CLEVELAND, Ohio – Senior Joe VanMeter picked up a win a No. 2 singles on Senior Day Sunday morning, as the Cleveland State men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to Green Bay. Cleveland State now stands at 11-10 overall this year and 1-3 in league play.
"We definitely had our chances to get the win today, and I felt like we could have beat this team, but unfortunately we weren't able to come away victorious. We will take this experience and keep growing from it and move forward to the final week of the regular season," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We have come to count on our doubles, and getting that point every single time, and that didn't happen for us today. Dropping the doubles point was a bit frustrating and it got us off on the wrong foot, but I thought the team did a good job of bouncing back in singles play and put up a good fight against a solid Green Bay team."
VanMeter's victory at the No. 2 singles spot came as a 6-1, 6-4 decision, and marked his 10th victory of the Spring season. The win also moved him into a tie for sixth place on the CSU Singles Wins list, as he now has 71 career singles victories.
Cleveland State's second point came from freshman Benjamin Slade, who picked up a 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (8) victory at No. 5 singles. Slade now stands at 19-13 overall this year – just one win shy of becoming the seventh Viking to record a 20-win season during their rookie campaigns.
"Joe and Ben were able to pick up a pair of good singles wins for us today, highlighting the tough singles effort that we had on the court. Ben had a really exciting match – winning in a super tiebreaker after dropping the second set. We will now look forward to getting another league win next weekend, traveling to UIC and Valparaiso," Etzkin said.
The Vikings will close out regular season league play on the road next weekend, traveling to UIC (Saturday, April 23) and Valparaiso (Sunday, April 24).
Green Bay 5, Cleveland State 2
Doubles:
1. VanMeter/Mick (CSU) vs. Gomez Islinger/Kraenzler (GB), 6-6, unf.
2. Scott/Leto (GB) def. Buffington/Goth (CSU), 7-5
3. Kostadinov/McDowall (GB) def. Radosevic/Slade (CSU), 6-2
Singles:
1. Howard Scott (GB) def. Mirko Radosevic (CSU), 6-1, 6-0
2. Joe VanMeter (CSU) def. Leo Gomez Islinger (GB), 6-1, 6-4
3. Joshua Schramm (GB) def. Colton Buffington (CSU), 6-4, 6-4
4. Charlie Ridout (GB) def. Kevin Goth (CSU), 6-0, 6-4
5. Benjamin Slade (CSU) def. Joey Leto (GB), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (8)
6. Matej Kostadinov (GB) def. Andre Mick (CSU), 6-4, 6-2
