The University of Akron Athletics
Tennis Begins Dual Schedule on Friday at Michigan State
January 21 | Women's Tennis
AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron tennis team gets its dual-match schedule underway on Friday, traveling to East Lansing, Mich., for a contest versus Michigan State at 4 p.m. ET.
"The players are excited to begin the dual match portion of our
season," fourth-year Akron head coach Jeffrey Wyshner said. "We've
been targeting this point in our season since September, and with
how well we played in all of our tournaments, we should be ready
for it. Still, we have three freshmen playing in their first dual
match so there will certainly be some jitters for us to work
through."
Akron opened the spring component of its schedule last weekend at
the Hilton Garden Inn Eagle Invitational at Florida Gulf Coast
University in Fort Myers, Fla. The Zips came away from the event
with a championship trophy in Flights 2 and 3 singles and Flight 2
doubles, and also placed a team in the final match of Flight 1
doubles. UA's three flight victories were the most of any squad in
the 10-team field.
Leading the way for UA was freshman Angelina Jogasuria, who claimed the title at Flight 2 singles and also teamed with junior Anya Baronayte to win the Flight 2 doubles bracket. Angelina's identical twin, Angelika Jogasuria, was crowned champion of Flight 3 singles.
Akron makes its second visit to the Michigan State campus this season, having competed in the Spartan Invitational in September.
"Michigan State certainly presents both a big challenge and an opportunity," Wyshner said. "They added two new freshmen in January from Brazil and Slovakia, which should make the top portion of their line-up very tough. With the two Spartan freshmen from Brazil and Australia that we competed against in the fall, MSU may very well have a top four that is even younger and less familiar with the dual match format than our top four. If we can handle the inevitable first match jitters better than they do, then the opportunity is there for us to have Akron's first-ever win over a Big Ten squad."
The Zips will travel to their second-consecutive Big Ten opponent on Jan. 29, when they take on Penn State. UA opens its home schedule on Jan. 31 at noon, playing host to Xavier at LaTuchie Tennis Center in nearby Stow, Ohio.
