March 26, 2006

East Lansing, Mich-The Cleveland State men's tennis team suffered a 7-0 loss to Michigan State Saturday (Mar. 25) evening, dropping to 7-9 on the season.

Brad Groleski and Steven Wipprecht claimed the Vikings only win of the day at No. 3 doubles, downing Scott Rasmussen and Michael Flowers 8-5. The duo improves to 5-3 for the year. The No. 1 team of Olivier Dhaine and Jay Tee, and the No. 2 team of Rob West and Dan Singer both fell to Michigan State, 8-6.

"I thought this was the best the team has ever played against Michigan State especially at doubles," said coach David Howell. "No. 3 doubles played great and we were right there at No. 1 and No. 2. Michigan just picked it up at the end."

The hard-hitting Spartans continued to edge out CSU in singles play, downing the Vikings in all six matches. No. 4 Groleski fell to Michael Flowers in the closest match of the day, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5). Dan Singer fell to Joseph McWilliams in a 6-4, 7-6 (4) nail-biter at No. 5 singles.

"In singles we fought hard down the lineup," said Howell. Especially Brad and Dan. Michigan State simply outplayed us. Regardless of the outcome, we need to play these types of matches to get ready for our conference match-ups."

CSU returns to action this afternoon (Mar. 26) when they host Toledo at 2:00p.m. at the River Oaks Racquet Club.

Doubles:
No. 1 Rinks/Monich def. Dhaine/Tee 8-6
No. 2 Allare/McWilliams def. West/Singer 8-6
No. 3 Groleski/Wipprecht def. Rasmussen/Flowers 8-5

Singles:
No. 1 Nick Rinks def. Olivier Dhaine 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 Adam Monich def. Jay Tee 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 John Allare def. Rob West 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 Michael Flowers def. Brad Groleski 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5)
No. 5 Joseph McWilliams def. Dan Singer 6-4, 7-6 (4)
No. 6 Scott Rasmussen def. Steven Wipprecht 6-1, 6-1