BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sixth-seeded Chicago State men’s tennis concluded its season Thursday afternoon after falling to third-seeded Northern Illinois, 4-1, in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Championship at the Ellicott Tennis Facility on the campus of the University of Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y.
The match opened with NIU taking an early 1-0 lead following the doubles matches which started with a default win at No. 3 doubles by Javier Benabe and Ross VanderPloeg. The Huskies’ No. 2 double tandem of Jurica Grubisic and Shaun Stewart posted an 8-3 win over senior Jonathan Sutjiadi (Jakarta, Indonesia) and sophomore Aumir Ahmad (Skokie, Ill.).
NIU claimed another default win to begin the singles matches with Alfonso Monroy earning the duke at No. 6 singles to go up 2-0.
Sutjiadi pulled the Cougars to within 2-1 after defeating Grubisic in No. 1 singles by retirement due to injury after leading by a 4-0 margin in the first set.
VanderPloeg captured his No. 5 singles match with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over senior Larry Harris (Chicago, Ill.), who was making his collegiate tennis debut for CSU. Bernabe clinched the match for the Huskies after defeating Ahmad in their No. 3 single battle by identical 6-0 scores.
The Cougars closed the season with a 4-13 mark, while the Huskies improved to 9-9 on the year.
~CSU~