CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State men's tennis team remained perfect at the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion this spring, picking up a 4-3 victory over Butler and a 6-1 win over St. Francis (PA).
Quick Hits
· Nico Mostardi went 2-0 at the top of the singles lineup Saturday, becoming the seventh Viking all-time to record 80 career victories.
· With his two singles wins Saturday, Matthew Terry improved to 19-4 overall this season.
· Nico Mostardi moved into a tie for sixth place on the CSU Singles Wins list, while Matthew Terry moved into ninth place.
· The Vikings went 5-0 in doubles play on Saturday, with the tandem of Matthew Terry and Kade Mindry improving to 4-0 on the spring.
Saturday's wins kept the Vikings perfect in the MMTP this season, as they improved to 3-0 at home this spring.
PDF BOX SCORE | Cleveland State 4, Butler 3
The Vikings were able to pick up the early 1-0 lead following doubles play against Butler, as the No. 1 tandem of Nico Mostardi and Luke Phillips posted a 6-3 win, and Matthew Terry and Kade Mindry earned a 6-0 victory at the No. 2 spot.
Cleveland State extended its lead to 2-0 following a quick straight-set win at the top of the lineup, as Mostardi posted a 6-0, 6-2 win over Thomas Brennan.
Butler was then able to even the match with wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, before Terry gave Cleveland State a 3-2 advantage with a win at No. 2 singles, posting a 6-2, 7-6 win over Butler's Filip Tensing.
The Bulldogs responded once again with a win at the No. 3 spot, putting the final singles match on court #4 between Clark Bilinovich and Butler's Olof Wiklund. After picking up a 7-6(7) tiebreak win during the first set, Bilinovich dropped the second set 4-6, and then battled back for a 6-4 win in the third set to clinch the match for the Vikings.
PDF BOX SCORE | Cleveland State 6, St. Francis 1
The Vikings swept the doubles matches against St. Francis on Saturday, with Matthew Terry/Kade Mindry and Jack Santilli/Noah Cenkner picking up matching 6-4 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, while Nico Mostardi and Luke Phillips earned a 6-3 victory at the top of the lineup.
Mostardi once again gave the Vikings a quick 2-0 lead after the start of singles play, as he posted a 6-0, 6-0 straight-set victory over Derek Roehner, notching his 10th win of the year.
Phillips extended Cleveland State's lead to 3-0 after picking up a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles, and then Mindry clinched the match for the Vikings with a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 4 spot, marking his first collegiate singles win.
From The Sidelines
"This was a really good day of tennis for us, I thought it was a good long day of tennis, and the best part was that they kept their intensity and focus through both matches. We had really good crowd support once again today, and it was great to be part of such a busy day of CSU athletics."
"I felt like we escaped in our morning match, getting by a Butler team that was ready to play. Getting the doubles point was huge for us, and then after Nico and Matt got us up early, Clark did a great job of handling the pressure to close it out."
"In the afternoon we got to use our entire lineup, and it was exciting to see Kade get his first collegiate singles win and to see Noah play in his first collegiate match. It was also great to see Jack playing some good tennis this afternoon and get back on track. Now we will hopefully continue this momentum into our matches next weekend, and keep our winstreak going." – head coach Brian Etzkin
Up Next
Cleveland State will continue the spring slate next weekend, traveling to Xavier on Saturday, February 8 and Louisville on Sunday, February 9.
