The Youngstown State men's tennis team defeated IUPUI 4-0 on Sunday afternoon in the championship match of the 2022 Horizon League Championships at the Varsity Tennis Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The Penguins (15-8) took the doubles point by winning two of the three hard-fought contests. YSU claimed singles wins at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 to defeat the Jaguars and earn their 10th consecutive victory.
The doubles contests set the tone for the match.
At No. 2,
Nathan Favier and
Will Everett claimed a 6-4 win in the first completed contest. The pair trailed 3-1 in their contest before rallying to win four straight points. Leading 4-3, Everett put away a return to give the Guins a 5-3 advantage. IUPUI won the next game, but the Guins held serve for the 6-4 win.
At No. 1,
Laurentiu Mandocescu and
Harry Fouzas built a 4-2 lead but IUPUI rallied to take a 7-5 decision. Down 4-2, the Jaguars answered with three straight points to go in front 5-4. The Guins tied the contest at 5, but IUPUI claimed the final two points for the victory.
The clinching match for the Guins came at No. 3 as
David Alvarez Moreno andÂ
Clement Mainguy earned a tough 7-5 win. The duo started out strong winning the first three points and had leads of 4-1 and 5-2. However, IUPUI fought back to tie the contest at 5-all. The Penguins won the final two points to clinch the win and go up 1-0 in the match.
In singles, YSU won the first sets in all six matches, but IUPUI wouldn't go down without a fight.
The first to clinch a singles contest was Mainguy at No. 3. He wrapped up a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sean Bailey giving the Guins a 2-0 lead. About two minutes later, Moreno picked up another point with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph at No. 5 over Emil Jankowski. At No. 6, Everett wrapped up the championship for the Guins with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Blessing Benibo to set off the celebration.
In the other three matches, Mandocescu was in the third set at No. 1, Favier led 6-0, 6-5 at No. 4 and Fouzas led 6-4, 3-4 at No. 2.
YSU will find out its NCAA postseason destination on Monday evening. The selection is set for 6 p.m.
