March 25, 2007

Contact: Josh Rattray

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Visiting St. Bonaventure won the doubles point and five of six singles matches to defeat Cleveland State, 6-1, on Sunday at River Oaks Racquet Club. Senior Dan Singer won the Vikings' lone match, a three-set victory at No. 4 singles.

The Bonnies set the tone early by winning two of three in doubles play to take an early 1-0 lead. Singer and junior Brad Groleski won, 8-5, at No. 2 doubles to avoid the sweep.

"Losing the doubles point was kind of deflating," head coach Brian  Etzkin said. "It was hard for us to get going after that."

Singer was the highlight of the day for CSU, and even he got off to a slow start. After losing the first set to Jonathan Luce, 7-5, Singer quickly won the second set 6-1 and then won a 10-8 match-breaker in the third set.

Freshman Phil Orno won his first set at No. 2 singles before falling 7-5, 10-7 in the last two stanzas. Orno's first set against Diego Valdenegro included the longest tie-breaker of the year, as 26 points were played before Orno won, 14-12.

"We thought we had a good chance to win at least four singles matches," Etzkin said. "All of the matches were competitive. We have beaten teams better than them in the past."

The Vikings have two matches next week, starting with a home contest versus Walsh on Thursday, March 29 at the Malaga Tennis Center.

DOUBLES RESULTS

Luce/Nery (SB) def. Hamning/Orno - W 9-7

Groleski/Singer def. Hart/Stancovic (SB) - 8-5

Lecina/Valdenegro (SB) def. West/Wipprecht - 8-5

SINGLES RESULTS

Alejandro Nery (SB) def. Brad Groleski - 6-2, 6-4

Diego Valdenegro (SB) def. Phil Orno - 6-7 (12), 7-5, 10-7

Andrew Hart (SB) def. Ryan Hamning - 6-3, 6-2

Dan Singer def. Jonathan Luce (SB) - 5-7, 6-1, 10-8

Victor Lecina def. Rob West - 7-6 (3), 7-5

Dejan Stancovic def. Steven Wipprecht - 6-3, 6-1

EXHIBITION

Antonio Sarias (SB) def. Danny Popescu - 8-0