MSU women's tennis: Spartans take 2 on opening day

EAST LANSING - The Michigan State women's tennis team got off to a hot start to the 2017 season, winning both of its matches on opening weekend. In the first dual matches of the Kim Bruno era as the Michigan State women's tennis head coach, the Spartans started with a dominant 7-0 victory over Eastern Michigan before defeating Cleveland State, 7-0 to wrap up the first weekend.

“It feels good, no question about that,” said Bruno. “There was some nervousness and anxiety going into the first match in a new place and you just want your vision to align with everything I believe the girls are capable of, and I think that is happening. It feels good to have the first match and get the first win.”

In addition to the successful start to the 2017 campaign, senior Athena Trouillot went 2-0 on Sunday and became the school's all-time singles wins leader with her 75th career victory, surpassing Emily Meyers’ (2012-2016) 74 career wins achieved last season. Picking up an additional win in the doubles on Sunday for a record of 3-0 on the day, Trouillot is now one win from tying the record for all-time wins with 130 at MSU and can become the winningest overall player in school history with two victories next weekend.

“It is well deserved,” said Bruno of the achievement. “She is a very talented young woman who exemplifies Michigan State tennis in every realm - the classroom, the court and as a human being. I think it is well deserved and the talent coincides with all of her other values and traits and this is the reward for that and you can’t be anything but proud of that.”

MSU started off the day by winning the doubles point vs. Eastern Michigan, as Davina Nguyen and Emily Metcalf, along with Samantha Memije and Athena Trouillot each won their doubles matches. The Spartans capitalized on the momentum and wasted no time taking the match, as all six Spartans won their singles match in straight sets.

“I knew we were capable of that and I think the girls are competition hard and playing hard, high-percentage tennis, and that is how we wanted them to start,” said Bruno. “It feels good to get that first win out of the way and we took care of it and that feels good. We have to ride this into moving forward and see if we can keep getting better.”

It was the same doubles pairs that took home victories vs. Cleveland State, with Baer and Faulkner winning 6-0 and Metcalf and Nguyen picking up a 6-3 win. MSU then continued on with another sweep in the singles, with all six Spartans once again winning in straight sets.

Up next, the Spartans will leave East Lansing and head to Texas for two matches against North Texas and UT Arlington before returning to East Lansing on February 4th against Toledo.