April 12, 2009
Contact: Dana Ingraham
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The doubles point proved to be the difference maker in Rocky River Saturday afternoon as the men's tennis team used the early point to its advantage, holding on to beat UIC 4-3.
The Viking men have been working all season to sharpen their doubles game and have been at their best in recent weeks. The hard work turned into results against UIC when CSU began the match with wins at all three doubles spots, getting out to an early 1-0 lead.
Cleveland State pressed on with the goal of carrying its early success into singles play, which turned out to be a battle until the very end. UIC handed the Vikings losses at No 2 and 6 to go up 2-1 before CSU's junior partners took the match upon their shoulders.
Ryan Hamning fought through a two set tiebreaker to give Cleveland State its second point and tie the match at two. After Robert Fox fell to UIC's Dave Robare at No. 5, Phil Orno came through in the clutch with a tough three-set win at his No. 1 post.
Freshman Yannick Goossens handled Adriano Liccardo in two sets at the fourth spot to secure the fourth and final point for Cleveland State.
"Today was a dramatic but well-deserved win," said head coach Brian Etzkin. "The guys fought extremely hard today. The fact that we were down 3-2 and were able to close out the next two points is really a testament to how hard we have been working and how much we truly desire another conference championship.
"We played our best doubles of the season against UIC - all three teams were clicking at once, and that was great to see. Hopefully we can continue playing at this premier level throughout the rest of the regular season and into the tournament."
With the win over UIC, the Cleveland State men improve to 14-5 overall and 4-0 in the Horizon League. The Vikings will have a chance at another conference foe on Sunday afternoon when they take on Butler outdoors at CSU's Malaga Tennis Center.
Cleveland State 4, UIC 3
April 11, River Oaks Racquet Club
Doubles
1. Orno/Hamning (CSU) def. Lystad/Hudson (UIC), 8-5
2. West/Goossens (CSU) def. Wilson/Harbo (UIC), 8-4
3. Fox/Wipprecht (CSU) def. Robare/Kirk (UIC), 8-5
Singles
1. Phil Orno (CSU) def. Sebastian Lystad (UIC), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Bastian Harbo (UIC) def. Rob West (CSU), 6-1, 6-2
3. Ryan Hamning (CSU) def. George Hudson (UIC), 6-4, 7-6(6)
4. Yannick Goossens (CSU) def. Adriano Liccardo (UIC), 6-3, 6-4
5. Dave Robare (UIC) def. Robert Fox (CSU), 6-3, 6-4
6. Nate Kirk (UIC) def. Steven Wipprecht (CSU), 6-4, 6-0
