Men’s tennis kicks off 2017 season

Sam Williams, Sports Editor

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The University of Toledo men’s tennis team kicked off their 2017 season with four matches in four days. The Rockets took on The Ohio State University on Jan. 18, the University of Dayton on the 20th and then faced Valparaiso University and Wright State University on the 21st.

The Rockets lost their matches to their first three opponents, losing to OSU 7-0 and then dropping their next match to Dayton by a score of 4-3.

UT went defeated into their doubleheader Saturday with a loss to Valparaiso 7-0 but were able to bounce back and conquered Wright State 6-1.

Toledo started their season in Columbus, where they took on Ohio State, currently ranked at No. 3, at the OSU Varsity Tennis Center. The Rockets faced heavy competition against three nationally ranked singles players and a nationally ranked doubles in their 7-0 loss.

Second-year Rocket Vince Anzalone fought hard in his singles match against No.34-ranked Herkko Pollanen. The first set ended in extra points, where Pollanen narrowly beat Anzalone 7-6 (7-1). The second set ended the match for Anzalone, where he was defeated by a score of 6-4.

The rest of the matches were decided in easy two set wins for Ohio State, leading to the 7-0 Rocket loss.

From there, UT headed back to Toledo for their home match against the Dayton Flyers. Both teams headed into the match with one loss, but Dayton were the ones to take home the victory, defeating Toledo 4-3.

Fourth-year Rocket and 2016 MAC Player of the Year Stjepan Sisko returned to the top of the Rocket lineup for this match. Sisko took on Dayton’s Carsten Fisher, whom he defeated in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-4. First-year Rocket Ernie Suksathaporn had a two set victory of his own, defeating Dayton’s Andy Druffel 6-4, 7-5.

Rockets head coach Al Wermer said in an interview with UTRockets “I thought we competed very well today. This gave us a chance to work out some bugs and continue evaluating our progress.”

Despite these victories, UT still fell to the Flyers, winning half of the six single matches and only one of the three doubles matches.

The next day Toledo faced their last two matches, a double header on the 21st, with the need to get a win. The first match against Valparaiso didn’t go Toledo’s way, losing the match 7-0.

Toledo only won a single match against Valparaiso, an unfinished doubles match where Vince Anzalone and second-year athlete Juan Carranza defeated the Valpo duo of Kyle Dunn and Garrett Gardner.

“It’s frustrating for our team to have so many injuries this early on in our season,” head coach Al Wermer said in an UTRockets. “But with that being said, it gives more of our guys playing time, which will be a good thing come later in the season.”

Toledo bounced back from the loss earlier in the day to snag their first victory of the season, defeating Wright State 6-1.

Toledo dominated in the doubles competition, taking all three of the matches. Sisko and Suksathaporn grabbed their second victory of the season, netting a 6-2 victory. The duo of third-year Rocket Stephen Miller and Juan Carranza also took home a victory, defeating the opposing Wright State duo 6-2. The third duo of Anzalone and Reid Teatsorth were looking to secure a third victory for the team, but their match ended unfinished.

The Rockets will look to secure their second victory of the season this weekend when they face Duquesne University at home, Jan. 27 at 1:00 p.m.

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Men’s tennis kicks off 2017 season