CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State men's tennis head coach Brian Etzkin announced the team's 2017-18 schedule Thursday afternoon, a schedule that features four fall tournaments and a 23-match spring slate.

"Like always, we will be playing a very ambitious schedule this season, with four tough tournaments during the fall followed by a challenging – but very exciting – dual match schedule in the spring," Etzkin said. "During the spring, we will face at least three teams that have the possibility to be ranked in the top-20, along with several other challenging teams that will really force us to focus on our game plan and execute. Over the past couple years we have been able to play a lot of home matches thanks to the construction of the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion, and we will once again try to make a home court advantage at the MMTP."

2017-18 PDF SCHEDULE | 2017-18 WEB SCHEDULE

FALL SCHEDULE
During the fall portion of this year's schedule the Vikings will compete in four tournaments, including the second annual Viking Invitational. Cleveland State will open the season at the Purdue Invite (September 15-17), followed by the Louisville Invite (October 13-15) and the ITA Midwest Regional (October 19-22), before hosting the Viking Invitational (November 3-5) to close out the tournament lineup.

2017 VIKING INVITATIONAL
The 2017 Viking Invitational will be a single-flight tournament, with a 48-player singles draw and a 24-team doubles draw – with backdraws for both singles and doubles matches. At last year's tournament, Cleveland State's Nico Mostardi captured the main singles draw crown, while Colton Buffington and Jack Santilli both picked up backdraw singles titles and Mirko Radosevic and Andre Mick earned a doubles backdraw championship. 

SPRING SLATE
Head coach Brian Etzkin has scheduled a tough lineup for the spring season, as Cleveland State's 23-match spring slate features two 20-win teams from last season, five NCAA Championship qualifying teams, and the 2017 NCAA Division II Runner-Up.

HOME OPENER
After spending the first week of the 2018 spring season on the road, Cleveland State will host its home opener on Friday, January 26, hosting Duquesne at 3:00 p.m. in the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion. During the spring season, the Vikings will play 11 of their matches at home in the MMTP.

HORIZON LEAGUE LINEUP
Cleveland State will enter the 2018 spring season looking to build on its upset run through the Horizon League Tournament that the Vikings posted to close out last season, owning an overall record of 74-33 against current Horizon League teams. This year's eight-match Horizon League slate will feature four home contests and four road matches, including a trip to league newcomer IUPUI.

IUPUI JOINS HORIZON LEAGUE
IUPUI joined the Horizon League in July, becoming the eighth league team to support men's tennis. Under Etzkin, the Vikings own a 3-2 record against the Jaguars, with Cleveland State's last victory against IUPUI coming as a 6-1 decision in 2016.

SPRING BREAK TRIP
Cleveland State's annual Spring Break trip will take them south to the state of Florida this year, as the Vikings will take on Barry and Palm Beach Atlantic. This will be another tough stretch of Cleveland State's spring schedule, as both teams finished last season with winning records, while Barry went 26-2 to finish as the NCAA Division II National Runner-Up. 

HEAD COACH BRIAN ETZKIN
Head coach Brian Etzkin enters the season as the program's all-time winningest coach, and as the only Horizon League coach to reach the 200-win milestone. Entering the year, Etzkin owns a career record of 217-159 (.577) with the men's team. During his tenure, Etzkin has led the Vikings to five Horizon League Tournament titles (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013) and five trips to the NCAA Tournament.