Feb. 15, 2009
Final Stats
Contact: Dana Ingraham
TOLEDO, Ohio -- The Cleveland State men's tennis team traveled to Pittsburgh, Toledo, and back this weekend, competing against Duquesne, Indiana State, and Toledo. The Vikings put together a roller coaster performance over the three day span, but still improved their overall record to 6-3 this spring.
On Friday night CSU edged Duquesne, 4-3. After dropping the doubles point, Phil Orno, Rob West, and Yannick Goossens came out at the top three singles spots to get three quick wins for the Vikings. Sophomore Robert Fox clinched the deciding match for Cleveland State, winning a tough three set match, 6-3, 6-7, 11-9(3).
Saturday afternoon the men traveled to Toledo where they swept Indiana State, 7-0. CSU has not seen Indiana State in competition in the recent past, so it was a relatively new opponent. The Vikings won the doubles point for the first and only time on the weekend.
"Our doubles looked really sharp against Indiana State," said CSU head coach Brian Etzkin. "They played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and we were able to match that. It says a lot about our focus and determination that we did not fold after the team result had already been decided."
Etzkin dubbed the weekend, "A Tale of Two Teams", after Toledo handed the Vikings their own 7-0 shutout Sunday morning. CSU was defeated in straight sets at every spot in the lineup, with the exception of Steven Wipprecht who was able to extend his match to a third set tiebreaker before falling at the No. 6 spot.
Orno was handed his first loss of the spring at No. 1, bringing his record to 7-1 overall.
"We were beat up both physically and mentally today against Toledo, and I didn't think we handled it quite as well," Etzkin said. "Last year Toledo was the only team we didn't beat in the state of Ohio (besides Ohio State) so we were really looking forward to this matchup."
A bright spot for the Vikings continues to shine at No. 1 doubles, where Orno and Hamning have maintained an unbeaten streak of eight matches over the course of this spring season. This weekend the pair defeated Alex Mast and Mark Maciuch, Duquesne's first doubles team ranked 55 in the nation.
"As a team we were up and down a lot this weekend, and we still have a lot of work to do on our doubles game," said Etzkin. "Phil and Ryan are playing great tennis, but we need to work hard with the teams we have or make some adjustments in order to start winning some doubles points."
Cleveland State will travel down to Columbus on Sunday, Feb. 22 to take on Ohio State. Last year the two teams met in the first round of the NCAA Division I tournament. Ohio State won 4-0 in what was CSU's first tournament berth in program history.
Cleveland State 4, Duquesne 3
Feb. 13, 2009 at Club 4 Life
Doubles
1. Orno/Hamning (CSU) def. Mast/Maciuch (Duquesne), 8-6
2. Skorupka/McClelland (Duquesne) def. West/Fox (CSU), 9-8(7)
3. O'Leary/Villares (Duquesne) def. Goossens/Wipprecht (CSU), 8-5
Singles
1. Phil Orno (CSU) def. Zachary Skorupka (Duquesne), 6-0, 6-3
2. Jeremy McClelland (Duquesne) def. Rob West (CSU), 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3
3. Yannick Goossens (CSU) def. Alex Mast (Duquesne), 6-4, 6-2
4. Ryan Hamning (CSU) def. Kyle O'Leary (Duquesne), 6-1, 6-4
5. Robert Fox (CSU) def. Gustavo Villares (Duquesne), 6-3, 6-7, 11-9(3)
6. Mark Maciuch (Duquesne) def. Steven Wipprecht (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
Exhibition Match
Aris Spirtos (CSU) def. Jimmy Vogelgesang (Duquesne), 8-4
Cleveland State 7, Indiana State 0
Feb. 14, 2009 at Laurel Hill Swim and Tennis Club
Doubles
1. Orno/Hamning (CSU) def. Migogo/Smith (ISU), 8-4
2. Fox/West (CSU) def. Sigurdsson/Pavlovic (ISU), 8-4
3. Goossens/WIpprecht (CSU) def. Douglas/Finney (ISU), 8-2
Singles
1. Phil Orno (CSU) def. Joshua Smith (ISU), 6-0, 6-4
2. Rob West (CSU) def. Mpiloenhle Migogo (ISU), 6-4, 4-6, 10-6
3. Yannick Goossens (CSU) def. Milos Pavlovic (ISU), 6-4, 7-6(5)
4. Ryan Hamning (CSU) def. Jon Sigurdsson (ISU), 7-6(1), 6-3
5. Robert Fox (CSU) def. Blake Douglas (ISU), 6-0, 6-3
6. Steven Wipprecht (CSU) def. Chris Finney (ISU), 6-0, 6-1
Toledo 7, Cleveland State 0
Feb. 15, 2009 at Shadow Valley Tennis and Fitness Club
Doubles
1. Orno/Hamning (CSU) def. Miller/Likitkumchorn (UT), 8-6
2. Burus/McCallum (UT) def. West/Fox (CSU), 8-4
3. Bent-Lee/Elezovic (UT) def. Goossens/Wipprecht (CSU), 8-3
Singles
1. Jared Miller (UT) def. Phil Orno (CSU), 6-0, 6-2
2. Sven Burus (UT) def. Rob West (CSU), 6-1, 6-4
3. Nutthavit Likitkumchorn (UT) def. Yannick Goossens (CSU), 6-2, 6-2
4. Aleksandar Elezovic (UT) def. Ryan Hamning (CSU), 6-3, 7-5
5. Gursher Harika (UT) def. Robert Fox (CSU), 6-4, 6-0
6. Jayson Miller (UT) def. Steven Wipprecht (CSU), 4-6, 6-4, 10-8
Exhibition Match
Levi Bent-Lee (UT) def. Aris Spirtos (CSU), 8-3
