Box Score (HTML)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in the past five seasons Saturday, the Wayne State University men's tennis team (11-10 overall) fell 5-3 in its first-round NCAA Midwest Regional matchup against No. 28-ranked University of Southern Indiana at the Cooper Tennis Complex. The match was hosted by Drury University.
The fifth-seeded Wayne State gave the No. 4 seed Screaming Eagles (19-7 overall) a challenge right from the start. All three doubles matches were within two games. At the No. 1 doubles flight, the Wayne State duo of junior
Trey Keating (Troy, Mich. / Troy) and
Stephane Robineau (Paris, France) lost 8-6 to Southern Indiana's Jack Joyce and Santiago Lopez.
At the No. 2 flight, senior
Michael FitzGerald (Grosse Ile, Mich. / Grosse Ile) and freshman
Clement Charriere (Marseille, France) battled USI's Joel Stern and Josh Walden to a tiebreaker. The Southern Indiana pair earned the victory in the tiebreaker, winning 9-8 (7-4) to give the Screaming Eagles a 2-0 lead.
At the No. 3 doubles flight, Wayne State earned its first victory of the match. The WSU pair of senior
Melvin Joseph (Northville, Mich. / Northville) and
Mohamed Fazyl Kechai (Paris, France) posted a 9-7 win to cut the deficit in the match to one, 2-1.
Wayne State gained a temporary lead in the match after winning the first two singles matches. At the No. 6 flight, Keating dropped just one game on his way to a 6-0, 6-1 win, while FitzGerald capped off his career with a straight-sets, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Southern Indiana's Joe Bray at No. 3 singles. With the two wins, Wayne State earned a 3-2 lead in the match.
Southern Indiana closed out the match, however, with three straight wins. At No. 2 singles, Robineau dropped a 6-3, 7-5 match to Lopez. Kechai lost at the No. 4 flight to Stern, 6-3, 6-2.
At No. 1 singles, Charriere took Southern Indiana's best player, Joyce, to a tiebreaker in the second set, but ultimately fell as Southern Indiana clinched the match. Joyce topped Charriere, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
Wayne State's appearance in the 2014 NCAA Tournament was the first since 2011. The Warriors have reached the opening round of the national tournament three times in six seasons under head coach
Bryan Morrow. Wayne State loses two of its all-time winningest players in history as Joseph and FitzGerald combined for 210 career victories across singles and doubles. Wayne State also went 55-37 in the four seasons with the senior pair in the program.
No. 28 Southern Indiana 5, Wayne State 3Doubles1. Jack Joyce/Santiago Lopez (USI) def.
Stephane Robineau/
Trey Keating (WSU), 8-6
2. Josh Walden/Joel Stern (USI) def.
Clement Charriere/
Michael FitzGerald (WSU), 9-8 (7-4)
3.
Mohamed Fazyl Kechai/
Melvin Joseph (WSU) def. Joe Bray/Dmitri Stocker (USI), 9-7
Singles1. Joyce (USI) def. Charriere (WSU), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
2. Lopez (USI) def. Robineau (WSU), 6-3, 7-5
3. FitzGerald (WSU) def. Bray (USI), 6-2, 6-1
4. Stern (USI) def. Kechai (WSU), 6-3, 6-2
5. Walden (USI) vs. Joseph (WSU), 7-6 (7-4), 3-2, unfinished
6. Keating (WSU) def. Stocker (USI), 6-0, 6-1
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