WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team came up short against No. 70 Buffalo Saturday afternoon, falling to the Bulls, 4-3. The Vikings now stand at 1-2 on the young season.
"This was a tough match for us today, we definitely had some chances to pull out the win, and moving forward we need to work on capitalizing on those chances," assistant coach Frank Polito said. "Overall this was a great college match, but we just didn't execute like we are capable of doing. The match came down to two third sets – and we just came out on the wrong side of those sets. We need to continue to work on improving our doubles play, and after we do that the sky is the limit for this team. I am really proud of the guys and how they competed today, hopefully we can bring that same level again tomorrow."
After dropping the doubles point, the Vikings were able to climb their way back into the match picking up three singles wins at No. 1, No. 3, and No. 6 singles. At the top of the lineup, Jorg van der Vloet recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Damien David, while Nolan Marks picked up a 6-1, 6-5 win over Jonathan Hannestad at the No. 6 position.
Matt Kuelker was the final Viking to post a point on the day, notching a 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 3 singles – the 66th win of his career. Kuelker is now just five singles wins shy of moving into fifth place on the all-time wins list at CSU.
With two singles matches still in progress (No. 4 & No. 5), the Vikings held a 3-2 lead, but Buffalo was able to claim three-set victories in both of the remaining matches. Joe VanMeter (No. 4) and Manuel Bellutti (No. 5) were both able to pick up second set victories after dropping the first sets in their respective matches, but then came out on the wrong side of the third sets.
The Vikings will now take on Penn State tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 2) afternoon at 5:00 p.m. A link for live results is available on the men's tennis schedule page on CSUVikings.com.
Buffalo 4, Cleveland State 3
Doubles
1. David/Mehta (BUF) def. Shabib/VanMeter (CSU), 6-4
2. Arevalillo/Hannestad (BUF) def. Kuelker/Bellutti (CSU), 6-4
3. Alvarez/Ionescu (BUF) def. Van Der Vloet/Ford (CSU), 6-3
Singles
1. Jorg Van Der Vloet (CSU) def. Damien David (BUF), 6-4, 6-1
2. Sebastian Ionescu (BUF) def. Ali Shabib (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
3. Matt Kuelker (CSU) def. Pablo Alvarez (BUF), 6-3, 6-3
4. Sergio Arevalillo (BUF) def. Joe VanMeter (CSU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-5 (0)
5. Akhil Mehta (BUF) def. Manuel Bellutti (CSU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
6. Nolan Marks (CSU) def. Jonathan Hannestad (BUF), 6-1, 6-5 (9)
