PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team continued its season-opening roadswing Friday afternoon, dropping a 6-1 match at Penn.
PDF BOX SCORE | Penn 6, Cleveland State 1
Quick Hits
• Clark Bilinovich picked up Cleveland State's lone point of the day, earning his first collegiate dual match win with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 decision at No. 5 singles.
• Bilinovich's singles win marked his 10th of the 2018-19 season, making him the third Viking to reach double-digit singles wins this year.
• Despite not picking up the doubles point, Cleveland State's top doubles team of Nico Mostardi and Benjamin Slade still picked up a win, earning a 7-5 victory at the top of the lineup.
• Mostardi and Slade now own a team-best 6-1 doubles record this season, and stand at 14-7 all-time as a tandem.
• Friday marked the third match of a seven-match roadswing for the Vikings over the opening weeks of the 2018-19 campaign.
From The Sidelines
"This was another tough matchup for us today, Penn is a solid team, and a team that plays at a level that we are aiming to be at by the end of the season. With continued progression in doubles and singles I have no doubt that we will be playing at this level when it comes time for Horizon League play towards the end of the season."
"Clark played a great singles match today – maybe his best win so far this season – staying aggressive and playing with a lot of energy throughout the match. I thought Raul also played a good singles match, despite dropping a super tiebreaker in the third, he was still able to put himself in the position that he had a chance to win, which is a great step forward for a younger player."
"Ben got back in the doubles lineup for us today, which was great to see him playing with Nico again, and even better they were able to get us a win at the top of the lineup. Hopefully we will continue to use these early non-league matches as a growing point, and keep moving forward and achieving our goals as the season continues." – Head Coach Brian Etzkin
Up Next
• Cleveland State will wrap up the weekend with a 7:00 p.m. match at Temple tomorrow (Saturday, January 26).
Doubles (2, 3, 1)
1. Mostardi/Slade (CSU) def. Mautner/Shatalin (PENN), 7-5
2. #56Graziani/Zhu (PENN) def. Terry/Teichmann (CSU), 6-2
3. Smithline/Hildenbrandt (PENN) def. Phillips/Malm (CSU), 6-4
Singles (2, 3, 6, 1, 4, 5)
1. #52 Kyle Mautner (PENN) def. #113 Nico Mostardi (CSU), 6-3, 6-3
2. Edoardo Graziani (PENN) def. Matthew Terry (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
3. Kevin Zhu (PENN) def. Luke Phillips (CSU), 6-4, 6-2
4. Dmitry Shatalin (PENN) def. Raul Teichmann (CSU), 6-2, 6-7, 1-0(6)
5. Clark Bilinovich (CSU) def. Noah Makarome (PENN), 6-1, 2-6, 6-4
6. Jason Hildenbrandt (PENN) def. William Malm (CSU), 6-2, 6-4
