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Wayne State University Athletics

0
Southwest Baptist SBUM (18-10)
4
Winner Wayne State WSUM (22-9)
Southwest Baptist SBUM
(18-10)
0
Final
4
Wayne State WSUM
(22-9)
Winner
Men's Tennis After Midwest Regional Win vs. Southwest Baptist (04-29-2023)
Zack Belsky/WSU Athletics
The Warriors swarm teammate Niklas Karcz after the graduate student clinched the victory from the third flight vs. SBU.

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

Men's Tennis Heading to Florida After 4-0 Win Over Southwest Baptist

The Warriors will start Round of 16 action on May 11 in Orlando.

DETROIT -- The No. 11-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (22-9 overall) punched its ticket to the Round of 16 on Saturday with a 4-0 shutout of No. 19-ranked Southwest Baptist (18-10 overall) inside the Duchene Athletic Facility.

The two-seed Warriors won their section of the Midwest Regional and will now be re-seeded for the matches at the UTSA National Campus.  It's the second consecutive season that the Green and Gold will be participating in Florida for a national title.

DOUBLES
Much like its regular season match with the Bearcats, WSU grabbed the doubles point to lead 1-0.

Both matches that finished had a final of 6-2.  First to reach that score were the third flight team of Dom Spicer (London, England) and Emil Mikkelsen (Soenderborg, Denmark).  They defeated Mikar Fisher and Ilyes Khelifi.

The second-ranked pairing of Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) and Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) finished doubles play by handling the No. 13-ranked tandem of Makary Adamek and Marcio Silva at the No. 1 position.  The two continue to earn their top five ranking, as they beat two ranked doubles opponents back-to-back in the Midwest Regional.

Unable to finish were the second flight duo of Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and Luke Laws (Sunderland, England).  They were tied 4-4 with No. 37-ranked Youssef Nabil and Alvaro Nunez when Drenth and Grey won their match.

SINGLES
In the regular season, the WSU fell to SBU by dropping four of the six singles matches.  That was not the case on Saturday, as the Warriors made effective work of Southwest Baptist by winning all three completed singles contests.

Drenth (the No. 24-ranked player nationally) and Grey both allowed just two game points in their triumphs at the first and second positions.  Grey finished first with his 6-0, 6-2 victory over No. 44-ranked Nabil at the No. 2 spot, while Drenth won 6-2, 6-0 vs. the No. 25-ranked Adamek at the No. 1 position.

Coming up big for the Green and Gold was Karcz, who was playing in his final contest on the courts of the Duchene Athletic Facility.  The graduate student fell behind early, losing 6-3 to Silva in the opening set at the No. 3 spot.  However, the WSU player showed the same resilience that helped him to win many of his 103 singles matches as a Warrior.  He came back for a 6-2 win in the second set, then finished off Silva in the final set with another 6-3 decision.

Karcz's win clinched the match for Wayne State, ensuring that they would be moving on to the Round of 16.

Spicer and Kitayama were able to begin their matches at the fourth and fifth spots, but were not able to finish.  The No. 69-ranked Spicer won his first set 6-2, and was ahead of Nunez 3-0 when play ended.  Meanwhile, Kitayama also won his opening set, claiming a 6-4 triumph against Khelifi.

Laws did not see the court in singles.  His sixth flight affair vs. Fabian Neff never began on Saturday as the team had already won.

UP NEXT
The Warriors, with their 22-9 record and 12-match winning streak, will head to Orlando, Fla. for Round of 16 action in the NCAA Tournament.  The bracket will be re-seeded after all 16 teams have been finalized.  Day 1 at the UTSA National Campus is slated for Thursday, May 11.

 
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