Feb. 15, 2006
SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's and women's tennis teams travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. on Saturday, Feb. 17 to take on IPFW. That same day the women will battle Southeast Missouri. On Sunday, Feb. 18 the women will play Oakland.
LAST TIME OUT: In men's action, Iowa swept the Vikings on Feb. 10, 7-0, with Cleveland State losing all but one match in two sets. The newly formed No. 1 doubles unit of Jay Tee and Olivier Dhaine gave a strong performance, but fell short, 8-7 (5). The Vikings battled conference foe UW-Green Bay on Feb. 11, securing an early 3-0 lead after claiming the doubles point. CSU lost its momentum in the second half, however, and fell to the Phoenix, 4-3.
A valiant effort by the women's tennis team lead to a 7-0 victory over Niagara on Feb. 4. The Vikings, who won all of their matches in two sets, yielded only one defeat for the day at No. 3 doubles. Cleveland State did not fare as well on Feb. 5 as Buffalo routed the Vikings 7-0. CSU moved to 6-4 for the year after the split.
HEAD COACH Brian Etzkin: Brian Etzkin is now in his fourth year with both the men's and women's tennis programs. Etzkin, the 2003-04 Horizon League Women's Coach of the Year, has accumulated the most career wins for a coach in CSU history with 28. Last season, he coached Sarah Galon to Horizon League Player of the Year honors, the first time a Viking tennis player has won the award. On the men's side he has coached the 2003 Horizon League Newcomer of the Year (senior Jay Tee) and had players on both the first and second All-Horizon League teams.
ETZKIN ON THE MEN: "Fort Wayne is a team that beat us in the fall before we had a full lineup, so I'm excited to see how we'll stack up against them now. Both us and Fort Wayne have struggled to close out close matches lately. Hopfully we can use this match as catylst to get the ball rolling and start getting some wins. Last week we made a huge improvement in doubles and I'm looking for us to continue that momentum into this weekend."
ETZKIN ON THE WOMEN: "SEMO, IPFW and Oakland are three teams playing at similar levels, so in order to win we need to be at the top of our game. Oakland looks much improved from last year with two new players. Our doubles has consistently been good all year so we just need to keep on track and build on last week's two wins."
FLEET OF FIRSTS: The women's tennis team capped off their fall season at the ITA Regional (Oct. 21-24) with a number of firsts for Cleveland State. A record six Viking women competed in singles and doubles at the 2005 regional in East Lansing, Mich. Sarah Galon added to her already impressive resume by becoming the first women's tennis player in Cleveland State history to compete in the singles main draw. Galon also teamed up with Morgan Ungerott to earn the Vikings' first ever regional win in the consolation round of the doubles main draw.
INTERNATIONAL FLAIR: As the newest addition to the Vikings lineup, junior transfer Olivier Dhaine is showing signs of great promise. Dhaine, a native of France, is 4-1after splitting the weekend against Iowa and UW-Green Bay. He fell to Iowa's J.P. Ritchie, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 10-4, on Feb. 10 but was able to rebound the following day and down Mark Goldin of UW-Green Bay, 6-2, 7-5. Dhaine also gave a strong performance against St. Bonaventure (Feb. 4), downing Leo Mochizuki 7-5, 7-5. He marked his collegiate debut (Jan. 28), outplaying Xavier's Doug Matthews 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 singles for the Vikings' only win of the day.
BREATH OF FRESH AIR: Despite a tough weekend In Iowa City (Feb. 10-11), Freshman Steven Wipprecht continues to add depth to the Vikings lineup. No. 6 Wipprecht is currently 2-3 for the spring after losing to Iowa and UW-Green Bay this past weekend. He nearly defeated UW-Green Bay's Eric Hines on Feb. 11 in a three-set nail-biter, 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2. Previously, Wipprecht, who went 7-4 during the fall at No. 4 singles, defeated Dave Rueter of Niagara, 6-2, 6-1 (Feb. 3) and Antonia Farias of St. Bonaventure, 3-6, 6-0, 10-3 (Feb. 4) at No. 6 singles. He is 9-7 for the year.
BREAKING IT IN: Sophomore Brad Groleski is finally back in action with the Vikngs after a year-long haitus due to a broken wrist. Groleski downed UW-Green Bay's Eric Plaushines 6-2, 7-5 (Feb. 11) for his first win of the spring.
SINGLED OUT: Sophomore Jenn Myers has pleasantly surprised coach Etzkin at the top of the lineup, improving to 11-5 for the year. Most recently, she downed Niagara's Vanja Lakic 6-3, 6-4 (Feb. 4) at No. 2 singles. Myers went on a three-match winning streak for the Vikings after the first home dual meet of the season. The Chillicothe, Ohio native defeated Stephanie Fosnight of St. Bonaventure 6-0, 6-2 (Jan. 27) at No. 2 singles, and two days later secured CSU's only win against Toledo, downing Viviano Rivera 6-0, 7-5 (Jan. 29). That same day Myers grabbed her third two-set victory over Kathryn Skopinski of Robert Morris, 6-1, 6-2. She is 9-4 for the year.
DOUBLE DUTY: The women's No. 1 doubles team of Sarah Galon and Morgan Ungerott is on fire this season, posting an 8-4 record for the year. The duo carried a three-match winning streak from Jan. 29-Feb. 4, before suffering their first loss of the spring to Buffalo (Feb. 5), 8-4. Galon and Ungerott defeated Bradley 8-0 (Oct. 21) for the Vikings' first ever ITA regional win.
Despite a tough 0-2 weekend against Niagara and Buffalo (Feb. 4-5) Jenn Myers and Christine Vogelgesang remain strong at No. 3 doubles with a 4-4 record. The sophomore unit topped Akron, 8-4, (Feb. 2) and Robert Morris, 8-1 (Jan. 29).
HAWAIIAN PUNCH: Junior Sarah Galon continues to lead the Vikings at No. 1 singles despite going up against some tough compeition. Galon is currently 7-8 for 2005-06, winning all but one match in two sets. She downed Danielle Grenier of Niagara, 7-5, 6-2, on Feb. 4 while Tanya Gombera of Akron fell to Galon 6-1, 6-2 on Feb. 2. Galon became the first Vikings tennis player to earn Horizon League Player of the Year honors this past year. She was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Year two seasons ago.
LIVINGSTONE NOTCHES FIRST CAREER WIN: Junior walk-on Junior Alex Livingstone won his first collegiate match on Sept. 9, defeating Zach Landgraf from Youngstown State in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. Livingstone previously had won several exhibition matches, but this was his first victory in tournament play. Last season, Livingstone went 0-2 in tournaments and lost his only match at the No. 6 singles position.
UP NEXT: The men and women take two weeks off before hosting Chicago State and Youngstown State on Mar. 4-5.
