March 15, 2006

Orlando, Fla.-The Cleveland State men's tennis team ended its spring break on a high note Wednesday afternoon, downing Fairliegh Dickinson, 6-1 and UW-LaCrosse, 7-0. The Vikings went 3-1 over three days of competition.

Cleveland State got off to a quick start in doubles, winning all three of their matches. In the closest match, No. 1 Olivier Dhaine and Jay Tee downed Daniel Wynne and Juan Pablo Medina 8-5. Brad Groleski and Steven Wipprecht teamed up for their third straight win at No. 3 singles, downing FDUM 8-3.

In singles play CSU won five of its six matches. At No. 1 singles Dhaine outplayed Wynne, 6-2, 5-7, 10-3.

"Olivier had a good match," said coach Brian Etzkin. "He played someone whose style didn't match up with his own. He wasn't able to use the pace he likes on the ball and had to figure out a different strategy."

"Especially this morning, I had a guy that was not hitting the ball very hard," said Dhaine. "I couldn't hit the ball hard myself so I didn't have any pace. I just had to be patient, patient, patient."

No. 5 Dan Singer outlasted Juan Pablo Medina in the only other three-set match of the morning, 1-6, 7-6 (4-0), 10-7.

"Dan Singer was in control most of the match but fell back in the second set," said Etzkin. He just dug himself a little bit of a hole and ended up having to win the set in a tie breaker."

The Vikings continued to play solid tennis well into the afternoon, sweeping both the doubles and singles matches against UW-LaCrosse.

On a six-match winning streak, Dhaine and Tee defeated Daniel Wynne and Juan Pablo Medina 8-5. They are 6-1 on the season. At No. 2 doubles Alex Livingstone and Wipprecht teamed up for an 8-3 victory over Garrett Mason and Grant Bernard. The No. 3 duo of Groleski and Jason Lape downed the Eagles 8-5.

With the doubles point in hand, Dhaine improved his record to 8-2 with a 6-2, 5-7, 10-3 win over Wynne at No. 1 singles. No. 3 Rob West overcame a three-match slump, downing Justin Seow, 6-3, 6-4. No. 4 Brad Groleski and No. 5 Dan Singer outhustled UW-L 6-2, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-1, respectively. Mason fell to Wipprecht, 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot.

"This afternoon was a fun match because everyone got in the lineup," said Etzkin. "We played a very good and competitive team, but managed to pull away in the close sets."

The Vikings are back in action on Mar. 25 when they travel to Michigan State.

"Today was a good end to our trip," said Etzkin. "We're more competitive now then when we came here. We've got some good matches ahead of us so we're going to have to keep up this level of play."

Doubles: No. 1 Dhaine/Tee def. Wynne/Medina (FDUM) 8-5
No. 2 Singer/West def. Nersesyan/Blanco (FDUM) 8-4
No. 3 Groleski/Wipprecht def. Seow/Bowers (FDUM) 8-3

Singles: No. 1 Olivier Dhaine def. Daniel Wynne (FDUM) 6-2, 5-7, 10-3
No. 2 Albert Nersesyan (FDUM) def. Jay Tee 7-6 (4-0), 6-2
No. 3 Rob West def. Justin Seow (FDUM) 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 Brad Groleski def. Esteban Blanco (FDUM) 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 Dan Singer def. Juan Pablo Medina (FDUM) 1-6, 7-6 (4-0), 10-7
No. 6 Steven Wipprecht def. Rodrigo Avila (FDUM) 6-0, 6-4

Doubles: No. 1 Dhaine/Tee def. Lishout/Wroblewski (UW-L) 8-6
No. 2 Livingstone/Wipprecht def. Mason/Bernard (UW-L) 8-3
No. 3 Groleski/Lape def. Strand/Bradley (UW-L) 8-5

Singles: No. 1 Olivier Dhaine def. Dale Wroblewski (UW-L) 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 Jay Tee def. Mike Van Lishout (UW-L) 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 Rob West def. Grant Bernard (UW-L) 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 Brad Groleski def. Deke Bradley (UW-L) 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Dan Singer def. Jeff Strand (UW-L) 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 Steven Wipprecht def. Garrett Mason (UW-L) 6-1, 6-2
Ex. Alex Livingstone def. Mike Frenzek (UW-L) 4-6, 6-1, 10-8
Ex. Jason Lape def. (UW-L) 6-1, 6-1