Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Cleveland State University

The Official Home of the Cleveland State University Vikings

Men’s Tennis Win Streak Snapped At SMU

Men’s Tennis Win Streak Snapped At SMU
Posted: Mar 10, 2014

PDF Results

DALLAS, Texas – For the first time in four weeks, the Cleveland State men's tennis team came out on the losing end, falling at SMU, 6-1. The Vikings now stand at 8-5 overall this season.

"Today was a tough match for us, we were up against a solid opponent in SMU and just couldn't close out the matches," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Matt Kuelker was the highlight of the day, as he posted our lone point against SMU battling for a victory at No. 2 singles. Nolan and Manuel also had good singles matches for us, although they weren't able to pull out the wins, they still put up a good fight and played solid tennis. In doubles, I thought our No. 3 team was having a good match before it was suspended, but we still have some improvement to be made in the other spots. We are looking forward to continuing our roadswing at Texas-Arlington tomorrow, and hopefully we will be able to put some of the changes to work and come away with a victory."

Matt Kuelker picked up CSU's lone point on the day, winning a 7-5, 6-4 decision at No. 2 singles. Kuelker, who now has 74 career victories, has won his last eight singles matches and stands at 18-8 overall this season and 11-2 this spring.

The No. 3 doubles team of Jorg van der Vloet and Manuel Bellutti also had a strong showing against SMU, leading 6-4 in their doubles match before it was suspended. This was just the second time that van der Vloet and Bellutti have played together this season – also doing so against Abilene Christian on Saturday.

The Vikings will close out their three-match Texas roadswing tomorrow (Tuesday, March 11), as they are set to face Texas-Arlington at 3:00 p.m. EST.

SMU 6, Cleveland State 1

Doubles:

  1. Nowicki/Slobodkins (SMU) def. Shabib/VanMeter (CSU), 8-3
  2. Sanders/Lammons (SMU) def. Kuelker/Marks (CSU), 8-4
  3. Russell/Olaya (SMU) def. Bellutti/van der Vloet (CSU), 4-6, unfinished

Singles:

  1. Alex Sanders (SMU) def. Jorg van der Vloet (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
  2. Matt Kuelker (CSU) def. Mischa Nowicki (SMU), 7-5, 6-4
  3. Nate Lammons (SMU) def. Ali Shabib (CSU), 6-1, 6-1
  4. Arkidjas Slobodkins (SMU) def. Manuel Bellutti (CSU), 6-4, 6-4
  5. Tony Russell (SMU) def. Nolan Marks (CSU), 6-3, 7-5
  6. Julio Olaya (SMU) def. Matt Ford (CSU), 6-1, 6-2