Colorado State University Athletics
CSU Tennis Hosts Eastern Washington in First Match of 2007
1/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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On Sunday, the Rams will face 0-1 Eastern Washington University. The Eagles are coming off a 7-0 loss to the No. 66 Washington State Cougars. In that contest, EWU's No. 2 doubles team of Kerstyn Dolack and Kasey Knox earned an 8-5 win over Ashley Spicer and Amy Toth. The Eagles went 7-13 last year after tallying that many wins in their last four seasons combined (7-59). The win total last year was the team's highest since the 1996 squad went 7-15.
Sunday's match begins the Rams' 2007 spring season.
"We're looking forward to starting the season with a lot of new players," head coach Jon Messick commented. "And with Emily (Kirchem) out, everyone has to step up."
No. 1 singles player Emily Kirchem will miss this Sunday's contest due to pneumonia.; she is listed as day-to-day.
CSU Fall Recap/Spring Preview:
The Rams head into their first match of the 2007 season with a lot to prove. The Rams have four returning players, including three-time Mountain West All-Conference selection Emily Kirchem, and make seven new additions. Jon Messick returns for his 18th year, while Alyssa Cohen will join Messick as an assistant coach for her third season and Kevin Yu returns as a volunteer assistant to the team.
Coming off a 13-9 record at the No. 1 singles position in 2005-06, Kirchem is looking to take over as all-time leader in career singles victories. She is currently 6th all-time with 67 wins and only 11 away from taking over the number one spot. Kirchem was also outstanding at the No. 1 doubles position, finishing the season 16-6. She currently holds 55 career doubles victories and is five wins away from taking over as all-time leader in doubles victories at CSU. Kirchem was honored by the Mountain West Conference for the third consecutive season, being named to the All-Conference doubles team. This fall, Kirchem had her strongest fall showing in her fourth year at CSU. She racked up seven singles victories and went 7-4 in doubles matches. Kirchem has been ranked 13th in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for the spring, as well as for doubles, along with Hilary Tyler.
Strasburger was 17-5 as a true freshman, posting a 12-10 record at the third position in dual singles play. She is tied for fourth in singles career dual victories at the number three position and looks to move into third, needing to win 13 matches this season. This fall, Strasburger finished singles competition with a 4-4 record and went 5-4 in doubles play.
Satherlie posted a 7-5 record in the spring of 2006 and has gone 3-5 in tournament play this fall. Seltsam competed in five singles matches at the number six position in the spring, but dropped all five; she went 1-4 this fall, while going 4-3 in doubles play.
New additions to the 2007 roster include junior transfer student Hilary Tyler, four freshmen Laura Neal, Kirsten Stople, Katie Brown, and Manar Al-Jazzaf. Finnish player Rui Xu, and Australian player Anette Maria Pohjalainen will also join the Rams in the Spring.
The seven newcomers combined for seven singles wins this fall, and helped the Rams accumulate 15 of their 16 doubles victories.
