April 22, 2007

Contact: Josh Rattray

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State clinched second place in the Horizon League standings on the season's final day with a 5-2 win over UIC Sunday at the Malaga Tennis Center. The Vikings concluded the regular season 17-7 and 4-1 in league play.

Freshman Phil Orno led the way with his second No. 1 singles win of the weekend, defeating Sebastian Lystad in three sets. Junior Brad Groleski and sophomore Rob West each won in straight sets to put the match away early.

Freshman Ryan Hamning closed the match with a three-set win over Bastian Harbo in the third spot for his 27^th win of the season.

"This is the most passion and energy I've seen our guys play with this year," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We've never finished this high in the league standings. Finishing second is exciting for our progam.

"I just shake my head when I see how well our guys competed."

CSU swept all three doubles contests, led by West and sophomore Steven Wipprecht's 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles.

The Vikings will enter next weekend's Horizon League championship with the second seed and a first-round bye into the semi-finals, where they will play the winner of UIC and the fourth seed of the tournament, which will be Wright State or UW-Green Bay. The league tournament begins on Saturday, April 28 in Indianapolis, Ind.

DOUBLES RESULTS

Hamning/Orno def. Lystad/Lockhart (UIC) - 8-7 (1)

West/Wipprecht def. Fey/Harbo (UIC) - 8-5

Groleski/Singer def. Kreymbourg/Sweeney (UIC) - 8-6

SINGLES RESULTS

Phil Orno def. Sebastian Lystad (UIC) - 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

Brad Groleski def. Adriano Liccardo (UIC) 6-4, 6-4

Ryan Hamning def. Bastian Harbo (UIC) -7-6 (14), 4-6, 6-4

Eric Fey (UIC) def. Dan Singer - 6-4, 6-3

Rob West def. Sam Sweeney (UIC) - 6-2, 6-2

Andy Lockhart (UIC) def. Steven Wipprecht - 7-6 (3), 6-2

EXHIBITION

Tim O'Brien (UIC) def. Danny Popescu - 8-1