Horizon League Championship Website
After a long grueling season, the Detroit men's tennis team is prepared to start the campaign's “second season” as the Titans open up the Horizon League Championships on Friday at 1:00 p.m., against Wright State. The match, along with the rest of the men's and women's championships, will be held at North Central High School in Indianapolis.
“I think we got a pretty good draw for us,” said head coach
Grant Asher. “I told the team that we had to win and wait on Sunday to see if we got in and now we are in so let's relax and play our game.”
UDM heads into the contest as the sixth seed after finishing the year at 8-11 overall and 2-5 in league play. Of those 11 losses, four have been by a 4-3 setback with three of those affairs conferences matches, including a heartbreaker to the third-seeded Raiders on Mar. 19.
“We have battled some tough teams all year and we know we can go out there and win when we are on our game,” added Asher.
Detroit's official line-up will see senior
Pjotrs Necajevs at No. 1 singles, followed by freshman
Cesar Escobar Serrano at No. 2, senior
Patrick Troy in the three spot and freshman
Alex Latosinsky on court four. Sophomore
Nick Tolomei and rookie
Chris Cheung will round out the Titan netters at five and six, respectively. In doubles, Necajevs and Cheung will go at one, Latosinsky and Serrano in the second post and Tolomei and Troy on court three.
Necajevs finished the regular season at 29-4 and 7-0 in HL play, all at No. 1. He has been the leader on the team since he arrived on campus last year. Tolomei and Troy are veterans who have played in the tournament before and together form a consistent doubles tandem. Serrano has been a great addition to the squad at 11-4 in singles since joining the program in January and has rose from the No. 5 spot in the line-up all the way to two, while both Latosinsky and Cheung have quietly tallied double-digit singles wins.
Cleveland State is the defending champion on the men's side after the Vikings edged UIC, 4-3, in the championship match. Friday will also see the conference accolades announced at the annual awards banquet following the first two matches of the tournament.
The winner of the UDM-WSU bout will face top seeded UIC on Saturday, another opponent that defeated the Titans on the year by a 4-3 decision.
