April 12, 2012

Contact: Renee Adam

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State men's tennis team will hit the road this weekend, traveling to UIC and Valparaiso for a pair of Horizon League contests. The Vikings will face the Flames on Saturday, April 14 at 3:00 p.m. EST and the Crusaders on Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m.

For the first time in seven seasons the Vikings will be trying to rebound from back-to-back Horizon League losses, after falling to league-leading Green Bay, 5-2 last Saturday. Matt Ford and Nolan Marks picked up the two wins against the Phoenix, notching victories at No. 5 and No. 6 singles.

On the season, Ford leads the Vikings with a 15-14 singles record and has now won four straight matches. Ford is also the only Viking to hold a perfect singles record in league play (3-0). Marks is close behind with a 14-14 record and enters the week on a two-match win streak.

Three additional Vikings have posted double-digit wins on the year; Yannick Goossens (11), Matt Kuelker (13) and Jorg Van Der Vloet (11). The doubles team of Kuelker and van der Vloet has a team-best 11-12 mark on the season, including seven wins during the spring, while Marks and Ali Shabib have an 8-6 record at No. 1 doubles.

The Opponents
UIC enters the week with a 2-13 overall record and a 0-4 mark in the Horizon League. The last time out, the Flames dropped a hard fought match at Detroit, falling to the Titans, 4-3. In league contests UIC is led by Rahul Kamath and James Li who each have a 2-2 record in singles play.

Valparaiso currently stands at 7-11 on the season and 0-4 in the league, most recently defeating Chicago State (6-1) in a non-league matchup. The Crusaders, who will face Youngstown State prior to Sunday's match against CSU, have been led this season by junior Chris Baum who owns a 13-13 singles record.

Under head coach Brian Etzkin the Vikings own a 10-5 overall record against UIC and a 4-2 overall mark against Valparaiso.