BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team picked up its second straight win Friday, earning a 5-2 victory at Buffalo.
"I thought we picked up a great win against a very good team today," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "This team is working so hard in practice every day, and it has finally been paying off for them over the last few matches. Once again we were able to get the doubles point, and we feel like we are a dangerous team heading into singles when we have that early advantage, and that was certainly the case today."
For the fourth straight match, the Vikings were able to gain the early 1-0 advantage after picking up the doubles point, earning wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.
Luke Phillips and Nico Mostardi teamed up for a 6-2 victory at the top of the lineup, while Raul Teichmann and Clark Bilinovich posted a 6-3 victory at the No. 2 spot.
With the win, Phillips and Mostardi improved to 3-0 in doubles play this season, while Teichmann and Bilinovich picked up their third straight win to improve to 3-1 on the year.
In singles action, the Vikings were able to sweep the top four spots of the lineup, with wins from Matthew Terry, Phillips, Maxime Mareschal-Hay, and Bilinovich.
"For our singles points, Luke was able to play from ahead the entire time, while Max picked up a dominate win. Clark, who has been playing some good tennis but hasn't ended up on the winning side of things lately, kept it going on his court today and was able to pick up a crucial win for us. Matt was part of a great college singles match today, and was finally getting back into his rhythm after missing a few matches earlier this season," Etzkin said.
At the top of the lineup, Terry posted his first singles win of the season, earning a 7-6(7), 6-2 victory. The win marked Terry's 78th of his career, as he is now just two wins shy of moving into seventh place on the CSU Singles Wins List.
At the No. 2 singles spot, Phillips picked up his fourth straight victory, earning a 6-3, 6-2 win. With the win, Phillips is now just three wins shy of joining Terry and Mostardi on the CSU Singles Wins List.
Mareschal-Hay also extended his singles winstreak on Friday, as he picked up a convincing 6-3, 6-0 victory at the No. 3 spot to improve to 3-2 on the year after winning three straight.
Cleveland State's final singles point came from Bilinivoch at the No. 4 spot, as he earned a 7-5, 6-1 victory for his first singles win of the year.
The Vikings will look to extend their winstreak to three matches next weekend, when they travel to Toledo for a 1:00 p.m. contest on Friday, February 26.
