March 14, 2012
Contact: Renee Adam
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Cleveland State men's tennis team dropped the doubles point for the second straight match and it proved costly Wednesday afternoon, as the Vikings fell at Florida Atlantic, 4-3. CSU is now 5-7 on the year, while the Owls improve to 10-5.
"It was a fierce battle today with probably two of the youngest teams in the country playing each other, so there was a lot of energy on the court," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "The doubles point was the difference maker in the match today and we just weren't able to come away with it, although I thought we played some tough doubles matches."
After falling in the first two doubles matches, the duo of Matt Kuelker and Jorg Van Der Vloet picked up a 9-7 victory at the No. 3 spot for the Vikings. Wednesday's victory tied the duo for the team lead, as they now have a 6-6 record during the spring season, and have won four of their last six doubles matches.
"Everyone was competing very hard on the courts today and that was great to see," Etzkin said. "We had some good matches from the bottom of the lineup and from Matt Kuelker at the No. 2 spot. Matt played a complete match today which he hasn't done in the past couple of contests and was able to come from a set down to get the win. Ali was also able to stretch his match to three sets, but came up just short in the end. Now we will turn our attention to Embry-Riddle which will not be an easy match for us, but we will be ready for them."
Cleveland State got singles victories from Kuelker at the No. 2 spot, Nolan Marks at No. 5 singles and Matt Ford at No. 6 singles Wednesday afternoon. Kuelker picked up a 7-5, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles, while Marks posted his fifth victory over the past seven matches with a come from behind, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.
Ford also dropped the opening set in his match, but was able to come back and earn a 4-6, 6-1, 10-8 victory. His win against Florida Atlantic marked his team-leading eighth of the spring season and his 11th overall this year.
The Vikings will close out their spring training trip tomorrow (Thursday, March 15) as they face Embry-Riddle and 3:30 p.m.
Florida Atlantic 4, CSU 3
Doubles:
1. Albrecht/Neuner (FAU) def. Shabib/Marks (CSU), 8-3
2. Dubuque/Janssen (FAU) def. Goossens/Ford (CSU), 8-5
3. Kuelker/van der Vloet (CSU) def. Bacha/Bogomolov (FAU), 9-7
Singles:
1. ALBRECHT, Taylor (FAU) def. Goossens, Yannick (CSU) 6-1, 6-4
2. Kuelker, Matt (CSU) def. JANSSEN, Chris (FAU) 7-5, 6-1
3. NEUNER, Will (FAU) def. Shabib, Ali (CSU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
4. DUBUQUE, Robert (FAU) def. Van Der Vloet, Jorg (CSU) 6-0, 6-3
5. Marks, Nolan (CSU) def. BETSARAKIS, Garrett (FAU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. Ford, Matt (CSU) def. BOGOMOLOV, Boris (FAU) 4-6, 6-1, 10-8
