ABILENE, Texas – The Cleveland State men's tennis team won its seventh straight match Saturday afternoon, picking up a 4-3 victory over Abilene Christian. Saturday's match, which started a three-match Texas roadswing for the Vikings, improved CSU to 8-4 on the season.
"This was a great team effort today, we had to use everyone in our lineup and everyone stepped up and did a great job to get the victory," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "After a long traveling experience to get here yesterday, we were playing under some tough conditions, but everyone stayed mentally strong and stayed focused on the task at hand."
CSU got out to a quick 1-0 start after sweeping the doubles matches. At No. 1 doubles Ali Shabib and Joe VanMeter earned an 8-3 victory, while Matt Kuelker and Nolan Marks posted an 8-4 victory at No. 2 doubles, and Jorg van der Vloet and Manuel Bellutti notched an 8-2 win at the No. 3 spot.
"We came out really energized for doubles, playing on top of our game to pick up the early point and get out to a 1-0 lead," Etzkin said. "We were able to continue that momentum in the first round of singles, with Matt Kuelker and Ali rolling to victory to give us a 3-0 lead. Manuel was then able to close the door on the match with his victory, getting us out to a strong start on our Texas roadswing."
The Vikings were then able to pick up three singles wins in the middle of the lineup to clinch the match, including Kuelker who won his seventh straight singles match with a 6-0, 6-3 victory at the No. 2 position. Bellutti won his sixth straight singles match at the No. 4 position with a 7-5, 6-2 win, while Shabib earned a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles.
Cleveland State will continue its Texas roadswing against SMU on Monday (March 10). This match was originally scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday, March 9), but was postponed to Monday.
Cleveland State 4, Abilene Christian 3
Doubles:
- VanMeter/Shabib (CSU) def. Cortes/Wingord (ABCU), 8-3
- Kuelker/Marks (CSU) def. Gesser/Agritelley (ABCU), 8-4
- Bellutti/van der Vloet (CSU) def. Morris/Proctor (ABCU), 8-2
Singles:
- Borja Cortes (ABCU) def. Jorg van der Vloet (CSU), 7-6 (5), 1-6, 10-7
- Matt Kuelker (CSU) def. Nicklas Wingord (ABCU), 6-0, 6-3
- Ali Shabib (CSU) def. Jason Proctor (ABCU), 6-0, 6-3
- Manuel Bellutti (CSU) def. Guilherme Gesser (ABCU), 7-5, 6-2
- Nico Agritelley (ABCU) def. Nolan Marks (CSU, 7-5, 4-6, 10-7
- Marco Bensley (ABCU) def. Andre Mick (CSU), 6-3, 6-3
