By Matt Poshedley
The Cleveland State University men’s tennis team began their season with two impressive title wins at the Purdue Fall Invitational, held on Friday, Sept. 15 through Sunday, Sept. 17.
On the first day of the tournament, the Vikings won three of their singles matches and went 4-2 in their doubles matches.
Freshman Matthew Terry led the way with his first ever collegiate win in the A Flight match. Freshman Luke Phillips also got in on the action by winning his first match as a Viking in the B Flight match and partnered up with sophomore Nico Mostardi to win both of their doubles matches.
On the second day of the tournament, Mostardi and Phillips defeated Washington University to win the Flight A Doubles Title.
“They communicated well and complimented each other,” Brian Etzkin, head coach of the Cleveland State men’s tennis team, said. “They’ll probably get more opportunities to play with each other.”
The second day of the tournament also saw Terry grab two victories to put him in the championship match which took place on the final day of the tournament. Mostardi, Phillips, William Malm and Benjamin Slade also picked up singles wins. This helped the Vikings win six of their 11 matches on the second day of the tournament.
On the last day of the tournament, Terry defeated Ball State’s Nemanja Guzina to win the A Flight Championship.
“Matthew competed hard and kept his focus the whole way through,” Etzkin said.
“It’s a building block and this group is getting along and supporting each other,” Etzkin said.
The Vikings will travel to Louisville, Kentucky to play in the Louisville Invite Oct. 13 through Oct. 15.
“I’m expecting a little tougher tournament than the last one,” Etzkin said. “I think it’ll be a very competitive tournament.”
Right after the Louisville Invite the Vikings will travel to the University of Michigan to play in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional where they will compete against the best players from the Midwest Region.
The Vikings will wrap up their fall tournament play at home with the Viking Invitational, which will include Cleveland State, Binghamton University, Youngstown State University, Northern Illinois University, the University of Toledo and Niagara University.
“We did really well considering we didn’t have a good chunk of our team at the tournament,” Etzkin said. “We’re hoping to have more help in the lineup come January.”