Oct. 11, 2004

Final Stats

Contact: David Barry

Cleveland - The Cleveland State tennis teams hosted Niagara in a doubleheader at Malaga Tennis Center Monday afternoon, with the men skipping by the Purple Eagles, 4-3, and the women dropping a 4-3 decision. Despite trailing early by a score of 3-0, the men's team fought back to snap a three-match losing streak.

"The guys entered today's match with their backs against the wall," coach Brian Etzkin said after the match. "We knew we hadn't played our best this fall and today was our chance to go out and prove it."

After losing the doubles point and two of the first singles matches, the men were down 3-0 early. This is quite different than the start the Vikings had on Sunday, when the team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before losing the final four points en route to a 4-3 decision against Youngstown State.

Brad Groleski started the comeback for Cleveland State (2-3) at No. 1 singles, fighting off four match points to earn the victory against Jonathan Bozanich, an individual whom the Vikings have not beaten in two years. Groleski lost the first set 6-2, but came back to to win the next two sets, 6-0, and 7-6, as CSU picked up its first point of the match.

"Today was huge for Brad," Etzkin noted. "He fought off four match points, and winning that match was big for us."

After Dan Singer and Brett Aronson won their matches at No. 4 and 6 respectively, it came down to Jordan Reynolds at No. 5 singles for the deciding point. Reynolds delivered a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory which sealed the win for the Vikings.

"Jordan did very well down the stretch for us," Etzkin said. "He never gave in and kept constructing his poings nicely. He seized the opportunity today to give his team the win."

After getting shutout in two matches in Indiana two weekends ago, and after Sunday's disappointing loss to Youngstown State, Monday's win was a much needed confidence boost to this year's squad.

"This was a big win for us," Etzkin remarked following the match. "It was big for Jordan as well. But this win puts a different light on our fall season, as this is one of the better teams we've played."

The women jumped off to a quick start in their match, winning two of three double's matches to earn the team doubles point. But Morgan Ungerott and Lindsay Sellers provided the only singles points for the Vikings (2-2), who saw their record drop to an even .500 for the fall.

"The women got off to a quick start with the doubles, and it gave us a great lift going into singles," Etzkin commented after the match. "And, although some of the singles matches didn't go the way we would have liked, the girls fought hard today."

The Cleveland State women lost 7-0 to Niagara last year, and can see a 4-3 loss this year as progress.

"Today was a great step forward even in defeat," Etzkin noted. "Next year we are looking to get past these sort of teams."

Both teams will host IPFW on Tuesday, with the doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m at Malaga Tennis Center.