CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State men's tennis team notched its ninth straight victory Sunday, picking up a 6-1 decision over Youngstown State. With the win, the Vikings are now 12-4 overall this season, including a perfect 4-0 mark in Horizon League play.
Sunday's win also extended Cleveland State's Horizon League regular season win streak to 14 straight matches, which dates back to the 2017-18 campaign.
The Vikings were once again able to pick up the early 1-0 advantage after clinching the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. The tandems of Matthew Terry/Maxime Mareschal-Hay and Clark Bilinovich/Kade Mindry picked up matching 6-1 wins, giving the Vikings the doubles point for the 14th time this season.
"This was a huge team win for us today, credit definitely goes to the guys because once again everyone moved up a spot in the lineup, and everyone had to step up an extra notch and they did it – again," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We played better doubles today, our No. 2 team came out really sharp and our No. 3 team was able to pick up right where they left off yesterday to help us get the early lead."
YSU was able to even the score at the start of singles play with a win at the No. 6 spot, but a 6-1, 6-1 straight-set win from Mareschal-Hay at the No. 3 spot put the Vikings on top 2-1. With the win, Mareschal-Hay is tied for the team lead with 12 singles wins this year.
Cleveland State was then able to extend its lead with a win from Terry at the top of the lineup, as he posted a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory for his 10th singles win of the year. The win also moved him into a tie for third place on the CSU Singles Wins List with 87 career victories, as he is tied with teammate Nico Mostardi and Ryan Hamning (06-10).
Luke Phillips posted Cleveland State's clinching point at No. 2 singles, earning a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory to give the Vikings their ninth straight win. Phillips is now tied for the team lead with 12 singles wins this season, while he ranks ninth on the CSU Singles Wins List with 76 career victories.
The Vikings closed out the match with the final two singles points then, as JuandeDios Abboud posted a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles and Bilinovich earned a 7-6(4), 6-7(12), 1-0(6) win at the No. 4 spot.
With his win at No. 4 singles, Bilinovich now has 47 career wins, just three wins shy of becoming the fourth active Viking to reach the 50-win milestone.
"In singles, Max was on point today, he had very few unforced errors and played really clean tennis. Juan had a bounce back day today, and even though he had to move up a spot in the lineup he was still able to get the win on the board for us. Our top guys – Matt, Luke and Clark all had close matches, but they found a way in the big moments to get it done for us today," Etzkin said.
Cleveland State will close out the home portion of its 2021 schedule next weekend, hosting Northern Kentucky in a two-match series on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18.
