KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team opened the 2013 fall schedule Friday evening, competing at the Western Michigan Invitational. On the day, the Vikings picked up five singles wins and one doubles victory. Play at the WMU Invite will continue tomorrow morning with one round of doubles and two rounds of singles.
"Overall we had an okay performance for our first time out this fall," assistant coach Frank Polito said. "We struggled a bit in doubles, but we were able to rebound and play some solid singles and pick up some tough wins. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to improve our doubles play and continue to come out strong in singles. I thought Ali was the standout during doubles play for us, and I thought Matt Ford played some of his best tennis in a while despite his loss during singles play tonight."
The Vikings had three representatives in the Gold singles bracket, with all three picking up victories on the first day. Jorg van der Vloet pulled out a tiebreak victory over Jakub Eisner of Illinois State (6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10)), while Matt Kuelker (6-1, 6-0) and Ali Shabib (6-3, 6-4) both posted straight-set victories over opponents from Western Michigan and Xavier, respectively.
Cleveland State had two players in both the Black and Brown singles brackets, splitting the matches in both draws. Playing in his first match as a Cleveland State Viking, Manuel Bellutti picked up a 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (4) tiebreak victory over Pablo Mora of Western Michigan in the Black bracket, while Nolan Marks earned a 6-4, 6-4 win against Matthew Hamilton (WMU) in the Brown bracket.
CSU's lone doubles victory on day one of the WMU Invite came from Shabib and van der Vloet, as they picked up an 8-6 victory over a Western Michigan duo in the Gold bracket.
Action at the WMU Invite is slated to start at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 14) morning, with one round of doubles followed by two rounds of singles.
Complete CSU Results
Gold Singles
Jorg van der Vloet (CSU) def. Eisner (ISU), 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10)
Matt Kuelker (CSU) def. Cahn (WMU), 6-1, 6-0
Ali Shabib (CSU) def. Roebker (XU), 6-3, 6-4
Black Singles
Manuel Bellutti (CSU) def. Mora (WMU), 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (4)
Moe (XU) def. Joe VanMeter (CSU), 6-1, 6-3
Brown Singles
Nolan Marks (CSU) def. Hamilton (WMU), 6-4, 6-4
Bishop (XU) def. Matt Ford (CSU), 7-6 (6), 3-6, 1-0 (11)
Gold Doubles
Olveira/Brunskog (GB) def. Bellutti/VanMeter (CSU), 8-4
Shabib/van der Vloet (CSU) def. Indre/Beckwith (WMU), 8-6
Brown Doubles
Abunku/Carman (XU) def. Kuelker/Marks (CSU), 8-6
