Men’s tennis shuts out double-header

Wichita State men’s tennis swept McPherson and Northwest Missouri State at Genesis Health Club Sunday morning.

“Big strong day for us,” head coach Brad Louderback said. “A day like today is just what we needed to start our conference play next Saturday.”

WSU was able to beat McPherson 5-0, then took the courts right after and bested Northwest Missouri State 4-0.

“These matches got us in a groove,” sophomore Tin Ostojic said. “We had a hard-fought loss against Texas, but then won the following two matches on the road, and now we’ve defended our home court. I think we’re ready for conference play.”

In both matches, the teams decided to play singles matches first, requiring doubles matches only if singles play ended in a tie.

WSU got their wins against McPherson from Guillermo de Vilchez who won 6-0, 6-0, Jocelyn Devilliers (6-0, 6-1), Ibian Hodgson (6-2, 6-1), Tomislav Gregurovic (6-2, 6-2) and Guillermo Nicol (6-0, 6-3).

With such a dominate sweep to start their morning, the Shockers set their eyes on their last non-conference opponent of the regular season, Northwest Missouri State.

Once again, WSU got wins from Gregurovic and de Vilchez, who won 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-2, respectively.

The Shockers finished their day with a 6-1, 6-2 win from Ostojic and a match-clinching 6-0, 6-4 victory from Ilija Cuic.

“We’re committed and dedicated to winning the conference again,” Cuic said. “Everyone is going to want to beat us.”

The Shockers begin Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday, when they face Illinois State at 11 a.m. at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex on the WSU campus.