Penguins tennis players soar to another crown

Staff report

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Singles wins by Noelly Nsimba and Annina Brendel helped deliver another Horizon League title to the Youngstown State University women’s tennis team.

Sunday at the Varsity Tennis Center at the University of Michigan, the Penguins won a third consecutive league title by defeating Wright State, 4-2.

YSU (12-12) dropped the doubles point and was forced to win four singles matches to claim the crown. Also winning were Nehel Sahni and Dominika Lackova.

The victory advances the Penguins to the the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA selection show will be Tuesday at 5 p.m. on NCAA.com.

It was YSU’s fourth consecutive appearance in the title match.

After a tough doubles battle, the Penguins came out strong in singles play as Ana Stroe, Sahni, Nsimba and Lackova won their first sets.

Momentum swung to the Raiders who won the next three completed sets to tighten the match.

The first Penguin to clinch her match was Nsimba who picked up a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles over Elaine Colern. At No. 6, Stroe dropped her final two sets to Aby Madrigal after winning the opening set 6-0.

Madrigal won the final two sets 6-3, 6-2. At No. 5, Sahni who won her first set 6-4, battled for a 7-6 (7-3) win over Vanessa Madrigal to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

The final three remaining matches all went to the third set. Lackova won her first set 7-5 and led 5-1 in the second. But Karoline Haller fought off three match points and won the second set 7-5. In the third, Lackova battled back for a 6-4 win.

Brendel, one of two seniors on the squad, rebounded after dropping a tough first set 7-6 (10-8) to Linsey Verstrepen. Brendel had two set points, but Verstrepen was able to claim the set.

In the second set, Brendel won 6-3 setting up a winner-take-all third set. With the set tied at four, Brendel broke service to take a 5-4 lead.

In the final set, Brendel jumped out to a 40-0 lead, and she claimed the 6-4 victory at 40-15.

Macias dropped the first set 7-5 to Tori Turner and was down 5-2 in the second set. Somehow she rallied from a 40-0 deficit to extend the match then fought off three more match points to win 7-6 (7-2).

The Raiders claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3.

At No. 1, Brendel and Nsimba overcame a 2-0 deficit by scoring six of the final seven points. At 3-2, a winner by Brendel broke the WSU serve and then a winner by Nsimba gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead. YSU broke serve again and held serve to win 6-3.