TOLEDO, Ohio -- The Wayne State University men's tennis squad participated in the 2019 Toledo Rocket Invitational over the weekend.

ALL-TOURNAMENT PLAYERS

Two players were selected from each participating squad to the All-Tournament Team.  Junior Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, Germany) and freshman Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) were the two Warriors receiving All-Tournament recognition.

WSU VS. TOLEDO

Freshmen Dom Spicer (London, United Kingdom) and Laws tallied their first doubles win in their collegiate debut vs. Luis Kleinschnitz and Krzysztof Wetoszka (6-1, 7-6(6-0)).

Karcz edged Danilo Vukotic after a second-set tiebreaker (6-2, 7-6(3)).

Senior Pierre Renaudie (Sathonay-Camp, France) fell in a third set to Thawin Suksathaporn (7-5, 1-6, 10-7).

Sophomore Max Rink (Wetzlar, Germany) lost in a close match against Cole Shoults (7-5, 6-4).

Sophomore Donovan Nguyen (Troy, Mich. / Utica) dropped his match to Nikola Arsic in a third set (5-7, 6-2, 10-2).

Freshman Ryan Okonski (Stevensville, Mich. / St. Joseph) was swept by Filip Zupancic in his first college singles match (6-0, 6-0).

"I really liked the way that we competed against Toledo," commented head coach Bryan Morrow.  "Niklas won a nice match.  Dom and Luke won their first doubles match and competed really well."

WSU VS. CASE WESTERN RESERVE

Karcz fell to Matthew Chen after a close first set (7-5, 6-1).

Renaudie was topped by James Hopper (6-3, 6-3).

Spicer lost his first collegiate singles match to Aaron Umen (6-2, 6-3).

Laws was edged by Anthony Kanam (7-5, 6-2) in his collegiate singles debut.

Okonski fell in his match against Earl Hsieh (6-3, 6-3).

Rink and Nguyen were topped by Zach Hennessey and Jonathan Powell (6-3, 7-6(6-0)).

WSU VS. CHICAGO STATE/YOUNGSTOWN STATE

Okonski and Rink notched a victory over Chicago State's Cody Wurzelbacher and Pedja Kolaric (7-5, 3-6, 10-5).

Karcz blanked Youngstown's Joao Garretto (6-0, 6-0).

Renaudie was topped by Chicago State's Jesus Perez Plaza after a first-set tiebreaker and a third set (6-7(5), 6-3, 13-11).

Spicer fell to Youngstown State's Erik Gran in a third set (2-6, 6-1, 10-8).

Laws was edged in a third set by Chicago State's J. Sanchez Pradillo (6-3, 3-6, 10-3).

Nguyen lost his match against Youngstown State's Will Everett (6-1, 6-3).

"We were back at competing really well against this combined team," remarked Morrow.  "I really liked what I saw in that match.  Niklas cruised to an easy win and we had some good battles."

WSU VS. EASTERN ILLINOIS

Spicer tallied his first collegiate singles win against Cameron Slabbert (6-2, 6-1).

Rink won his match versus Logan Charbonneau (6-3, 6-3).

Nguyen topped Juan Carlos Garrido (7-6(4), 6-4).

Laws earned his first collegiate singles win vs. Thomas Wallace (6-2, 3-0, retired).

"We were able to play really good singles here," stated Morrow.  "Both Luke and Dom got their first college singles wins and looked really good doing it.  They played a nice, competitive match."

WSU VS. VALPARAISO

Karcz and Renaudie tallied a doubles win against Andrej Kalenic and Philipp Leithold (6-1, 3-6, 10-4).

Laws notched a victory over Gabriel Carvajal (6-2, 2-6, 10-8).

Rink fell in his match against Brandon Ancona (6-4, 6-3).

Spicer was topped by Brian Pecyna (6-1, 6-3).

"Valpo is another strong Division I team," commented Morrow.  "They had a real nice match there.  Niklas and Pierre started out playing as aggressive as I have ever seen them.  In doubles, they played almost a flawless first set.  Valpo came back the second set and played well, but we ended up pulling out a tiebreak win.  In singles, Max played the player of the year from Valapraiso's conference.  It was the best, hard-fought match that I have ever seen Max play.  Dom played a guy who was really, really strong.  They were hitting great shots and great points.  Luke pulled out a third-set tiebreak win.  It was a real gutty win in his third singles match of the day."

A FINAL QUOTE FROM COACH MORROW

"We learned a lot about the team this weekend and some of the new players had their first college tennis experience competing at this level.  I was proud of the guys, considering how much tennis we have played and how well we competed on day two; it was very impressive.  I am looking forward to the ITAs coming up.  I feel like the team is very prepared for the tournament."

UP NEXT

The Warriors will compete at the 2019 ITA Midwest Regional Tournament in Grand Rapids, beginning on Sept. 28.