Valpo, Green Bay Set Up Men's Tennis Championship Rematch

Valparaiso vs. Cleveland State Box Score | Green Bay vs. Northern Kentucky Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The top two seeds in the Horizon League Men’s Tennis Championship held serve, setting up a rematch of last year’s title tilt as No. 1 seed Valparaiso and second-seeded Green Bay swept their semifinal matches on Saturday at the Varsity Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Michigan.

Green Bay will be going for its third straight Horizon League men’s tennis crown and fourth in the last five years. Meanwhile, Valparaiso will be out to avenge its loss in the 2015 championship match to the Phoenix. The teams will be on court at 3 p.m. ET, with the match carried by ESPN3.

With the matches moved indoors due to downpour conditions in Ann Arbor, Valparaiso was sharp in dispatching the fifth-seeded Cleveland State Vikings, 4-0.

Jeffrey Schorsch and Charlie Emhardt helped set the pace in doubles, rolling to a 6-3 win at No. 1 before Chad Kissell and Kyle Dunn clinched the early point with a 6-3 victory of their own.

Schorsch, the two-time Horizon League Player of the Year, continued to push the Crusaders forward as he rolled to a win at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-2. Through the lineup, Valparaiso was dominant, as Dunn followed with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 6 to put the Crusaders on the brink of the win.

Chad Kissell beat Charlie Emhardt to the clinching point, wrapping his win at No. 2, 6-3, 6-3.

An hour later, Green Bay took the court and after a testy doubles round, used a similar tactic to sweep into the championship.

Northern Kentucky struck first in doubles, as Lukas Clemens and Adrian Isache won at No. 3, 6-4, to give the Norse a shot at the early point. Leo Gomez Islinger and Florian Kraenzler used a late break to even the doubles competition, 7-5, but NKU held a 5-3 lead at No. 2, seemingly closing in on the point.

However, Joey Leto and Howard Scott rallied, winning deuce points to even the match at 5-5. A third straight deuce point went the way of Northern Kentucky, putting the Norse ahead, 6-5. The Phoenix duo kept pushing, evening the match to force a tie-break. Tied at 4-4, Leto and Scott grabbed the next three points to give the Phoenix momentum and the early lead.

Leto continued his roll into singles, claiming a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 6 to double the lead; shortly thereafter, Florian Kraenzler wrapped his match at No. 3, 6-3, 6-0.

With leads on courts Nos. 4 and 5, at was Leo Gomez Islinger and No. 2 who clinched the match with a late break, 6-2, 6-3.