MUNCIE, Ind. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team continued its current four-match roadswing Friday afternoon, dropping a hard fought 4-3 match at Ball State.
PDF BOX SCORE | Ball State 4, Cleveland State 3
Quick Hits
· With his win at No. 1 singles, Nico Mostardi extended his winstreak to seven matches, and is now in sole possession of fourth place on the CSU Singles Wins List with 83 career victories.
· Matthew Terry notched his team-leading 21st singles win of the year, and is now in sole possession of eighth place on the CSU Singles Wins List with 74 career victories.
· Following his straight-set win at No. 3 singles, Luke Phillips became the 13th Viking all-time to record 60 career victories.
· Friday's match marked the third of a four-match roadswing for the Vikings.
The Match
After falling behind 2-0 early on in the match, the Vikings were able to quickly even the score at 2-2 following a pair of wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 singles spots.
Luke Phillips put the first point on the board for the Vikings with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Vince Orlando at the No. 3 spot, while Nico Mostardi evened the match with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Chris Adams at No. 1 singles.
Ball State responded with a win at the No. 5 spot, but the Vikings were once again able to even the match following a win at No. 2 singles. Cleveland State's win at the No. 2 spot came from Matthew Terry, as he improved to 21-5 on the year with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over Thibault De Negri.
With the match tied at 3-3, the final match on court was at No. 4 singles, with Cleveland State's Kade Mindry and Ball State's Parrish Simmons splitting the first two sets, forcing it to a third frame. After battling back-and-forth throughout the third set, the two played a tiebreaker for the match, with Ball State coming out on top of a 7-5 third-set tiebreaker to clinch the 4-3 team win.
From The Sidelines
"This was a really good and exciting match today, we just unfortunately weren't able to come out on the winning side. We have been struggling with injuries throughout the year, and today it caught up to us at a couple spots in the lineup. Our top three singles players held their own and did what they are capable of, and even though he didn't get a win, I thought Kade played really well in a pressure spot. In doubles, we didn't play the way we have been playing, and despite not playing our best doubles I thought we still had chances at every spot in the lineup. We know what we need to work on moving forward, and hopefully we will be able to make some of these adjustments before our match at Valparaiso tomorrow." – head coach Brian Etzkin
Up Next
The Vikings will close out their current four-match roadswing tomorrow (Saturday, February 15), traveling to Valparaiso for a 3:00 p.m. EST contest.
The Results
Doubles (1, 2, 3)
1. Mostardi/Phillips (CSU) def. Adams/Orlando (BSU), 6-4
2. de Negri/Simmons (BSU) def. Mindry/Terry (CSU), 7-5
3. Herran/Bonin (BSU) def. Santilli/Cenkner (CSU), 7-6(9)
Singles (6, 3, 1, 5, 2, 4)
1. #86 Nico Mostardi (CSU) def. Chris Adams (BSU), 6-4, 6-1
2. Matthew Terry (CSU) def. Thibault de Negri (BSU), 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
3. Luke Phillips (CSU) def. Vince Orlando (BSU), 6-1, 6-3
4. Parrish Simmons (BSU) def. Kade Mindry (CSU), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5)
5. Eli Herran (BSU) def. Jack Santilli (CSU), 6-3, 6-2
6. Bryce Bonin (BSU) def. Noah Cenkner (CSU), 6-1, 6-0
