ANN ARBOR, MICH. – The No. 6 seeded Cleveland State Vikings and Wright State Raiders continued their tournament runs with both teams taking out the No. 2 seeds. Menawhile, the top seeds held on with the Youngstown State women shutting out Detroit Mercy and the Valparaiso men gritted their way to a 4-3 victory.
No. 1 Valparaiso: 4, No. 4 Youngstown State: 3
The tightly contested first match came down to the No. 5 singles match between Valparaiso’s Kyle Dunn and Luke Purser. Dunn gritted through a 7-6, 6-3 victory to clinch a spot in the championship match. The Crusaders started the day taking the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 wins at the No. 2 and 3 spots. Youngstown State bounced back with two straight singles points with Danylo Veremeichuk and Thomas Rodrigues notching two points for the Penguins. Jeffrey Schorsch pulled Valparaiso even with a 6-4, 6-3 win. Joao Garretto put Youngstown State ahead with a win at the No. 4 singles. Valparaiso’s Brandon Ancona won at the No. 6 position before Dunn’s point won the match for Valparaiso.
BOX SCORE
No. 6 Cleveland State: 4, No. 2 Detroit Mercy: 1
Cleveland State earned a spot in the title match after taking down Detroit Mercy 4-1. The Vikings took the doubles point after notching wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles spots. Cleveland State carried the momentum from the doubles point into singles play with Mirko Radosevic cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 4 position. William Malm breezed to a 6-1, 6-3 win at the five spot before Kevin Goth closed out the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles.
BOX SCORE
Cleveland State and Valparaiso will face off in championship match on Sunday at 11:00am EST at the Varsity Tennis Center on the University of Michigan’s campus. The winner of tomorrow’s match will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The match will be streamed on ESPN3.
No. 1 Youngstown State: 4, No. 4 Detroit Mercy: 0
Youngstown State will play in the championship game for the fifth straight year after recording the 4-0 win over Detroit Mercy. The Penguins came out strong in doubles play racking up a pair of 6-2 wins with the unfinished match ending at 5-1. Noelly Nsimba reeled off a straight set victory, 6-1, 6-3. Senior, Dominika Lackova finished soon afterwards winning at the top singles spot 6-3, 6-3. Imaan Hassim ended the match winning 6-1, 7-6.
BOX SCORE
No. 6 Wright State: 4, No. 2 Cleveland State: 2
Wright State punched their ticket into the title game upending the No. 2 seed Cleveland State. After earning the doubles point at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, the Raiders’ Elaine Cloern and Haily Morgan won two straight set matches to open singles play. The two teams went back and forth with three of the seven singles matches went to a deciding third set. Karoline Haller sealed the deal for Wright State after bouncing back with from a second set loss to dominate the third set 6-1.
BOX SCORE
The women’s title match will be a repeat of last year’s championship game with Youngstown State set to take on Wright State at 3:00pm EST at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. The match will be airing on ESPN3.
Sunday Schedule
11:00a.m. - No. 6 Cleveland State vs. No. 1 Valparaiso (Men’s Championship Match)
3:00p.m. - No. 6 Wright State vs. No. 1 Youngstown State (Women’s Championship Match)
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ANN ARBOR, MICH. – A pair of No. 6 seeds advanced to the semifinals today with Cleveland State upending Green Bay and Wright State downed UIC. Detroit Mercy defeated Oakland on the women’s side and Youngstown State men took care of business against Northern Kentucky.
No. 6 Cleveland State: 4, No. 3 Green Bay 3
After Green Bay took the doubles point with both the Phoenix’s No. 2 and 3 teams winning 6-2, Cleveland State rallied to upset Green Bay in singles play. Nico Mostardi won in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 at the No. 1 singles player. The two teams went back and forth with Green Bay winning the No. 4 and No. 5 singles points, and Cleveland State picking up wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions. The match point was decided with Cleveland State’s Benjamin Slade earning the 7-5, 6-4 win to punch the Vikings ticket into the tomorrow’s semifinals.
Cleveland State will play No. 2 Detroit Mercy on Saturday at 12:00pm EST to determine who will move onto the championship match.
BOX SCORE
No. 4 Youngstown State: 4, No. 5 Northern Kentucky: 0
Youngstown State cruised in their match versus Northern Kentucky in a 4-0 sweep. The Penguins top two doubles team won 6-1, 6-3 to earn the doubles point and set the tone for the rest of the match. Danylo Veremeichuk was the first to finish his match winning 6-2, 6-0 as the Penguins No. 2. Thomas Rodrigues won 6-4, 6-4 at the third position, and Yossi Dahan closed out the match winning 6-3, 6-2.
Youngstown State will take on top seeded Valparaiso on Saturday at 9:00am EST.
BOX SCORE
No. 6 Wright State: 4, No. 3 UIC: 2
Wright State got their revenge on UIC winning 4-2 after losing a hard fought matchup in the regular season 3-4. Wright State took the doubles point and never looked back picking up wins at the No. 3 and 4 positions before Karoline Haller ended the match with a 7-6, 6-3 victory to secure a spot in tomorrow’s semifinals for the Raiders.
Wright State will square off against Cleveland State tomorrow at 6:00pm EST inside the Varsity Tennis Center.
BOX SCORE
No. 4 Detroit Mercy: 4, No. 5 Oakland: 1
Detroit Mercy moves onto the semifinals after beating their crosstown rival in Oakland. The Titans pulled off a couple wins in doubles play with Maitrot and Thioux picking up a win as the top team and Providokhina and Van Herck notching a win at the No. 3 spot. Detroit Mercy pulled off wins at the No. 5 and 6 positions before Iris Thioux ended the match with a 6-4, 6-4 victory at the No. 3 singles spot.
Detroit Mercy will take on No. 1 Youngstown State tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm in the semifinals for the chance to punch their ticket into the championship match.
BOX SCORE
Tomorrow’s matches will begin at 9:00am ET inside the Varsity Tennis Center on the University of Michigan’s campus. All matches will be aired on ESPN3.
Saturday Schedule (All times Eastern)
9 a.m. Valparaiso vs. Youngstown State (Men)
12 p.m. Detroit Mercy vs. Cleveland State (Men)
3 p.m. Youngstown State vs. Detroit Mercy (Women)
6 p.m. Cleveland State vs. Wright State (Women)
