Indianapolis, Ind. -- The Wayne State University men's tennis squad (1-0 overall) earned a hard-fought road victory against the University of Indianapolis (3-1 overall). The Green and Gold won 4-3 against the Greyhounds.
DOUBLES COMPETITION
In the No.1 doubles position,
Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany / Altkönigschule Kronberg) and
George Day (Southampton, United Kingdom / Peter Symonds College) prevailed 7-6 over UIndy's top doubles pairing of Mathieu Derache and David Simeonov.
WSU was unable to claim the doubles point however, as
Sam Knowles (North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England / King's Priory School) and
Tom Wasner (Altenholz, Germany / Friedrichsort Community School) fell 7-5 in the No. 2 position to Asier Ayllon Prado, and Tadeo Gaggiofatto, while
Luis Klaus (Brühl, Germany / Archbishop's St. Ursula gymnasium [TH Köln]) and
Benjamin Hill (Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany / Burgau-Gymnasium) were bested by Lorenzo Di Cursi and Manuel Lanteri 7-6 in the No. 3 position.
SINGLES COMPETITION
Drenth and Day both continued their success, as Drenth prevailed 6-2, 6-4 against Simeonov in the No. 1 position, while Day captured a 7-6, 6-2 victory as the No. 2 singles against Manuel Lanteri.
In a competitive No. 3 singles battle, Klaus was ousted by Derache, as the Greyhound won 7-6, 6-4.
Hill fell in the No. 5 position, to Gaggiofatto 6-2, 7-6, after coming just short in a second set tie-breaker.
Knowles came out victories in the No. 6 position, defeating Lorenzo Di Cursi 6-1, 6-4.
Wasner was the hero of the day with his victory in the No. 4 position. The freshman fell in the first set 6-2, but roared back in the second, winning 7-6 after a tie-breaker. He followed the second set victory with an impressive 6-3 third set that secured the win for the Warriors.
FROM HEAD COACH BRYAN MORROW
"Unbelievable win for this team after losing a heartbreaking doubles point. UIndy is a really good team, they brought it to us, putting us on our heals a little bit and pulling out the doubles point. In singles, the energy and fight that we showed was outstanding. The leadership from Cedric (Drenth) by getting his win quickly and Sam (Knowles) getting a quick win for us was beautiful. George (Day) was down in the first set over and over, and just kept fighting to get the tie-break, and then played a solid set in the second. Tom (Wasner), the heart that he showed was amazing, definitely a team win."
UP NEXT
The Wayne State men's tennis team will return at Case Western Reserve University on Friday, February 14, with the first match set to begin at 12:00 PM.
