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Vikings Open Spring Season With 6-1 Victory At IUPUI

Vikings Open Spring Season With 6-1 Victory At IUPUI
Posted: Jan 16, 2015

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team opened up the 2015 spring season Friday evening, cruising to a 6-1 victory over IUPUI. This marks the sixth time that the Vikings have posted a win in the season-opener during head coach Brian Etzkin's tenure, and the first time in the last five seasons.

"This was a great first match for us, it was very competitive and we were pushed a little bit and I thought we did a good job of closing out matches when we had the chance to do so," Etzkin said. "It was good to see Colton playing for the Vikings and playing a major role in clinching the match for us. Joe not only got to play in his hometown, but he also played at the top of the singles lineup for the first time in his career and played very good tennis. I thought we did well with the new rules, and came out strong in both doubles and singles. Hopefully we can continue this momentum through our match tomorrow and stay in the win column."

Playing under new ITA rules, in which all sets in singles and doubles are played to six games with a tie-breaker at 6-6 and no-ad scoring, the Vikings were able to quickly get on the board picking up the doubles point behind victories at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles.

Cleveland State's top doubles team of Ali Shabib and Colton Buffington posted a 6-2 victory, improving their season record to 8-2, while the No. 3 doubles team of Joe VanMeter and Nolan Marks earned a 6-1 win.

The Vikings were then able to jump out to a 3-0 lead with victories from VanMeter at No. 1 singles and Manuel Bellutti at the No. 4 spot. VanMeter cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Alex Toliver, while Bellutti posted a 6-3, 6-4 win against Jac Newis.

Buffington, who was playing in his first dual match as a Viking, clinched the match for CSU with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jose Calero at the No. 6 spot. IUPUI was then able to pick up their lone point of the match at No. 5 singles, before CSU closed out the match with wins from Jorg van der Vloet and Shabib and No. 3 and No. 2 singles, respectively.

The Vikings will continue the opening weekend of their spring season tomorrow afternoon, taking on Butler at 1:00 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 17 | Butler | 1:00 p.m.
Butler Bubble | 52nd Street & Boulevard Place | Butler Campus | Indianapolis, Ind.

Doubles

  1. Shabib/Buffington (CSU) def. O'Neill/Toliver (IUPUI), 6-2
  2. Bellutti/Radosevic (CSU) vs. Gans/Reinhart (IUPUI), 3-4, DNF
  3. VanMeter/Marks (CSU) def. Calero/Beasley (IUPUI), 6-1

Singles

  1. Joe VanMeter (CSU) def. Alex Toliver (IUPUI), 6-2, 6-0
  2. Ali Shabib (CSU) def. Thomas Gans (IUPUI), 6-3, 5-7, 10-7
  3. Jorg van der Vloet (CSU) def. Adam Reinhart (IUPUI), 6-4, 3-6, 10-6
  4. Manuel Bellutti (CSU) def. Jac Newis (IUPUI), 6-3, 6-4
  5. David Beasley (IUPUI) def. Mirko Radosevic (CSU), 6-0, 7-6 (8)
  6. Colton Buffington (CSU) def. Jose Calero (IUPUI), 6-3, 6-2

Order of Finish

Doubles: 3, 1
Singles: 1, 4, 6, 5, 3, 2