WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament for the eighth straight season Friday afternoon, picking up a 4-2 victory over sixth seeded Detroit in a first round contest.
The Vikings got on the board early, picking up the doubles point to go into singles play with a 1-0 advantage. Cleveland State got matching 6-4 victories at No. 1 doubles (Ali Shabib/Nolan Marks) and No. 3 doubles (Jorg van der Vloet/Joe VanMeter), while Manuel Bellutti and Mirko Radosevic were in a tight 5-5 battle at the No. 2 spot before their match was called.
"We were able to pick up the doubles point today, which ended up being a crucial, crucial point for us. I thought we could have come out a little sharper in doubles, but we were still able to get the point despite our slow start," head coach Brian Etzkin. "Hopefully tomorrow we can push it to the next level in doubles play, and once again get out to the 1-0 lead heading into singles play."
Cleveland State quickly gained a 2-0 lead at the start of singles play then, as Bellutti was able to post a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles.
After Detroit was able to pick up a win at the top of the singles lineup, Colton Buffington gave CSU a 3-1 advantage with a victory at No. 6 singles. Buffington tallied a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win to notch his fourth straight singles victory.
"To start singles, Manuel was able to give us a quick 2-0 lead picking up a win on his court. He played his match with a lot of energy like he usually does, and it gave us some momentum and let us play with the lead which was great," Etzkin said. "We saw some new matchups in the bottom part of the lineup, but I'm proud of Colton and Mirko and how they were still able to beat their opponents today. Mirko played some disciplined tennis in the third set, which allowed him to get an amazing clinching point for us."
The Titans responded with a win at No. 4 singles, but would that be as close as they would get, as Radosevic clinched the match for the Vikings with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles. After dropping the first set, Radosevic was able to battle back and control play throughout the remainder of the match, and clinched a spot in the semifinals for the Vikings with this point:
"I thought Detroit really brought it today – like we expect them to – and they played hard and passionately. We tip our hats to them, but we are happy to get by them and take the win and look forward to tomorrow's semifinal contest against Valparaiso," Etzkin said.
The Vikings will now face No. 2 Valparaiso in a semifinal contest tomorrow (Saturday, April 25) beginning at 1:00 p.m. The match time was adjusted from the original start time due to the match being moved indoors. Links for live video and live scoring can be found on the men's tennis schedule page at CSUVikings.com.
No. 3 Cleveland State 4, No. 6 Detroit 2
Doubles:
- Shabib/Marks (CSU) def. Joshi/Kadyrov (DET), 6-4
- Bellutti/Radosevic (CSU) vs. Koscielski/Ponton (DET), 5-5, unf
- VanMeter/van der Vloet (CSU) def. Conley/Orantes (DET), 6-4
Singles:
- Patryk Koscielski (DET) def. Joe VanMeter (CSU), 7-5, 6-4
- Jorg van der Vloet (CSU) vs. Nathan Ponton (DET), 7-5, 4-6, 1-4, unf
- Manuel Bellutti (CSU) def. Rafael Orantes (DET), 6-3, 6-3
- Kacper Stelmaszak (DET) def. Ali Shabib (CSU), 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
- Mirko Radosevic (CSU) def. Ismail Kadyrov (DET), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
- Colton Buffington (CSU) def. Jay Joshi (DET), 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (1, 3) – Singles (3, 1, 6, 4, 5)
