Oct. 8, 2005
Contact: Brian McCann
BOARDMAN, Ohio -- Freshman Jason Lape made his Viking debut a memorable one, claiming a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Youngstown State's Zach Landgraf to provide the deciding point in a 4-3 Cleveland State victory over the Penguins in men's tennis action on Saturday at the Boardman Tennis Center.
Lape, who joined the team as a walk-on less than two weeks ago and was making his collegiate debut, found himself in an interesting position.
When Youngstown State's Scott Kathery closed out a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 decision over Viking freshman Rob West at No. 1 singles to tie the match at 3-3, it left Lape's No. 6 single match against Landgraf as the only singles point still being contests. Lape, who was leading 3-1 at the time West lost, turned it on, winning three of the next four games to give Cleveland State its first win of the fall.
"Jason showed great concentration in closing out the match," Viking head coach Brian Etzkin said. "It is not very often that your first collegiate singles match turns out to be the deciding point, but it did tonight. Everybody in the building was focused on his match but he was able to stay composed and close out the win.
The match started out well for Cleveland State as the Vikings won all three doubles matches to claim the important doubles point.
"Winning the doubles point was huge," Etzkin said. "These are two pretty evenly matched teams yet we were able to not only win two of the doubles matches, but we claimed them all."
The biggest win came at the top of the lineup where West teamed with senior Jay Tee to upend the Penguin duo of Brian Meek and Kathery, 8-3. As that was going on, Lape and Alex Livingstone were pulling out an 8-5 decision at No. 3 doubles to claim the doubles point.
Dan Singer and Steven Wipprecht quickly followed with a 9-8 (5) tiebreaker win over YSU's Jason and Ryan Trapp to sweep the doubles.
The singles matches started out on a positive note for the Vikings as Tee blitzed Youngstown State's, 6-0, 6-0 to win the No. 2 singles point and put CSU ahead, 2-0.
Alex Livingstone dropped a 6-4, 7-6 (4) decision at No. 5 singles to Sarantis Karousis but the Vikings got the point back when Wipprecht rallied for a 6-4, 7-6(5) win over jason Trapp at No. 4.
The tide turned against CSU however as the Penguins used a pair of third set victories to knot the score at 3-3.
Ryan Trapp started it out with a 6-3, 4-6, -6-4 win over Singer at No. 3 and Kathery quickly followed with his win at the top of the lineup over West.
"This was a team effort tonight," Etzkin said. "All six players contributed in the victory in some way, either by winning their doubles match or claiming a singles point. That is the type of effort that we need, especially when we are up against a league opponent like Youngstown State.
"Jay Tee had a great day for us. Not only did he come up with a big doubles point for us, but he absolutely smoked a pretty good opponent in singles to get the ball rolling for us.
The Vikings will not have long to relish the victory. The Vikings will be joined by the women's team for a pair of matches on Sunday (Oct. 9). Weather permitting, both teams will face IPFW beginning at 12 noon at the Malaga Tennis Center on the CSU campus and then square off with St. Francis (PA) beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the River Oaks Racquet Club in Rocky River.
Cleveland State 4, Youngstown State 3
#1 Doubles: Tee/West (CSU) def. Kathery/Meek (YSU), 8-3
#2 Doubles: Singer/Wipprecht (CSU) def. J. Trapp/R. Trapp (YSU), 9-8(5)
#3 Doubles: Lingstone/Lape (CSU) def. Landgraf/Karousis (YSU), 8-5
#1 Singles: Scott Kathery (YSU) def. Rob West (CSU), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
#2 Singles: Jay Tee (CSU) def. Brian Meek (YSU), 6-0, 6-0
#3 Singles: Ryan Trapp (YSU) def. Dan Singer (CSU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
#4 Singles: Steven Wipprecht (CSU) def. Jason Trapp (YSU), 6-4, 7-6(5)
#5 Singles: Sarantis Karousis (YSU) def. Alex Livingstone (CSU), 6-4, 7-6(4)
#6 Singles: Jason Lape (CSU) def. Zach Landgraf (YSU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
