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Viking Tennis Prepares For Horizon League Championship

Viking Tennis Prepares For Horizon League Championship
Posted: Apr 22, 2008

April 22, 2008

Contact: Jessica Gerich

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FIRST SERVE: The Cleveland State men's and women's tennis teams travel to Indianapolis, Ind. for the Horizon League Championship. The matches will take place Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27 at North Central High School.

SETTING THE SCENE: The Viking men will enter the Horizon League Championship as the No. 1 seed, its highest seed ever, and will receive a first round bye. The Vikings will face the winner of the Wright State-Green Bay match on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Last season the men entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and fell to UIC before defeating Wright State to take second place in the tournament. The Viking women will again enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed, facing No. 9 seed Valparaiso on Friday, April 25 at 1:00 p.m. Last season the women defeated Milwaukee and fell to UIC to take third place in the Horizon League Championship.

PREVIEWING THE VIKING MEN: CSU went 2-0 over the weekend, sweeping Valpo on Saturday and defeating UIC, 5-2 on Sunday. The Vikings tied for first place in the Horizon League with Butler and UIC and clinched the No. 1 seed for the championship due to a tiebreak. The men's squad is led by sophomores Phil Orno and Ryan Hamning. A first team All-Horizon League selection last season, Orno has a 23-9 record, predominately at No. 1 singles, while Hamning, an all-league second team selection has a 17-13 record at No. 2 singles. Senior Brad Groleski is 14-9 at No. 3 singles while freshman Chris Klepatz has gone 15-13 at No. 4 singles. Junior Rob West and freshman Robert Fox are 14-17 and 22-7, respectively, to wrap up the bottom of the Viking lineup. Orno has won 17 consecutive singles matches, while Fox has won 14 straight.

PREVIEWING THE VIKING WOMEN: The Vikings swept Valpo on Saturday before falling to UIC, 4-3 on Sunday. CSU finished the regular season tied for third place with Detroit and Milwaukee and will be seeded fourth in the Horizon League Championship. Freshmen Melissa Holzinger (15-17) and Jackie Tabb (10-17) form the top of the Viking lineup. Senior Jenn Myers is 15-13 at No. 3 singles, while freshman Sanda Bjelan is 22-10 at No. 4 singles. Second team All-Horizon League selection Charlotte Gibbons and Denisa Muntean hold down the bottom part of the lineup, with 16-5 and 23-9 records at No. 5 and 6 singles, respectively. Gibbons has won eight consecutive singles matches for the Vikings, going undefeated against Horizon League opponents.

THE HEAD COACH
Brian Etzkin (Southern Illinois, `98)
Men's Record: 79-68
Women's Record: 75-83
Brian Etzkin, CSU's all-time coaching wins leader, has led both the men's and women's teams to five straight seasons with 10 wins or more, which is impressive considering Etzkin inherited teams that won two games each the season before his hiring. Nine Vikings have garnered All-Horizon League recognition under Etzkin's tutelage and two players have earned Horizon League Newcomer of the Year honors. Etzkin guided both the men's and women's teams to new heights last season, with the women having their best tournament finish in program history, (third) while the men tied their best tournament finish in school history (third).

ETZKIN ON THE MEN: "This marks our first ever No. 1 seed, which gives us a first round bye. We will face the winner of the Wright State-Green Bay match on Saturday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m. We will prepare this week and come out with energy and passion and be ready to go."

ETZKIN ON THE WOMEN: "We are coming into the conference tournament as the fourth seed and will face Valpo, a team we handled comfortably this year. We are not looking to let any opportunities pas us and are first looking at the first match. We hope for Melissa (Holzinger) to return to the lineup and get us at full strength. If we can get passed the teams below us and improve by two points against the teams we lost to, we can win the conference championship."

SWEEPS: The women's team has won eight matches by a 7-0 score, including three of six against Horizon League opponents. In the Vikings Feb. 9 match against St. Francis (PA), the squad lost only one game in the entire match. The men's team follows with four sweeps, with one coming against Horizon League opponent Youngstown State.

THEY HAVE BEEN ROBBED: Junior Rob West and freshman Rob Fox form the men's No. 2 doubles team, going 16-9 this season, including 5-0 at No. 1 doubles. The duo defeated Michigan State's No. 2 team 8-5, which was CSU's only victory against the Big Ten team (Jan. 19).

TABB TABBED FOR LEAGUE HONORS: Freshman Jackie Tabb received Horizon League Tennis Athlete of the Week honors on Jan. 23, after defeating IPFW's Stacy Lish, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and going 2-0 at No. 1 doubles with sophomore Charlotte Gibbons. The duo earned wins over IPFW and Michigan State during the spring season opening weekend.

FRESHMEN IMPORTS: Freshmen Sanda Bjelan and Robert Fox have compiled the best record among CSU newcomers. Bjelan, a Bad Ragaz, Switzerland product has a 23-10 record while Fox, a Rotterdam, Netherlands native, has a 23-7 mark. Bjelan leads the team in in singles victories, while Fox is tied with Phil Orno. Bjelan owns an 14-16 doubles record while Fox has tallied a 16-10 doubles record, predominately at No. 2 doubles.

HAMNING IT UP: Sophomore Ryan Hamning was named the Horizon League Tennis Athlete of the Week on Jan. 31, after defeating Chris Herrlinger of Xavier, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. Hamning, who is now 10-9 on the season at No. 1 singles, teamed with classmate Phil Orno to win their No. 1 doubles match against Xavier.

HOLZINGER AND ORNO RECEIVE LEAGUE HONORS: Freshman Melissa Holzinger and sophomore Phil Orno swept the Horizon League Tennis Athlete of the Week honors for the week of Feb. 4. Holzinger and Orno won both of their No. 1 singles matches against St. Bonaventure and Niagara. It marked the third consecutive week that at least one member of the CSU tennis team garnered player of the week honors. In addition, Orno was named Horizon League Scholar Athlete of the Week on Feb. 12 and Athlete of the Week again on April 16.

STREAKY: Sophomore Phil Orno currently holds the longest win streak for the Vikings, with 17 consecutive singles match victories. Freshman Robert Fox follows with 14 straight, with the streak dating to Feb. 9. Freshman Sanda Bjelan leads the women's team with a seven match win streak, from January 27 to February 24. Sophomore Charlotte Gibbons currently holds a eight match win streak, beginning on March 11 against Radford. Freshman Melissa Holzinger and sophomore Denisa Muntean each had six consecutive singles victories from February 2 to February 24. All three had their streaks snapped at No. 45 Ohio State (Feb. 27).

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Senior Morgan Ungerott became CSU's winningest doubles player on Sunday, Feb. 24, with her 77th career win. It broke former doubles partner Sarah Galon's record of 76 doubles wins. Ungerott paired with freshman Melissa Holzinger to defeat Kali Delorie and Libby Shaw of Robert Morris, 8-0, on Sunday. Ungerott currently has 82 doubles wins for her career.