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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (4/29/2018) -- A historic season came to an end for the University of Detroit Mercy men's tennis team as the Titans' pursuit of their first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament fell short in a 4-2 setback to Cleveland State in the Horizon League Championship on Sunday.
The Titans set a school record with 15 wins on the year – besting the 13 they had in 1990 - and earned a share of the HL regular-season title for the first time in school history as they were seeded first in the event, held at the Schwartz Tennis Center on the campus of Purdue.
The rematch of the regular season showdown that the red, white and blue claimed 4-3 with the other half of the HL regular season champions started with highly-contested doubles points won by CSU.
At No. 2, senior
Nathan Ponton and freshman
Luka Soskic fell, 6-4, while freshmen
Gvidas Motuzas and
Alvaro Arce dropped a 6-2 decision at No. 3.
In singles, the Titan wins came from No. 3 and No. 6
At the third position, Soskic got revenge on his regular season loss to Luke Phillips ousting his rookie foe, 6-4, 6-3, and Arce took care of Vikings' senior Mirko Radosevic, 6-4, 6-3.
Sophomore
Artem Vasheshnikov took on the HL Player of the Year Nico Mostardi at the top spot. During the regular season, the Titan won the meeting, 6-3, 6-4, but this time around, Mostardi was able to pull out the victory, 6-3 and 6-3.
Freshman
Jenya Sirous lost a three-set affair, 6-4, 3-6, 0-6, at No. 4, and at No. 2, Ponton and Matthew Terry had another head-to-head battle and Ponton made a serious comeback in the second set as he was down 5-1, but his rally came up short, 6-4, 6-4.
The best-ever finish for the Titans in the conference tournament was in the 1991 MCC Tournament (now the Horizon League) – when Detroit Mercy finished runner-up to Notre Dame using a points scoring system instead of the head-to-head team match-up. Since the program was reinstated in 2009, the Titans have reached the Horizon League semifinals twice – 2013 and 2017. Sunday was the Titans' first appearance in the championship round.
On the year,
Aaron Paajanen's was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year, while Vasheshnikov was named First Team All-HL for the second straight year and Ponton was tabbed Second Team All-HL for the second time in his career.
Ponton also finished his career with 57 singles wins, second all-time in school history, while being a part of 43 doubles wins, third in the Titan record book.
The freshmen class of Soskic, Sirous, Motuzas and Arce was one of the best in the nation tallying a 24-4 mark in Horizon League singles play.
