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St. Cloud State University
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Men's tennis defends NCC crown
By Ryan Atkins
Published:
Monday, April 26, 2004
For the third consecutive year, the SCSU men's tennis team was able to win the NCC conference championship after earning first place in eight of the nine seeds versus NCC rivals South Dakota State University, Augustana College and Minnesota State-Mankato.
With long-time rival University of Northern Colorado competing on the Division I level, after narrowly overtaking SCSU last year, the Huskies were the overwhelming favorites.
Entering the tournament, all six of the singles players from SCSU were seeded No. 1 for the conference tournament, as were the three doubles teams.
Senior Brian Baumann, who finished second at No. 1 singles, started fast by defeating Andrew Krueger from Augustana College by a score of 6-1, 6-2, to set a championship pairing with Ben Barnes from SDSU.
Once again, Baumann, ranked 7th in the Region, easily defeated his opponent 6-1, 6-1 to earn his first Conference Championship at No. 1 singles, but third combining the Conference Championships Baumann mustered at No. 3 singles in 2001, and No. 2 singles in 2002.
Doubles partner and No. 3 singles player, Josh Lunak was immensely impressed with the level Baumann presented during the tournament.
"Brian took care of business and stepped it up," Lunak said. "It's nice to see him in a comfortable lead (in the championship round) with a guy he had a close match with at the beginning of the year."
Sophomore Titus Christianson defeated Jeff Everson from SDSU at No. 2 singles before dismissing James Shanor from Augustana 6-2, 6-1.
Senior Josh Lunak earned his fourth consecutive Conference Championship by defeating James Krueger from Augustana in the first round, 6-1, 6-1. In the championship round, Lunak took control early to overpower MSU's John Shockey 6-0, 6-1.
Lunak also won Conference Championships at No. 6 singles, No. 5 singles and No. 4 singles over the past three seasons beginning in 2001 respectively before winning at No. 3 singles this season.
Lunak was impressed with his accomplishment.
"It's pretty cool (winning a Conference Championship every year) more so because I moved up (to different levels) every year," Lunak said.
Zac O'Donnell continued SCSU's success winning his opening match 6-1, 6-2 against Casey Wright from MSU then downed Brian Hylle from SDSU 6-3, 6-3, earning the conference championship at No. 4 singles.
Travis Marohl began the tournament strong by winning 6-0, 6-1 against Eric Olson from Augustana College, but Marohl became tripped up losing in the championship round at No. 5 singles to Steve Grantz from SDSU 6-2, 6-3. Marohl became the only SCSU player not to win a Conference Championship at his respective spot.
Lunak, however, does not feel that it is a big deal, knowing his teammate will step up when it counts at the Regional Tournament.
"I told him (Marohl) the team got first, don't remember it, it's over with," Lunak said. "Regionals is where we are going to need him, he'll step up."
Chad Olson assisted the Huskies' return to their winning ways by beating Dan Mirovsky from Augustana 6-0, 6-1 then defeated Nate Lee from MSU 6-1, 6-1 to earn 6-0 the championship at No. 6 singles.
More Husky dominance continued at doubles as the tandem of Baumann and Lunak dismantled the team of Krueger and Shanor from Augustana by a score of 8-1. The pairing of Barnes and Everson from SDSU attempted to trip up Baumann and Lunak, but to no avail, as Baumann and Lunak won the match 8-2 completing their goal of becoming conference champions at No. 1 doubles.
Christianson and O'Donnell continued the route as the duo was also crowned conference champs at No. 2 doubles after whipping Hoover and Hylle from SDSU 8-2, and then putting away Pilcher and Wright from MSU 8-4.
To end the tournament with eight conference champs, first-year Dan Boulay and sophomore Jeff Horner needed to prove victorious against Miriovsk and Olson from Augustana. The Huskies won their opening match at No. 3 doubles easily 8-1. In the championship match Boulay and Horner dismantled MSU's Shecky and Stein 8-1 to give SCSU the victory at the NCC conference tournament.
SCSU finished with 35 points as SDSU finished as a distant second with 21 points.
With the Conference Championship retained, SCSU is focusing on the NCAA Regional Tournament in an attempt to earn their first trip to the National Tournament under head coach Jerry Anderson.
Both Christianson and Lunak feel the fate for SCSU lies in their doubles matches.
"If we win two of three in doubles, we have a good chance to take a match or two," Christianson said.
Another challenge SCSU will need to prepare for is that the Regional Tournament is held outside and the majority of the tournaments the Huskies have played have been indoors, but Lunak does not see this as an issue.
"I don't think it's really going to be a factor," Lunak said. "We have two weeks to practice outside before the tournament."
The Huskies only have two weeks to savor their NCC domination. The Regional Tournament, which takes the top eight teams in each region, is held May 7 and 8. SCSU is currently ranked fifth.
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