|
Men's tennis breezes past overmatched SJU
Doubles dominate in windy conditions; five of six singles post wins
 Media Credit: Blair Schlichte/Staff Photographer Bryan Baumann returns an opponent�s shot while his doubles partner, Josh Lunak, looks on. Baumann and Lunak won their match 8-3. The Huskies went on to take the team meet 8-1.
|
|
Not even a little wind and humidity could stop the SCSU men's tennis squad from pounding St. John's, 8-1, Tuesday afternoon and extending their winning streak to eight games.
The tandem of Todd Bishop and Bob Skenzich posted an 8-3 victory as the SCSU netters came out strong and won all three doubles contests in quick fashion. Bryan Baumann and Josh Lunak also gained an 8-3 victory while Doug Lecy and Casey Haselwander earned an 8-5 win.
Wind gusts of 20-30 miles per hour made conditions somewhat difficult for the players but, as Bishop noted, it doesn't do much good to worry about the weather.
"You just have to adjust to it," he said. "It makes the ball trickier and you have to move your feet more but, either way, you can't use it as an excuse."
The last thing Bishop needed was an excuse as he quickly took the first set at number one singles over SJU's Mike Solum, 6-2. Bishop faltered in the second set and fell, 3-6, before finally knocking off the pesky Solum in the tiebreaker, 10-3.
Baumann also needed three sets to win his match at number two singles while Haselwander breezed through his match at number three singles, 6-1, 6-1.
Danny Peterson and Zach O'Donnell came up with wins for the Huskies at number four and six singles, respectively, while Lunak took the only loss for SCSU in a hard fought three set match at number five singles.
The win leaves the Huskies with a record of 20-6 and only four matches remaining in the regular season. The remaining matches include a Thursday contest against Colorado College, two Friday matches versus Augustana and Hamline, and a Saturday showdown with Minnesota State University, Mankato. SCSU head coach Jerry Anderson likes his team's chances in all of the matches.
"On paper, we should be able to get these next matches. We just need good solid play and we need to play our own game on a consistent basis."
After this week comes to a close, the Huskies can then look forward to the NCC Tournament which will be held April 26-28 in Omaha, Neb. However, the Huskies' future beyond the NCC Tournament remains uncertain.
SCSU is currently ranked ninth in the Midwest region. Why is this important? Well, just like basketball, there is also an NCAA Division II tennis tournament. Eight teams from each region will advance to the NCAA tournament with the final rankings coming out immediately after this weekend's play is completed.
Therefore, the Huskies performance in the NCC tournament will have no bearing on whether or not they move up one position in the rankings and make the NCAA tourney.
However the pollsters end up ranking the Huskies is something that they really can't control. What they can control is how they perform in the remaining four games and to make some final improvements before the NCC tournament.
"I need to work on getting the ball deeper," Bishop noted. "My opponent took advantage of some short shots today. But, really I just have to stay mentally tough."
Baumann also noted that he is beginning to click with his doubles partner, Josh Lunak.
"We're learning more about each other," he said. "We're definitely going in the right direction."
Adam Czech can be reached at: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
|
|
