ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Oakland women's tennis team opens the 2021 season at trio of Mid-American Conference (MAC) schools in Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. The Golden Grizzlies and Cardinals square off with a pair of dual matches on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 4:15 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7:15 p.m. at the YMCA Tennis Center. Oakland then travels to EMU for a pair of dual matches on Friday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Chippewa Club followed by WMU for a single dual match on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m.
Notes:
- Oakland finished the COVID-19 shorten 2020 season 6-4 overall and suffered a 7-0 setback at Ball State last season.
- Last season, the Golden Grizzlies went 3-2 against schools from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) after dropping a hard fought 4-3 decision to Western Michigan (1/18) followed by a 5-2 road win over Akron (1/26) and 6-1 home victory against Toledo (2/9). Oakland also dropped a 7-0 decision at Ball State (2/16) and secured a 4-3 win at Eastern Michigan (3/6).
- The Golden Grizzlies enter the season with only five active players on the roster. Sophomore
Nirva Patel returns after posting a 4-6 overall in singles play at the No. 2 position last season with wins against Bethune-Cookman, Findlay, Toledo and Akron. She also posted 5-4 overall doubles mark going 5-3 with
Aarja Chakraborty at the No. 2 (2-2) and No. 3 (3-1) spots.
- Sophomore
Emma Hultqvist also returns after going a perfect 3-0 in singles play going 2-0 at No. 4 and 1-0 at No. 6 positions with singles wins against Bethune-Cookman, FAU and Findlay.
- Oakland welcomes a pair of transfer student-athletes from Green Bay in
Mia Melnizki and
Yasmin Glazbrook. Melnizki posted a 4-6 record at No. 2 doubles and 5-7 mark between No. 3 (2-4) and No. 4 (3-3) singles helping the Phoenix to a 6-6 overall mark in the shortened 2020 season. Glazbrook posted a 4-6 record at No. 1 doubles and 5-7 mark between No. 1 (1-2) and No. 2 (4-5) singles for the Phoenix last season. As a freshman, she recorded three wins at No. 1 singles (3-10) and went 1-1 at the No. 2 position and 3-2 at the No. 1 doubles position, 1-1 at No. 2 and 1-5 at No. 3 with a 5-8 overall mark.
- The lone freshman on the team is Joëlle Tabernal from Hilversum, North Holland. She won the Province Tournament earning No. 1 ranking in Utrecht, Holland and reached a No. 80 national ranking. She also helped Holland team win club division competition three times and also won multiple individual UTR tournaments.
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