April 7, 2012
Contact: Renee Adam
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Matt Ford and Nolan Marks picked up Cleveland State's lone victories Saturday afternoon, as the men's tennis team fell to Green Bay, 5-2. With the loss CSU is now 7-10 on the season and 1-2 in league play, while Green Bay remains tied at the top of the league standings with a 15-5 (4-0 HL) record.
"It was a very disappointing loss for us today and we had chances to win some of the matches but we just couldn't convert," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We are going to recommit ourselves to discipline point play, which will be something we work on this week throughout practice. We were still able to get some positives out of the match, since we are such a young team we are getting better every match that we take the court."
Green Bay claimed the doubles point and followed it up with four straight singles wins to earn the victory.
Ford claimed CSU's first point of the match with a 4-6, 6-0, 10-8 win at No. 6 singles. The win marked his fourth straight and his fifth out of his last six matches. Ford leads Cleveland State with a 15-14 record this season, and is the only Viking to hold a perfect singles record in league play (3-0).
Marks picked up CSU's second singles victory, a 1-6, 7-5, 10-5 decision at the No. 5 spot. The win was his second straight, and improved his singles record to 9-7 this spring.
"Nolan played a great match today, making adjustments when he needed to, to come back and get the win," Etzkin said. "Matt Ford was also rolling for us today, picking up his fourth straight win. Green Bay played a great match with enthusiasm and fire and they are really focused on playing their best to earn the league title. Next weekend we have two big matches with UIC and Valparaiso, hopefully we will be able to come back with two wins which will put us in a good position to get a high seed for the tournament."
The Vikings will hit the road next weekend, traveling to UIC and Valparaiso for a pair of Horizon League contests. CSU will first face the Flames at 2:00 p.m. EST on Saturday (April 14), before taking on the Crusaders at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday (April 15).
Green Bay 5, Cleveland State 2
Doubles:
1. Shabib/Marks (CSU) vs. Finkenbrink/Cox (GB), 6-7 Unfinished
2. Tenzer/Tebon (GB) def. Goossens/Ford (CSU), 8-5
3. Swanson/Jess (GB) def. Kuelker/van der Vloet (CSU), 8-5
Singles:
1. Paul Swanson (GB) def. Goossens, Yannick (CSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
2. Michael Tenzer (GB) def. Kuelker, Matt (CSU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Erik Finkenbrink (GB) def. Shabib, Ali (CSU) 5-7, 6-0, 6-3
4. Craig Cox (GB) def. Van Der Vloet, Jorg (CSU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Marks, Nolan (CSU) def. Christoph Hopfe (GB) 1-6, 7-5, 10-5
6. Ford, Matt (CSU) def. Henning Jess (GB) 4-6, 6-0, 10-8
