KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team continued play at the Western Michigan Invitational Saturday, playing two rounds of singles and one round of doubles in the flighted tournament.
"I thought we played 100-times better in doubles today, which was good to see us pick that up, but we were up and down in singles throughout the day," assistant coach Frank Polito said. "We had some tough matches in singles, playing better competition, so the results are a bit deceiving, but we were able to find out a lot about ourselves throughout the day. We need to come out strong again tomorrow and put a third day of strong Viking tennis on the courts to close out the invite."
CSU went 2-1 in doubles play on the day, with both duos in the Gold bracket picking up victories. Ali Shabib and Jorg van der Vloet improved to 2-0 on the weekend with an 8-2 victory over a team from Xavier, while Manuel Bellutti and Joe VanMeter picked up an 8-3 win over a duo from Western Michigan.
The Vikings struggled during singles play today, managing to pick up just five victories. Two of those singles wins came from Matt Ford who picked up straight-set victories over Marius Merz of Green Bay (6-3, 7-5) and Marc Schneider of Western Michigan (6-0, 6-1).
Matt Kuelker posted CSU's lone victory in the Gold bracket, earning a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Alex Lawson from Notre Dame, while Bellutti posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory over WMU's Jim Beckwith in the Black bracket.
Nolan Marks also posted a singles win for the Vikings, earning a 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (6) tiebreak victory over Brian Carman of Xavier in the Brown bracket.
The Vikings will wrap up action at the Western Michigan Invitational tomorrow (Sunday, Sept. 15), with one round of singles and two rounds of doubles beginning at 8:30 a.m.
CSU Results
Gold Doubles
Shabib/van der Vloet (CSU) def. Roebker/Mei (XU), 8-2
Bellutti/VanMeter (CSU) def. Mora/Phillips (WMU), 8-3
Black Doubles
Fredericka/Barnard (ND) def. Marks/Kuelker (CSU), 8-7 (8)
Gold Singles
Indre (WMU) def. Jorg van der Vloet (CSU), 6-3, 6-4
Sabacinski (ND) def. Ali Shabib (CSU), 6-0, 6-1
Matt Kuelker (CSU) def. Lawson (ND), 6-0, 6-1
Sabacinski (ND) def. Matt Kuelker (CSU), 6-4, 6-4
Eisner (ISU) def. Ali Shabib (CSU), 6-2, 6-3
Lawson (ND) def. Jorg van der Vloet (CSU), 6-4, 7-6, (3)
Black Singles
Manuel Bellutti (CSU) def. Fredericka (ND) , 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (9)
Beckwith (WMU) def. Joe VanMeter (CSU), 6-2, 6-2
Krull (XU) def. Manuel Bellutti (CSU), 6-4, 6-2
Brown Singles
Wilson (ISU) def. Nolan Marks (CSU), 6-4, 6-1
Matt Ford (CSU) def. Merz (GB), 6-3, 7-5
Leto (GB) def. Joe VanMeter (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
Matt Ford (CSU) def. Schneider (WMU), 6-0, 6-1
Nolan Marks (CSU) def. Carman (XU), 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (6)
