Sept. 25, 2010

Contact: Brian McCann

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Sophomore Mengdi Liu continued her strong fall play by defeating a Detroit rival in straight sets to advance to her flight championship match for the second straight week and the Vikings went 3-3 in singles to highlight play on the second day of the Michigan State Invitational on Saturday.

"We were a little up and down today, but it was all-in-all a pretty good day," CSU head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We are such a young team (3 freshman & 3 sophomores playing) that we can be very good when we are on the court for one match and very average for the next.

"We had a couple of real nice singles wins today and I expect that we will come out and finish strong tomorrow to make this a real good tournament experience for us," Etzkin said.

Liu, a native of Beijing, China, improved to 6-0 in singles play this fall when she routed Detroit's Erin Weldon, 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-final round of the E singles draw. Liu, who joined the team at the start of spring semester in 2010 and went 9-7 in singles, has won all six matches in straight sets this fall.

"Mengdi has had a great two weeks on the court," Etzkin said. "She is moving so much better this year and she has proven to be a very strong player mentally as well. She was able to control her match today by scoring points off her strength and if she continues to do that, I can see her playing higher in the lineup next spring."

Freshman Alexandra Bush had another strong day. After dropping her first D Draw singles match on Friday, she has bounced back to win two straight to advance to the consolation championship. She toppled Bowling Green's Jessica Easdale, 6-4, 6-1 in her only singles match of the day.

In the C Singles flight, Nicole Janek defeated Ball State's Georgina Thomson, 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the fifth place match on Sunday while Kara Sherwood dropped a 6-4, 7-6 decision to Michigan State's Valentina Rusakova. Sherwood will play Thomson for seventh place on Sunday while Janek will meet Rusakova.

Doubles play dominated the day as two rounds of play were held in doubles with just one round of singles being contested.

After sweeping the three doubles matches yesterday, the Vikings opened the day by dropping the three second round matches and went just 2-5 on the day.

"After playing well in doubles yesterday, we had some weaknesses in our game exposed today. We will need to continue to work on our positioning on the court and let our players get a little more chemistry together," Etzkin said.

The team of Alexandra Bush and Sanda Bjelan bounced back from an 8-3 loss to Miller and Shiner of Louisville to topple Rivero and Toncheva from Eastern Michigan, 8-3, to advance to the fifth place match on Sunday morning.

Liu will also be in the fifth place match on Sunday after teaming with Rocio Benavent from Toledo to defeat the Michigan State duo of Stockwell and Yen, 8-5.

The final day of play begins at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday with the final round of the three doubles flights followed by the singles finals.

2010 Michigan State Invitational
Second Day Results

Draw B Singles:
Ashley Frey (Toledo) def. Alex Power (CSU), 6-3, 6-4

Draw C Singles:
Nicole Janek (CSU) def. Georgina Thomson (Ball State), 6-4, 6-0
Valentina Wusakova (Michigan State) def. Kara Sherwood (CSU), 6-4, 7-6

Draw D Singles:
Alexandra Bush (CSU) def. Jessica Easdale (Bowling Green0), 6-4, 6-1
(Bush will play for consolation championship on Sunday)

Draw E Singles:
Mengdi Liu (CSU) def. Erin Weldon (Detroit), 6-3, 6-1
Julia Fernandes (Detroit) def. Sanda Bjelan (CSU), 7-5, 6-4
(Liu to play in the flight championship match on Sunday)

Draw A Doubles:
Brown/Fellerhoff (Louisville) def. Bjerrehus/Sherwood (CSU), 8-4
Harris/Villahuan (Louisville) def. Bjerrehus/Sherwood (CSU), 8-5

Draw B Doubles:
N. Chorocosta/Hill (BG) def. Power/Janek (CSU), 8-6
Fernandez/Zherdeva (CPA) def. Power/Janek (CSU), 8-5
Miller/Shiner (Louisville) def. Bush/Bjelan (CSU), 8-3
Bush/Bjelan (CSU) def. Rivero/Toncheva (Eastern Michigan), 8-3
(Power/Janek to play for fifth place on Sunday)

Draw C Doubles:
Liu (CSU)/Benavent (Toledo) def. Stockwell/Yen (Michigan State), 8-5
Liu (CSU)/Benavent (Toledo) receive bye to fifth round match on Sunday