DETROIT -- The No. 18-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (10-4 overall, 1-0 GLIAC) defeated Davenport University (13-5 overall, 1-2 GLIAC) 6-1 on Friday.  The Warriors improve to 10-4 overall on the campaign and 1-0 in GLIAC competition.

HOW IT HAPPENED
DOUBLES
The Green and Gold started the match as strong as one could hope, winning all three matches to claim the doubles point.

The pairing of Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany / Altkönigschule Kronberg) and George Day (Southampton, United Kingdom / Peter Symonds College) continues to excel in the No. 1 doubles position, as the duo topped Simone Pacciolla and Reuben Bakker 6-3.

Sam Knowles (North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England / King's Priory School) and Tom Wasner (Altenholz, Germany / Friedrichsort Community School) prevailed over Carlos Henriquez and Jaden Bender 6-4 while battling in the No. 2 spot.

In the No. 3 position, Benjamin Hill (Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany / Burgau-Gymnasium) and Luis Klaus (Brühl, Germany / Archbishop's St. Ursula gymnasium [TH Köln]) downed the DU pairing of Rudiger Desselberg and Daniel Calver 6-2.

SINGLES
Drenth began the singles competition by defeating Pacciolla 6-3, 6-2.  The victory marks the 100th career-win in singles for Drenth, as he becomes the second student-athlete in program history to reach triple-digit wins in singles, joining Niklas Karcz, and is the only Warrior to win at least 100 matches in both singles and doubles.

Wasner and Hill both prevailed in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots respectively, as the freshman earned a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over Bakker, while the sophomore triumphed 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 over Bender.

Knowles and Klaus rounded the scoring for the Warriors.  Knowles earned a 6-3, 6-2 win while competing against Henriquez in the No 5 spot, while Klaus topped Rudiger Dusselberg 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 6 position.

Day was the lone WSU student-athlete to be defeated, as he fell 6-0, 1-6, 3-6 in the No. 2 singles slot against Calver.

FROM HEAD COACH BRYAN MORROW
"We kicked the GLIAC off with a very solid win over a good Davenport team, played very solid in doubles, we were aggressive, executed well at the net, and played the kind of doubles that we want to play.  We had very good energy in singles, Cedric (Drenth) was the first player off of the court.  He took care of things very nicely, served well and controlled the court.  Nice battle in the first set for Tom (Wasner) in th No. 3 position, once he came up with a good game plan and started to execute, he played a very good second set.  Ben (Hill) had a nice bounce-back match after losing the first set and coming back, playing well in the second and third sets, clinching the match.  Sam (Knowles) played very well against a very solid player, and had a really clean match.  I was Very pleased with his performance and effort for us.  In the No. 6 spot, Luis (Klaus) played a very nice match for us, he played very aggressive and did so in the style that he competes at his best.  I am very proud of how the guys competed, excited to be playing in the GLIAC and excited to host Grand Valley State tomorrow."

UP NEXT
The Wayne State men's tennis team will return on Saturday, March 29, as the squad will play host to Grand Valley State University.  The match is set to begin at 10:00 AM.