Tennis sweeps in Saturday double-header

Coming off of a 7-0 sweep of Cowley Community College, WSU men’s tennis played matches three and four of their eight-match home stand against Oral Roberts and Washburn, sweeping both teams 4-0 and 5-0 respectively.

In doubles against Oral Roberts, WSU took the 1-0 lead behind a 8-1 match win from the duo of Ilija Cuic/Ibian Hodgson and a 8-4 match win from Tomislav Gregurovic/Tin Ostojic.

Singles play began with a 6-3, 6-0 from Ostojic who was the first off the courts. Cuic won over his opponent Fabian Zierleyn 6-1, 6-4 to push the Shocker lead to 3-0. 

Hodgson won his three-set match 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to clinch the sweep over Oral Roberts, 4-0.

WSU’s conditioning came into question as the Shocks began their second dual-match of the day against Washburn only 90 minutes after playing Oral Roberts.

“It’s really tough playing two matches in one day,” said Ostojic, “It gets easier when you just focus on your match and the team plays with a lot of spirit.”

The same doubles duos were able to grab the early 1-0 lead. Gregurovic/Ostojic won 8-2 and Cuic/Hodgson won 8-3.

Cuic, at the one position, was able to win by retirement. Cuic was up 6-1, 4-1 over Bobby Florence when the match was called.

“Playing at the one is always tough,” said Cuic, “You know you’re going to have a tough match no matter what team you play. Playing it twice in one day is more about your mindset and grinding point by point.”

Gregurovic won 6-4, 6-4 and was followed by Ostojic who won 6-3, 6-0 to win the match. Guillermo Nicol won his match 6-4, 6-0 before play was called to give WSU the 5-0 win.

Wichita State tennis is back in action at 12 p.m. next Saturday, March 1 at Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex. They play host to Texas Tech.