BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Cleveland State men's tennis team returned to action Wednesday afternoon, opening its annual Spring Training Trip at Florida Atlantic. The Vikings dropped a 5-0 contest against the Owls, who are currently ranked No. 67 in the most recent ITA rankings.

Wednesday's match marked the first outdoor match of the year for the Vikings, and was shortened due to lightning in the area, forcing the No. 1 and No. 4 singles matches to go unfinished.

"Overall I thought this was a good outing for us today, despite not playing a competitive match for almost two weeks and facing multiple delays this morning, I thought we came out and played a strong match up and down the lineup," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Clark was playing some of his best tennis of the year – and doing so outdoors – while Max was also putting together a strong performance on his court. We were able to make a push late in all of the singles matches today, but in the matches that we were able to finish we came up just short. We are looking forward to getting another match in later this week, and hopefully closing out our spring trip on a positive note."

Despite not earning the early doubles point, Cleveland State's No. 2 team of Kade Mindry and Maxime Mareschal-Hay were able to put together a strong outing, as they were leading 4-3 before their match got halted.

In singles action, Mareschal-Hay and Clark Bilinovich both forced their matches into third sets on Wednesday, before lightning in the area forced both matches to be called. At the top of the singles lineup, Mareschal-Hay was up 2-1 in the third set after splitting the first two frames 6-4, 2-6, while Bilinovich was trailing 2-0 at the No. 4 spot after going 3-6, 6-3 in his first two frames.

Cleveland State will close out its Spring Training Trip on Friday, March 18 when they face UTSA in Boca Raton, Fla.