Wayne State University Athletics

Hyelim Shin

Cedric Drenth won his first singles match at the No. 1 spot this season at UNOH.

Men's Tennis 3/28/2024 9:49:00 PM Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Men's Tennis Falls 6-1 at Northwestern Ohio

The Warriors will look to recover on Friday vs. Case Western Reserve in Lima, Ohio.

LIMA, Ohio -- The No. 24-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team lost 6-1 to NAIA's Northwestern Ohio (13-1 overall) on Thursday evening inside the Westwood Tennis and Fitness Center. The match was deemed an exhibition for the Warriors.

Wayne State faced the top men's program in NAIA, as the Racers improved from second to first in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) computerized rankings earlier in the day.

DOUBLES
The Green and Gold used a pair of new doubles teams for the exhibition at UNOH, with both Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) and Dom Spicer (London, England) not seeing action and instead serving as assistant coaches. However, the Racers won all three contests to earn the opening point.

Instead of teaming up with Grey, Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) instead played with Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) at the No. 1 spot. They fell 6-4 to Malik Omarkhanov and Martin Stanchev, who are ranked seventh in doubles within their level.

Denali Kitayama (West Bloomfield Township, Mich. / Walled Lake Central (United States Air Force Academy)) and Emil Mikkelsen (Soenderborg, Denmark) dropped a 6-1 decision against Sergio Conde and Lucas Perez at the second flight, who came into the day ranked 40th in doubles.

One relatively steady duo from previous regular season matches was Benjamin Hill (Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and Joe Steele (Beverly Hills, Mich. / U. of Detroit Jesuit). Hill and Steele played a competitive match at the No. 3 position, but dropped a 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaker to Mathieu Strauss and Nils Messin.

SINGLES
The uphill battle continued for the Warriors in singles, as Northwestern Ohio won five of the six matches to emerge victorious.

The lone winner in singles for the guests came from Drenth, the No. 11-ranked singles player in Division II. He played at the first flight and defeated Conde in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Conde was the eighth-ranked player in NAIA.

Kitayama made an appearance at the second flight, but he suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss to the No. 48-ranked Strauss.

Seeing a rare opportunity to play in singles this campaign was Laws, who had battled in four official matches in the category prior to Thursday. He fell 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to Omarkhanov (ranked ninth) at the No. 3 spot.

Hill dropped a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 decision to Stanchev (ranked No. 70) at the fourth flight, while Mikkelsen was defeated 7-6, 6-2 by Perez (ranked No. 18) at the fifth flight.

Steele faced Messin at the No. 6 spot, but despite claiming a 6-3 win in the first set lost 6-1 and 6-3 in the other two.

UP NEXT
It does not get any easier for Wayne State, as the Warriors will face Division III power Case Western Reserve on Friday in Lima, Ohio. Neutral site action from the Westwood Tennis and Fitness Center between WSU and the fourth-ranked Spartans is scheduled for noon. It will be another exhibition match for the Green and Gold.

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