DETROIT (1/13/17) – The University of Detroit Mercy men's tennis team will be in action for the first time in 2017 on Sunday from Western Michigan. The match is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. from West Hills Athletic Club in Kalamazoo, Mich.
As a team during the fall, the Titans went 23-21 in singles and 10-13 in doubles. Newcomer
Artem Vasheshnikov posted a strong 8-2 record in singles to highlight solo play, with the duo of seniors
Chance Conley and
Patryk Koscielski leading doubles with a 4-0 mark. Conley racked up four singles wins, followed by Koscielski and junior
Nathan Ponton with three apiece.
Detroit Mercy will return its top three leaders in singles wins from last spring and six veterans overall to the 2017 roster. Sophomore
Adam Zychowicz led the squad with 11 singles wins from positions 4-6 as a freshman a year ago. Ponton picked up 10 wins, primarily from the second spot, while Koscielski tallied nine from the top spot.
The experienced roster also includes seniors
Ismail Kadyrov,
Kacper Stelmaszak and Conley, who combined to play in 40 matches last spring. Vasheshnikov, the lone newcomer to the team in 2017, will join the veterans and look to pick up where he left over the fall schedule.
HORIZON LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
The Titans were predicted to finish sixth in the Horizon League's preseason coaches poll, the league office announced Friday. The top-six teams in the HL standings will make the Horizon League Tournament, hosted by the University of Michigan in 2017.
| Preseason Poll |
| Rank |
School (1st place votes) |
Points |
| 1 |
Valparaiso (7) |
49 |
| 2 |
Cleveland State (1) |
35 |
| t3 |
Green Bay |
31 |
| t3 |
Northern Kentucky |
31 |
| 5 |
Youngstown State |
29 |
| 6 |
Detroit Mercy |
23 |
| 7 |
UIC |
18 |
| 8 |
Wright State |
8 |
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Last season Western Michigan won the program's 11th MAC Men's Tennis Tournament Championship after posting a 4-0 win over Ball State. Western Michigan head coach Dave Morin was named MAC Coach of the Year for the 10th time of his career while returners Matt Hamilton and Maik Steiner were each named to the All-MAC team and Daniel Loebel earned All-MAC Tournament honors. WMU finished 20-6 overall, 6-1 in the MAC and 10-0 at home last season.
The Broncos competed in five tournaments during the fall, with freshman Jannik Opitz leading the team in singles wins with a 12-1 record. As a team, the Broncos went 75-33 in singles and 30-19 in doubles. Eric Olivarez went 10-4, Nick Schnobel went 9-2 and Kennosuke Nouchi went 8-2. In doubles, both Billy Heckman and Schobel went 10-3 while Nouchi went 7-3.
