March 16, 2010
Contact: Greg Murphy
DELAND, Fla. - The Cleveland State men's tennis team rallied for a thrilling 4-3 victory at Florida Atlantic in the Vikings spring break trip opener on Sunday afternoon.
The win improved CSU to 9-2 overall, while FAMU, ranked ninth in its region, fell to 7-5.
"This was a great win for the program, especially with the way we had to battle back to get it," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "Things looked bleak quite a few times on the court, but the players never gave up and did a tremendous job keeping their focus and winning key points."
CSU lost two of the three doubles matches to fall behind, 1-0. The lone Viking doubles team to win was the No. 1 team of Phil Orno and Ryan Hamning, which picked up an 8-6 win.
Hamning got the Vikings on the board with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles, but FAMU you took the next two points, winning at No. 1 and No. 6 singles to go ahead, 3-1.
Wins by Rob Fox (No. 4) and Chris Klepatz (No. 5) evened the match at 3-3, leaving it up to the No. 2 singles match between CSU's Yannick Goossens and FAMU's Ervin Garibovic.
Goossens won the first set, 7-6, before falling in the second set, 6-3. However, he came back to win the deciding third set, 6-3, giving CSU the win.
"Goose came through for us when we needed him most," Etzkin said. "He didn't have his best stuff today and was up and down, but he hung in there and I couldn't be more proud of him."
CSU continues its spring break trip with two matches on Tuesday, March 16. The Vikings will face Indiana at 9:00 a.m. in Orlando, Fla., before heading to Stetson for a 2:30 p.m. contest.
Singles competition
1. Abdelnour, Marc (FAU) def. Orno, Phil (CSU) 6-4, 6-1
2. Goossens, Yannick (CSU) def. Garibovic, Ervin (FAU) 7-6, 3-6, 6-3
3. Hamning, Ryan (CSU) def. Scholl, Joshua (FAU) 6-3, 6-4
4. FOX, Rob (CSU) def. Matschke, Georg (FAU) 7-6, 6-4
5. Klepatz, Chris (CSU) def. Madon, Derek (FAU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
6. Braunworth, Matthew (FAU) def. Haley, John (CSU) 7-5, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. ORNO, Phil/HAMNING, Ryan (CSU) def. Harradine, Lawrence/Matschke, Georg (FAU) 8-6
2. Abdelnour, Marc/Garibovic, Ervin (FAU) def. FOX, Rob/HALEY, John (CSU) 8-6
3. Scholl, Joshua/Madon, Derek (FAU) def. GOOSSENS, Yannick/KLEPATZ, Chris (CSU) 9-7
Match Notes
Cleveland State 9-2
Florida Atlantic 7-5; Regional ranking #9
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,1,6,4,5,2)
