ATLANTA, Ga. – Wichita State's men's tennis team, the 61st ranked team in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's National Rankings, won their rematch against Georgia State 4-1 at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Atlanta. The Shockers previously defeated Georgia State 4-3 on Jan. 25 at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Los Angeles, Calif.
WSU's victory pushes their record to 4-3 on the season while Georgia State is now 2-5.
The team of Tin Ostojic/Tomislav Gregurovic (WSU) kicked off the rematch with a win in doubles play. They defeated Thomas Cook/Valentin Horvat of Georgia State by a score of 6-4.
The Panthers tied the Shockers with a 6-4 Robert Schulze/Sofiane Chevallier victory over Ilija Cuic/Jocelyn Delivers (WSU).
Guillermo Nicol/Guillermo de Vilchez clinched the doubles point for WSU with a 6-4 win against Eric Baum/Jannis Koeke. Heading into singles competition, the Shockers had a 1-0 lead over Georgia State.
Koeke (Georgia State) won 6-1, 6-3 against Nicol (WSU) to begin singles play and tie the dual-match at one apiece. After Koeke's victory, WSU would win the remaining singles matches.
Ostojic (the 20th ranked singles player in the ITA Central Singles Rankings) gave WSU their second lead of the match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Schulze (Georgia State). Gregurovic would extend the Shocker lead to 3-1 by defeating Felipe Jaworski (Georgia State) 6-5 (7-3), 6-1.
Friday's only identical matchup from the WSU/Georgia State matchup on Jan. 25 was also the only match that needed all three sets to decide a winner. On that day, Cuic (WSU) defeated Cook (Georgia State) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 to give WSU a 3-1 advantage in route to WSU's 4-3 victory.
If Cuic defeated Cook again, this would clinch the dual-match for the Shockers. Cuic did just that in a 3-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-5 clincher against Cook, giving the Shockers the 4-1 win against the Panthers.
Shocker men's tennis head coach Brad Louderback knew this wouldn't be an easy win.
"Georgia State has a well-coached, solid team," Louderback said. "This is not an easy team to beat twice. This was a good match in a lot of ways for our team."
WSU will play No. 67 East Tennessee State on Sunday at the Atlanta Athletic Club at 9 a.m. The results for Sunday's match will be posted on GoShockers.com following the completion of play.
-WICHITA STATE-
#61 Wichita State 4, Georgia State 1
Singles Competition
1. Ilija Cuic (WSUM) def. Thomas Cook (GSU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-5 (6-3)
2. Tin Ostojic (WSUM) def. Robert Schulze (GSU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Tomislav Gregurovic (WSUM) def. Felipe Jaworski (GSU) 6-5 (6-3), 6-1
4. Jannis Koeke (GSU) def. Guillermo Nicol (WSUM) 6-1, 6-3
5. Eric Baum (GSU) vs. Guillermo de Vilchez (WSUM) 0-6, 3-4, unfinished
6. Sofiane Chevallier (GSU) vs. Ibian Hodgson (WSUM) 6-5, unfinished
Doubles Competition
1. Tin Ostojic/Tomislav Gregurovic (WSUM) def. Thomas Cook/Valentin Horvat (GSU) 6-4
2. Robert Schulze/Sofiane Chevallier (GSU) def. Guillermo de Vilchez/Jocelyn Devilliers (WSUM) 6-3
3. Guillermo Nicol/Ilija Cuic (WSUM) def. Eric Baum/Jannis Koeke (GSU) 6-4
Match Notes:
Wichita State 4-3; National ranking #61
Georgia State 2-5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,2,3,1)
