April 22, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The top-seeded Cleveland State men's tennis team advanced to its fourth straight Horizon League Championship match with a 4-0 win over fourth-seeded UIC on Friday afternoon in the league semifinals at the West Indy Racquet Club.
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"Today was a good win for us. We jumped out quickly in doubles and got points at number one and number two to secure a 1-0 lead. That allowed us to take a lot of momentum and confidence into singles where we won five of six first sets before getting wins at the first three spots to clinch the win."
Head coach Brian Etzkin
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The Vikings, who have won the last three league titles, improved to 15-7 overall, and will face second-seeded Green Bay on Saturday (April 23) at 9:00 a.m. in the league championship match at North Central H.S. The match will be streamed live online at HorizonLeague.com, weather permitting.
CSU opened the league season with a 4-3 win at Green Bay on March 26.
"Today was a good win for us," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We jumped out quickly in doubles and got points at number one and number two to secure a 1-0 lead. That allowed us to take a lot of momentum and confidence into singles where we won five of six first sets before getting wins at the first three spots to clinch the win.
"We are going to get some rest tonight and prepare for tomorrow's championship match. We know it will not be an easy match as Green Bay is a very good team. We had a very tight 4-3 win over them earlier this season and I expect this to be another close battle against two great teams. We will have to once again come out focused and ready to play at a high-level."
Today's win was the Vikings 33rd straight victory over a Horizon League foe.
The No.2 doubles team of Yannick Goossens and Chris Klepatz gave the Vikings their first win with an 8-2 victory and the No. 1 squad of Rob Fox and John Haley clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 win.
Fox and Haley's win allowed the duo to set the CSU single season record with their 27th doubles win of the year.
Freshman Matt Kuelker made it 2-0 CSU with a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 3 singles and Goossens put the Vikings one point away from clinching the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles.
Fox clinched the semifinal win for CSU with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles.
Cleveland State 4, UIC 0
Horizon League Championship (Semifinals)
Match played at West Indy Racquet Club
Doubles:
No. 1 - Rob Fox/John Haley (CSU) def. Alex Raa/Dave Robare (UIC) 8-5
No. 2 - Yannick Goossens/Chris Klepatz (CSU) def. Alan Reifer/Scott Shepardson (UIC) 8-2
No. 3 - Matt Kuelker/Matt Ford (CSU) vs. Luiz Gonzaga/Rahul Kamath (UIC) 5-5 DNF
Singles:
No. 1 - Yannick Goossens (CSU) def. Alex Raa (UIC) 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 - Rob Fox (CSU) def. Luiz Gonzaga (UIC) 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 - Matt Kuelker (CSU) def. James Li (UIC) 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 - Chris Klepatz (CSU) vs. Dave Robare (UIC) 7-5, 6-5 DNF
No. 5 - Alan Reifer (UIC) vs. John Haley (CSU) 7-5, 1-3 DNF
No. 6 - Matt Ford (CSU) vs. Gauthan Oroskar (UIC) 6-4, 5-2 DNF
Singles order of finish: 3-1-2
