April 20, 2011
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State men's tennis team will attempt to win its fourth straight Horizon League Championship this weekend when the Vikings compete in the league championship from Thursday through Saturday (April 21-23) at North Central H.S. in Indianapolis, Ind.
The Vikings ran through the league schedule with a perfect 7-0 mark for the third straight season to secure the No. 1 seed in the championship and a bye into the semifinals. CSU will open play in the championship at 10:30 a.m. on Friday (April 22) against the winner of Thursday's first round match between No. 4 UIC and No. 5 Butler.
CSU won at home against UIC this season, 6-1, while winning at Butler, 4-3.
Second-seeded Green Bay received a bye to the semifinals in the other half of the bracket and will play the winner of No. 3 Wright State and No. 6 Youngstown State in Saturday's other semifinal.
The championship match is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Saturday (April 23).
"We had a great regular season and did what we had to do to earn the No. 1 seed in the league championship," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "But we know it will not be easy to win another title as the tournament features many quality teams. I think we are a battle tested team having won six of our seven matches that finished 4-3 and we will have to continue to play with a high level of focus and intensity this weekend."
CSU enters the league championship with a 14-7 overall record after earning two wins last weekend. The Vikings ran their league win streak to 32 straight with a 6-1 victory over Detroit on Saturday (April 16) before knocking off Northern Illinois, 4-3, on Sunday (April 17) in the regular season finale.
"The streak is nice, but that is not what we focus on," Etzkin said. "The task at hand is to go out, control each match from the start and win another league title to get back to the NCAA tournament.
"We have been playing some balanced tennis over the last few weeks and getting contributions from everyone in the lineup. Our doubles has really improved as the season has progressed and we will have to continue to play strong doubles as winning that point has given us a lot of momentum heading into singles this year."
Junior Yannick Goossens has steadied the top of the singles lineup after the graduation of four-time all-league honoree Phil Orno from last year's team. Goossens has gone 19-12 this season, his first as the team's No. 1 player.
Senior Rob Fox has enjoyed another brilliant season, moving up two spots from last year to No. 2 and posting a 21-13 mark to become the second player in school history to win at least 20 matches four times. Freshman Matt Kuelker has been brilliant at No. 3 singles in his first collegiate season going 20-11, while senior Chris Klepatz has posted a 13-16 mark at No. 4 singles, including the clinching point in two league matches.
Senior John Haley leads the team with 22 wins at No. 5 singles, while freshman Matt Ford is 15-16 at No. 6 singles in his first season.
Haley and Kuelker were two of only three players in the Horizon League to post a 7-0 singles mark.
"Everyone has settled into their roles in singles nicely as the season has gone on," Etzkin said. "It has been nice to see someone new step up in key situations at different points during the year and we are going to need that same thing this weekend."
The No. 1 doubles team of Fox and Haley has been strong all season, tying the CSU single season record with 26 wins. Goossens and Klepatz have played No. 2 singles, while the freshmen tandem of Ford and Kuelker have held down the No. 3 spot this spring.
Both teams have gone 8-10.
The winner of the Horizon League Championship will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. The first and second rounds are slated for May 13-14 at campus sites.
The selection show is at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday (May 3) live on NCAA.com.
