CHICAGO – Chicago State men’s tennis gained its first win of the 2009 season and its first victory under head coach LeTrone Mason Monday by edging Youngstown State by a 4-3 margin at Bally’s on the city’s South Side. The Cougars improve to 1-4 on the year, while the Penguins dropped to 3-7.
CSU began doubles play with freshmen Mehmet Duru (Istanbul, Turkey) and Ivan Mojesjev (Novi Sad, Serbia) capturing a close 9-8 decision over Chris Leson and Tariq Ismail in No. 1 doubles. In the No. 2 doubles contest, senior Jonathan Sutjiadi (Jakarta, Indonesia) and sophomore Aumir Ahmad (Skokie, Ill.) recorded an 8-5 victory over Patrick Hamning and Michael Kathary to claim the doubles point for the Cougars. YSU’s Robert Emig and Steve D’Angelo earned a forfeit win in the No. 3 doubles match.
The Penguins bounced back in the singles portion of the match which started with a forfeit win by Leson at No. 6 singles and a 6-0, 6-0 victory by Emig over junior Briano Molinaro (Chicago, Ill.) at No. 5 singles. CSU responded with a pair of wins by Duru at No. 3 singles via a 6-3, 6-4 margin over Hamning, while Mojesjev tallied a 7-5, 6-1 win over D’Angelo in the No. 4 slot to claim a 3-2 advantage.
Ismail evened the match at 3-3 thanks to a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of Ahmad at No. 2 before Sutjiadi led Kathary in the No. 1 singles battle by a 6-3, 2-0 margin in the second set before Kathary retired to end the contest.
CSU tennis returns to action with a pair of matches during spring break next week in Orlando, starting on March 16 against Franklin & Marshall beginning at 12 Noon.