Cleveland State's Bellutti and Detroit's Nionova Garner Player of the Week Accolades

INDIANAPOLIS -- Cleveland State senior Manuel Bellutti (Innsbruck, Austria) is the Men’s Tennis Player of the Week while Detroit freshman Sasha Nionova (Riga, Latvia) is the Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of March 17-23.

Cleveland State began conference play on Saturday on the road facing Wright State before taking on IPFW on Sunday in Fort Wayne, Ind. The Vikings notched their first Horizon League victory versus the Raiders 5-2. The squad captured the doubles point early in the match and picked up singles points at the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 spots of the lineup. The following day Cleveland State grabbed another weekend win defeating IPFW 5-2 to mark the team’s third-straight victory. Once again, the team grabbed the doubles point in addition to four of the six singles matches.

Bellutti was perfect throughout the two matches for Cleveland State in singles and doubles play. At No. 3 singles, the senior defeated Wright State’s Ricardo Pineda after losing the first set 1-6. He bounced back the next two 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the victory and point for the Vikings. In doubles play with teammate Mirko Radosevic at No. 2, the pair out matched the Raider’s Dan Gilbert and Lauri Makikalli 6-4. The following day taking on the Mastodons, Bellutti faced Carlos do Val and won in three-sets 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. The senior also won at No. 2 doubles 6-3 and aided the Vikings in clinching the doubles point early in the contest.

Detroit competed in two conference matches this past weekend, hosting Green Bay on Saturday and Milwaukee on Sunday in Southfield, Mich. The Titans swept the Phoenix 7-0 to notch their first conference win of the year before picking up their second on Sunday with a 4-0 win over the Panthers.

Nionova led Detroit at the top spot in both matches, recording an unblemished record over the two contests. Against Green Bay’s
Stephanie Londre, the freshman won in straight-sets 6-3, 6-1. On Sunday, Nionova picked up her second-career conference win at No. 1 singles against Milwaukee’s Chelsea Bailey in straight-sets 6-3, 6-0. Her singles victory clinched the fourth and deciding point for the Titans in the match.

Cleveland State hosts Detroit on Friday, March 28 with the women’s match starting at 5:00 p.m. ET and the men’s match set to kick-off 7:00 p.m. ET.

Top Men’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Florian Kraenzler, Green Bay (Fr.): One of two Green Bay singles players to pick up wins over No. 75 UC-Irvine at No. 4 singles 6-1, 6-4. Went 2-0 at No. 1 doubles with Michael Tenzer versus Fresno State and UCI.
Silviu Mistreanu, Youngstown State (Sr.): Picked up two singles wins against Dayton and Wright State at No. 4 singles. Also won at No. 2 doubles with teammate Remi Chancerel.
Ricardo Pineda, Wright State (Sr.): Won at No. 3 doubles versus Cleveland State 6-3.

Top Women’s Tennis Players of the Week:
Tamara Blum, Oakland (Jr.): Went 2-0 at No. 3 singles and 2-0 at No. 2 doubles against Milwaukee and Green Bay while only giving up one set to the Phoenix in singles play.
Marta Burak, Youngstown State (Sr.): Won both of her singles matches at No. 1 against Dayton and Wright State in straight-sets. Also grabbed a 6-4 doubles victory at No. 1 with Sofia Mendoza facing the Raiders.
Megan Brdicka, Wright State (So.): Won at No. 5 singles and No. 2 doubles against Wittenberg while picking up a No. 3 doubles victory over Youngstown State.
Oana Manole, UIC (So.): Clinched UIC’s eighth-consecutive shutout against Valparaiso with a three-set victory at No. 3 singles while also winning at No. 1 doubles with teammate Keti Mebuke in the match.
Mathilde Orange, Cleveland State (Jr.): Went 2-0 at No. 3 singles versus Wright State and IPFW and was the only Viking to pick up a singles win against the Mastodons.