CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State men's tennis team returned to the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion for the first time since January on Saturday, picking up a pair of victories against St. Bonaventure. In the first match of the day, the Vikings posted a 7-0 victory, while they followed that up with a 4-0 win in the second match.
"I'm proud of our focus and our conditioning that we had through both matches today, we have been working really hard the last couple weeks and it definitely showed today," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Throughout the entire match, nobody let up even for a second. I'm really happy to see Juan and Austin get their first singles wins, while it's also nice to see our fifth-year senior Jack get in the lineup and win at singles and doubles. We took a step forward today, and we are looking forward to a good week of practice before Xavier next weekend."
The Vikings were able to pick up the doubles point in both matches Saturday, as Cleveland State has now won the doubles point in seven of its eight matches so far this season. Luke Phillips and Clark Bilinovich went 2-0 at the top of the doubles lineup against St. Bonaventure, while Matthew Terry and Maxime Mareschal-Hay picked up a win at the No. 2 spot in the first match, and Jack Santilli and JuandeDios Abboud earned a win at No. 3 doubles in the second match.
Terry and Mareschal-Hay both went 2-0 in singles play against St. Bonaventure, Terry picking up his wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and Mareschal-Hay notching his at the No. 3 spot.
With his two wins on Saturday, Terry became just the eighth Viking all-time to eclipse 80 career wins, and moved into seventh place on the CSU Singles Wins List with 81 career victories.
Mareschal-Hay improved to 6-3 on the season with his two wins, tying Phillips for the team-lead.
Phillips went 1-0 on the day, picking up a 6-0, 6-1 win in the first match of the day to record his 70th career victory. Phillips is now one of just 11 Vikings all-time to eclipse the 70-win mark, while he stands at 6-2 this season.
The duo of Abboud and Austin Staiger both picked up their first collegiate singles wins on Saturday, Abboud notching a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles and Staiger posting a 6-4, 6-2 win at the No. 6 spot.
Jack Santilli also picked up a win on Saturday, earning a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 6 singles in the second match of the day.
Up next for the Vikings will be a two-match series against Xavier next weekend, with first serve set for 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 20 and 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 21.
