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Wayne State University Athletics

1
Wayne State WSUM (23-10)
4
Winner Barry BARRY-M (23-5)
Wayne State WSUM
(23-10)
1
Final
4
Barry BARRY-M
(23-5)
Winner
Cedric Drenth and Daniel Grey vs. Washburn (2023 NCAA Round of 16 - 05-11-2023)
Conor Kvatek/USTA
Cedric Drenth (left) and Daniel Grey (right) won their doubles match (7-5) on Friday vs. Barry, their 23rd dual match victory of the season.

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

Men's Tennis Eliminated by Barry for Second Consecutive Season

The Warriors fell 4-1 to the Buccaneers in the NCAA Quarterfinals

ORLANDO, Fla. -- In a re-match of the 2022 Division II NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, the No. 11-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (23-10 overall) fell 4-1 to third-ranked Barry University (23-5 overall) in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Friday at the USTA National Campus.

WSU's 4-1 defeat mirrored the score from last year's championship match.  Barry won both matches played between the two programs this season (also won 5-2 on March 16 in Miami Shores, Fla.)

The Green and Gold were the sixth-seeded team entering Orlando, while the Buccaneers were fourth-seeded.  Wayne State's 13-match winning streak also came to an end on Friday.

DOUBLES
It was a strong start for the Warriors, winning two out of three doubles matches in thrilling fashion to earn the first point of the contest.  WSU lost the doubles point to Barry in its regular season match.

The Buccaneers won the first finished affair at the No. 2 spot, as Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) fell 6-3 to Alessandro Giuliato and Alejandro Palacios.

At the first flight, the nationally second-ranked pairing of Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) and Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) edged out a 7-5 win over the No. 10-ranked tandem of Alejandro Gallego and Arnau Rodriguez.  The two Warriors finished the season with 34 doubles wins together between the fall and spring season, while having a 23-8 mark in dual matches during the spring slate.

The battle for the opening point came down to the No. 3 spot.  Dom Spicer (London, England) and Joe Kelt (Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England) were playing with each other for the first time in either the fall or spring against Barry's team of Tim Buttner and Alessio Demichelis.  Head coach Bryan Morrow's pairing worked out well, as Spicer and Kelt pulled out a 10-8 triumph in the tiebreaker to win 7-6 and clinch the 1-0 lead for WSU.

SINGLES
Barry, with three players nationally ranked in the ITA Top 75 Singles Rankings, showed its muscle and won all four completed matches to advance to the NCAA Semifinals. 

Drenth, the No. 24-ranked player in Division II, fell to the No. 32-ranked Gallego by scores of 6-2 and 6-0 to even the overall match score at 1-1.

The No. 3 spot was the next contest to finish, as Karcz battled with the No. 56-ranked Giuliato.  In what was ultimately his final match ever as a Warrior, Karcz was dropped 6-4, 6-2.  The graduate student finished his collegiate career with 104 singles match victories, 33 more than any other WSU men's tennis student-athlete.

The Buccaneers inched closer to the win by nabbing the match at the second flight.  Grey faced Palacios (the No. 27-ranked player in the country) and fell 6-4, 7-5 to his opponent.

The final finished match also went to Barry.  At the No. 6 spot, Kelt was playing in singles for the first time since March 25 at Grand Valley State.  It started off well for the freshman as he notched a 6-4 win in the opening set, but lost the second by that same score.  Buttner shut out Kelt 6-0 in the final set to secure Barry's spot in the next round and officially send the Green and Gold home.

Unable to finish on Friday were Spicer and Denali Kitayama (West Bloomfield Township, Mich.).  The No. 69-ranked Spicer was even with Rodriguez at the fourth flight, with the Warrior tallying a 6-4 win in the first set and the Buccaneer earning a 6-0 triumph in the second set.  Rodriguez was ahead 4-1 when the match ended early.

Kitayama faced Demichelis at the No. 6 spot.  He dropped a 6-3 decision in the first set, before nabbing the second set 6-1.  Demichelis nearly finished the match and was ahead 5-2 when Barry won.

UP NEXT
The Warriors finished the season with a 23-10 overall record, a second straight GLIAC Tournament title, and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.  They will now look ahead to the 2023-24 tennis campaign.

 
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