CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State men's tennis team split a pair of matches in the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion Sunday, picking up a 6-1 victory over St. Bonaventure and falling to Ball State, 4-3.
Nico Mostardi and Mirko Radosevic both went 2-0 in singles play on the day, Mostardi's two wins coming at the top of the singles lineup, and Radosevic's wins coming at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots.
"We had two good battles today, we fell one point short against Ball State, but we rebounded and picked up a nice win against St. Bonaventure," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "I thought we played with great effort and energy throughout both matches, and I was very happy to pick up the doubles point in both matches and really set the tone."
"Nico and Mirko both had great days for us, and Colton was able to pull out a great win against St. Bonaventure – after being down three match points, he was able to win 14 straight points to get the match victory in the end. That just goes to show if you hang around long enough, good things will happen," Etkzin said.
Ball State 4, Cleveland State 3
In the first match of the day, the Vikings were able to get on the board early, picking up the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Cleveland State's top team of Colton Buffington and Kevin Goth earned a 6-3 victory, while Benjamin Slade and Mirko Radosevic posted a 6-2 win at the No. 3 spot.
The Cardinals evened the match at the start of singles play with a win at the No. 6 spot, but a 6-2, 6-3 victory from Nico Mostardi at No. 1 singles gave the Vikings a 2-1 advantage in the overall match. The win gave Mostardi his team-leading 12th victory of the season and fifth win this spring.
Ball State then rattled off three straight singles wins at the No. 2, No. 4, and No. 3 spots to clinch the match, with just one singles court left in action. After dropping the first set, Radosevic was able to earn a comeback 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5) victory in his No. 5 singles match, putting the final score at 4-3 Ball State.
Doubles
1. Buffington/Goth (CSU) def. Stutz/Andersen (BSU), 6-3
2. Andersen/Carney (BSU) def. Mostardi/Mick (CSU), 6-2
3. Slade/Radosevic (CSU) def. Guzina/Helm (BSU), 6-2
Singles
1. Nico Mostardi (CSU) def. Lucas Andersen (BSU), 6-2, 6-3
2. Andrew Stutz (BSU) def. Colton Buffington (CSU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Marko Guzina (BSU) def. William Malm (CSU), 6-4, 6-2
4. Nemanja Guzina (BSU) def. Benjamin Slade (CSU), 6-4, 6-3
5. Mirko Radosevic (CSU) def. Conner Andersen (BSU), 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5)
6. Patrick Downs (BSU) def. Kevin Goth (CSU), 6-3, 6-0
Cleveland State 6, St. Bonaventure 1
After picking up the doubles point for the second time today with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, the Vikings went on to pick up five straight singles points. At No. 2 doubles, the tandem of Mirko Radosevic and Benjamin Slade earned a 6-2 victory, while William Malm and Andre Mick posted a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles.
The first singles win came from Radosevic at the No. 4 spot, as he cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory. This was quickly followed by a 6-3, 6-0 win from Benjamin Slade at the No. 5 spot, then Kevin Goth clinched the match for the Vikings with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 6 singles.
Nico Mostardi added to Cleveland State's advantage with his team-leading 13th singles win of the season, posting a 6-3, 6-3 win at the top of the singles lineup.
The final singles win came from Colton Buffington at the No. 2 spot, as he rebounded for a 4-6, 7-6 (0), 1-0 (5) victory, marking Cleveland State's fifth singles win of the match.
Doubles
1. Buffington/Goth (CSU) vs. Blanco/Martinez (SBU), 5-4, unf.
2. Radosevic/Slade (CSU) def. Patwardhan/Malmberg (CSU), 6-2
3. Malm/Mick (CSU) def. Rutkowski/Garcia (SBU), 6-3
Singles
1. Nico Mostardi (CSU) def. Victor Blanco (SBU), 6-3, 6-3
2. Colton Buffington (CSU) def. Hector Martinez (SBU), 4-6, 7-6 (0), 1-0 (5)
3. Guillermo Garcia (SBU) def. William Malm (CSU), 4-6, 7-6 (7), 1-0 (8)
4. Mirko Radosevic (CSU) def. Indra Patwardhan (SBU), 6-0, 6-2
5. Benjamin Slade (CSU) def. John Rutkowski (SBU), 6-3, 6-0
6. Kevin Goth (CSU) def. Lukas Malmberg (SBU), 6-2, 6-2
Up Next
The Vikings will return to the road next week, playing a neutral site match against Xavier on Thursday, March 2 and traveling to Western Michigan on Friday, March 3.
