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Vikings Drop First Contest Of The Spring Against Buffalo

Vikings Drop First Contest Of The Spring Against Buffalo
Posted: Feb 07, 2015

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State men's tennis team dropped its first match of the spring season Saturday evening, dropping a hard-fought 4-3 contest to Buffalo. The Vikings are now 3-1 on the season, while Buffalo improves to 5-3.

"This was a tough loss for us, but I thought everyone fought hard and played Cleveland State tennis throughout their matches," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "When we look back at this match, dropping the doubles point and getting off to a slow start will be critical. With the shortened format, it is harder to make a comeback if you get down early in doubles."

Buffalo was able to get out to a 1-0 lead after doubles play Saturday evening, as the Bulls picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Cleveland State's lone doubles win came from Manuel Bellutti and Mirko Radosevic at the No. 2 spot, as they posted a 6-4 win over David Damien and Sebastian Ionescu.

The Vikings then opened singles play with a win from Joe VanMeter at No. 1 singles, knotting the score at 1-1. VanMeter, who was able to post an easy 6-3, 6-4 victory, marked his team-best 11th singles win of the season and remains perfect at No. 1 singles this spring (4-0).

The Bulls then regained the advantage with a win at No. 2 singles, before Jorg van der Vloet evened the score at 2-2 with a win at No. 3 singles. van der Vloet's 6-2, 7-5 victory marked his fourth straight singles win this spring, also giving him a perfect 4-0 mark during dual matches. van der Vloet now has 49 career singles wins, just one win shy of becoming the 10th Viking all-time with 50 career victories.

The two teams then traded points once again, Buffalo picking up a win at No. 4 singles and the Vikings earning a win at the No. 6 spot from Radosevic. The 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 come-from-behind victory for Radosevic marked his first of the spring season, as he went 2-0 on the match with a singles and doubles victory.

The match then came down to No. 5 singles, between CSU's Colton Buffington and Buffalo's Sergio Arevalillo. Despite picking up a 7-5 victory in the first set, Buffington wasn't able to close out the match, falling 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, as the Bulls earned the 4-3 victory.

"Joe and Jorg continue to play well at the top of the lineup for us, and it is good to know heading into a match that I can always count on a fight from the top half of the singles lineup. Mirko had a great day for us, finally picking up his first win of the spring season and he is getting more and more comfortable on the court with every match. This is the third match in a row that we lost to Buffalo by a score of 4-3 – so coming in you always know that it is going to be a tough contest between the two teams. Buffalo was the better team today, but the match was certainly exciting and fun to be a part of," Etzkin said.

The Vikings will continue play tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 8), hosting St. Bonaventure at 4:00 p.m. at Paramount Tennis Club in Westlake, Ohio.

Buffalo 4, Cleveland State 3

Doubles:

  1. Hannestad/Arevalillo (BUF), def. Shabib/Buffington (CSU), 6-4
  2. Bellutti/Radosevic (CSU) def. David/Ionescu (BUF), 6-4
  3. Mehta/Hajdu-Andersson (BUF) def. VanMeter/Marks (CSU), 7-6 (3)

Singles:

  1. Joe VanMeter (CSU) def. Damien David (BUF), 6-3, 6-4
  2. Sebastian Ionescu (BUF) def. Ali Shabib (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
  3. Jorg van der Vloet (CSU) def. Pablo Alvarez (BUF), 6-2, 7-5
  4. Jonathan Hannestad (BUF) def. Manuel Bellutti (CSU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
  5. Sergio Arevalillo (BUF) def. Colton Buffington (CSU), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
  6. Mirko Radosevic (CSU) def. Noah Hajdu-Andersson (BUF), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3

Order of Finish:

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