DENVER – The No. 43-ranked University of Denver men's tennis team (21-0, 5-0 Summit) swept Illinois State, 7-0, on Saturday to secure a perfect 21-0 regular-season record.
With the win, DU also collected its fifth-straight Summit League regular-season championship and improved on its program record for most wins in a single season with 21, two better than the previous record of 19 at the end of the 2010 season.
Doubles:
Denver won the doubles point for the 14
th match in a row with wins from its Nos. 1 and 3 teams, starting with senior
Nicolas Herrero Cuesta and junior
Rikuto Yamaguchi dropping just a single game – their first return game – in the top matchup. Graduate student
Anish Sriniketh and sophomore
Raffaello Papajcik clinched the point at No. 3 doubles, losing just one game more than DU's No. 1 team after winning the final four games.
At No. 2 doubles, graduate student
Marvin Schaber and junior
Daniel Sancho Arbizu were up 5-4 in their match when it was abandoned.
Singles:
Sancho Arbizu dominated his No. 2 singles match to give Denver a 2-0 lead, losing just a single game through both sets. After opening the match with a bagel, he lost the opening game of the second set on return before winning six straight games.
Denver clinched the win with wins from Papajcik and Herrero Cuesta, each collecting a bagel set and then dropping only two games in the other set. The sophomore started with a 6-0 first set at No. 5 singles before breaking in consecutive return games for a 5-1 lead in the second, which he turned into a 6-2 win.
Herrero Cuesta claimed a 3-0 lead in the first set and turned it into a 5-2 lead before breaking again in the final game. He wouldn't lose another game through the second set in his final singles match at Denver Tennis Park.
Joining Herrero Cuesta in winning their final matches as Pioneers were DU's three remaining singles players. Sriniketh fought back after dropping serve in the match's opening game and won five consecutive games on his way to a 6-3 first set. He broke to open the second set and maintained at least a one-break lead for the remainder of the match.
Senior
Charlie Miller broke in his second return game but ended up back on serve at 4-4 in the first before retaking the lead and closing it at 6-4. He took a break lead again midway through the second set and kept the lead the rest of the way.
Schaber sealed the DU sweep in a battle in the No. 3 match. Down a break at 2-3 in the first set, he got back on serve at 4-3 where the set remained tight until the DU graduate student broke late for 7-5. The second set started tight as well until Schaber broke through at 4-2 with that single-break lead being all he needed to close the dual out.
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team has secured a spot in the 2024 Summit League Tennis Championships and will await the final draw with the semifinals slated to begin Friday, April 19, in Waukee, Iowa.
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