CHICAGO, Ill. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team opened up Horizon League play Saturday, posting a 5-2 victory at UIC.
This marked the fourth straight year that the Vikings have earned a victory in their league opener, while they have now won 11 straight regular season #HLMTEN matches dating back to the 2018-19 season.
"This was a great win and a great way to start our Horizon League schedule today," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We always feel like we are a pretty dangerous team with the doubles point in hand, and we were able to get the early point once again today. We felt good about getting the win today with a couple guys out of the lineup, and we are excited to get back out there tomorrow and do it again."
For the fifth straight match the Vikings were able to pick up the early doubles point, earning wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Raul Teichmann and Jack Santilli posted a 6-3 victory at the No. 3 spot, while Luke Phillips and Nico Mostardi clinched the early 1-0 advantage following a matching 6-3 win at the top of the lineup.
With the win at No. 1 doubles, Mostardi and Phillips are now tied for 10th on the CSU Team Doubles Wins List with 21 career wins as a tandem, while Mostardi is tied for sixth individually with 72 career wins and Phillips is now in sole possession of 10th place with 64 career victories.
Phillips and Matthew Terry were quickly able to put the Vikings up 3-0 after the start of singles play, as Phillips posted a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles and Terry earned a 6-2, 6-1 win at the top of the lineup.
With his win at the No. 2 spot, Phillips improved to a team-best 8-3 this season, while he is now in sole possession of 10th place on the CSU Singles Wins List with 72 career victories.
Terry won his fifth straight singles match Saturday, improving to 7-3 on the year, and notching his 84th career win.
After UIC picked up a win at No. 3 singles, the Vikings responded with a win at the No. 6 spot, as Santilli clinched the match for the Vikings with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. This marked just the third singles match of the season for Santilli, as he now stands at 3-0 this year.
"We had to call on Jack again this weekend and put him into the doubles and singles lineup, and he came through in both of his matches, clinching it for us on his singles court. Matt and Luke were really locked in and played well up top today, as both of them were playing great tennis and had great energy to help us get a quick lead to start singles. Raul was then able to put the final point on the board for us, as he did a nice job of returning from injury to step into the lineup today," Etzkin said.
The Vikings were able to add on another point with a win at No. 4 singles then, with Teichmann posting a 6-2, 4-6, 1-0(1) victory in his first singles match since February 26.
Cleveland State and UIC will close out the weekend series tomorrow (Sunday, March 28), with first serve set for 12:30 p.m. EST.
