INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team clinched the 2021 Horizon League Regular Season title Saturday, following a 6-1 victory at IUPUI.
With Saturday's win, the Vikings remained perfect in Horizon League play at 7-0, and extended their win streak to 12 straight matches. Dating back to the 2018-19 season, Cleveland State has now won 17 straight #HLTennis regular season matches.
For the first time since early March the Vikings had to play from behind when starting singles, as the Jaguars were able to pick up the early doubles point.
"I'm really proud of this team and all the work they have done throughout the season, and today we were able to pick up a win with yet another unique lineup as we fought for a regular season title," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Doubles came down to a couple points at No. 3, and although we had a chance, we didn't quite get it done. We had talked about the what-if's earlier this week, and this was one of those what-if's – but the guys responded really well and turned around the momentum in singles."
Despite dropping the doubles point, the Vikings were able to pick up a win at the No. 2 spot, with Matthew Terry and Maxime Mareschal-Hay earning a 6-4 victory to improve to 9-4 on the season, including 5-1 in league play.
The Vikings were able to even the score after picking up the first singles point of the day, as Nico Mostardi posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ethan Mardanus-Budiono at the top of the lineup. The win marked Mostardi's 89th singles win of his career, while it kept him perfect at 4-0 in league play this year.
Terry then gave the Vikings a 2-1 advantage after picking up a win at the No. 2 spot, as he earned a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alex Jochim. With the win, Terry becomes the third Viking all-time with 90 career singles wins, while it improves him to 13-4 overall this season.
Cleveland State extended its lead with a win at No. 4 singles then, as Luke Phillips posted a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory over IUPUI's Emil Jankowski. Saturday's win marked Phillips' eighth straight singles win, while it put him at a team-best 15-3 overall this season.
Terry and Phillips both improved to 7-0 in Horizon League regular season matches this season.
Mareschal-Hay gave the Vikings four straight singles points – and clinched the match – picking up a 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 3 singles. With the win, Mareschal-Hay is now tied for the team-lead with 15 singles wins on the year, while he improved to 6-1 against league opponents.
"We were able to pick up five of six first sets, handling the pressure, and ended up running the table in singles. The credit goes to our top-four guys, as they have been beasts all year for us, while Kade and JuandeDios never gave in and were also able to put their points on the board. We feel really good after today's match, and we are looking forward to doing it for the final time during the regular season tomorrow," Etzkin said.
The Vikings were then able to pick up the final two points of the day, sweeping the singles matches, as Kade Mindry and JuandeDios Abboud picked up wins at the No. 6 and No. 5 spots respectively.
Mindry posted a 7-6(1), 7-6(4) victory to pick up his second straight league victory, while Abboud earned a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to improve to 4-3 in league matches.
Cleveland State will close out the regular season and go for a perfect 8-0 #HLTennis slate tomorrow (Sunday, April 25), with first serve set for 4:00 p.m. at IUPUI.
