UMSL Finishes 3rd at GLVC Tournament

Rivermen Beat Indianapolis 5-1

Indianapolis, Ind. – The UMSL men’s tennis teams finished in third place at the GLVC Tournament with a 5-1 victory over Indianapolis on Saturday afternoon.

UMSL took two of the three doubles matches and then won three singles matches to put the Greyhounds away. The Rivermen dropped an 8-3 win at one doubles, but took easy wins at two and three doubles. Mario Gruden and Rajan Saini won 8-2 at two doubles and Martin Damm and Martin Kardos won 8-1 at three doubles. GLVC Freshman of the Year Mike Schaaf then won a 6-2, 6-4 match at three singles for UMSL. Gruden picked up another team point with a 6-2, 6-4 win at four singles and Martin Damm won at six singles 6-2, 6-2 for the 5-1 win.

The Rivermen entered the tournament as the fifth seed and faced fourth-seeded Bellarmine in the quarterfinals. UMSL beat the Knights easily, winning 5-0 to advance to the semifinals to face top-seeded Northern Kentucky. UMSL lost a close doubles match in that one and was down 2-1 after the three doubles matches. The Rivermen could not pull out enough wins in singles play, losing 5-2.

UMSL will now wait until next week to find out of the team earned a bid to the NCAA Regionals. It would mark the second straight year for the Rivermen to reach the regionals after accomplishing that feat for the first time in school history last year.

RECAP
Quarterfinals: Missouri-St. Louis 5, Bellarmine 0
Doubles:
1. Matt Vaulkhard/Mike Schaaf (UMSL) def. Josh Huff/Brandon Campbell (BU) 9-7
2. Rajan Saini/Mario Gruden (UMSL) def. Taylor Broughton/Phillip Merrill (BU) 8-4
3. Martin Damm/Martin Kardos (UMSL) def. Stuart Ditsler/Drew Fairhurst (BU) 8-1
Singles:
2. Matt Vaulkhard (UMSL) def. Stuart Ditsler (BU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Rajan Saini (UMSL) def. Taylor Broughton (BU) 6-3, 6-0

Semifinals: Northern Kentucky 5, Missouri-St. Louis 2
Doubles:
1. Amine Benjelloun/Billy Hopkins (NKU) def. Mike Schaaf/Matt Vaulkhard (UMSL) 9-8 (3)
2. Jon Peters/Chris Rpbertson (NKU) def. Rajan Saini/Mario Gruden (UMSL) 8-4
3. Martin Damm/Martin Kardos (UMSL) def. Ted Walkup/Nick Herzog (NKU) 8-4
Singles:
1. Amine Benjelloun (NKU) def. Martin Kardos (UMSL) 7-5, 7-5
2. Matt Vaulkhard (UMSL) def. Chris Robertson (NKU) 7-5, 6-0
3. Nick Herzog (NKU) def. Mike Schaaf (UMSL) 6-1, 6-3
4. Billy Hopkins (NKU) def. Rajan Saini (UMSL) 6-3, 6-0

Third Place Match: Missouri-St. Louis 5, Indianapolis 2
Doubles:
1. Ross Johnson/Marko Saulovic (UI) def. Matt Vaulkhard/Mike Schaaf (UMSL) 8-3
2. Rajan Saini/Mario Gruden (UMSL) def, Justin Linder/Chris Symmes (UI) 8-2
3. Martin Damm/Martin Kardos (UMSL) def. Brandon Cook/Dustin Guthrie (UI) 8-1
Singles:
3. Mike Schaaf (UMSL) def. Chris Symmes (UI) 6-2, 6-4
4. Mario Gruden (UMSL) def. Justin Linder (UI) 6-2, 6-4
6. Martin Damm (UMSL) def. Dustin Guthrie (UI) 6-2, 6-2