chernova and Katarina Lingl managed to finish theirs off. They won 9-7 and handed the doubles point to MSU.

“We didn’t really change anything,” Lingl said. “We just picked up our energy.”

The comeback seemed to have swung the momentum behind the Spartans, as Silesova, Gruber and junior Dana Guentert won their singles matches in straight sets to clinch a Spartan victory.

The final score would be 5-2 after Herzog and Chernova fell and Lingl survived a marathon match against Toledo’s Lexy Pitt to win in three sets (6-2, 5-7, 11-9).

Gruber liked what she saw from the team.

“I think we’ve done really well,” she said. “We’re there physically, we just have to put everything out there.”

Both Gruber and Lingl liked the team’s chances to keep their momentum going.

MSU will take on Detroit at home on Saturday before opening their Big Ten season at home the following Wednesday against rival Michigan.

“We expect to win, but we have to try hard,” Lingl said. “You’ve got to give it all you’ve got.”