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Wayne State University Athletics

2
Washburn WASH (17-8)
4
Winner Wayne State WSUM (23-9)
Washburn WASH
(17-8)
2
Final
4
Wayne State WSUM
(23-9)
Winner
Dom Spicer vs. Washburn (2023 NCAA Round of 16 - 05-11-2023)
Conor Kvatek/USTA
Dom Spicer was the clinching win for WSU in its Round of 16 victory vs. Washburn.

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | | Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Men's Tennis Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals Following 4-2 Victory Over Washburn

The Warriors came back to defeat the 12th-seeded Ichabods on Thursday in Orlando, Fla.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The No. 11-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (23-9 overall) won its 13th consecutive match and secured a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 4-2 win over No. 18-ranked Washburn University (17-8 overall) on Thursday to kick off action at the USTA National Campus.

After re-seeding last week following regionals, the Warriors were the five-seed, battling the 12-seed Ichabod squad.

This was the first-ever documented meeting between the two men's tennis programs.

DOUBLES
The afternoon started off slow for the defending runner-up Warriors, as they dropped the doubles point to Washburn and trailed early.

Both Ichabod wins came by a margin of 6-3 and were recorded by their two nationally-ranked pairings.  At the No. 1 doubles spot, the second-ranked team of Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) and Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) drew the seventh-ranked duo of Miquel Perez and Sebastian Pjontek.  Perez and Pjontek recorded the victory and snapped the 12-match winning streak of the top WSU tandem.

Also falling in doubles were Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and Luke Laws (Sunderland, England).  They dropped the same decision to the No. 12-ranked team of Tim Hammes and Santiago Rendon. 

Dom Spicer (London, England) and Emil Mikkelsen (Soenderborg, Denmark) did not finish their contest against Daniel Bird and Yoshinobu Nakatsuji at the third position.  The two Warriors were trailing by a 5-3 mark when Washburn tallied the point.

SINGLES 
WSU staved off elimination by reversing the early trend and notching four of the five completed matches in singles to advance to Friday.

First to finish was Denali Kitayama (West Bloomfield Township, Mich.) at the No. 5 spot.  After not seeing the court in doubles, the Warrior posted scores of 6-1 and 6-3 to defeat the No. 68-ranked singles player in Rendon to knot the score at 1-1.

Karcz also recorded a victory, notching matching 6-4 scores in straight sets to topple Perez at the third flight and earn his 13th consecutive singles win.

Drenth, the first flight player for the Green and Gold, drew Hammes in his match.  The two went into a tiebreaker in the opening set, which Drenth nabbed 7-3.  The second set was smoother for the sophomore as he grabbed a 6-1 triumph to also win his 13th straight singles match.

Washburn, now trailing 3-1, closed the deficit to 3-2 after Daniel Harkin defeated Laws at the No. 6 spot.  Laws fell in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 0-6.

The clincher for WSU came soon after.  Spicer (the No. 69-ranked player in the country) earned close wins of 7-5, 7-5 at the No. 4 spot to drop Bird and officially send his team to the quarterfinals.

The only one to not finish on Thursday was Grey.  He lost 6-4 in the first set against No. 37-ranked Pjontek, then won 7-6 (7-4) in a second set tiebreaker.  The third set score was 3-2 for Grey when the Warriors won.

FROM COACH MORROW
"Extremely hard match today.  Washburn is a really, really good team.  They outplayed us in doubles and earned that point, then had all the momentum at the start of singles play.  But my guys persevered and I could not be prouder of the heart they showed under extremely, extremely hot conditions.  They battled and found a way to get it done. Really proud of all the guys to fight with all they had - and I could not be prouder to be the head coach of this group!" said head coach Bryan Morrow following the triumph.

UP NEXT
Wayne State has advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals at the USTA National Campus.  It will draw a familiar opponent in three-seeded and third-ranked Barry University, the team that won the 2022 national championship over WSU.  The Buccaneers also won a regular season meeting between the two schools, defeating the Warriors 5-2 on March 16 in Miami Shores, Fla.  Quarterfinal action will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday.

 
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