Box Score Results
 
Cleveland, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's tennis team opened the 2018 spring slate by falling to Cleveland State University, 6-1, on Sunday evening at the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion.
 
"It was good for us to get out there and test ourselves right away," Head Coach Eric Ishida said. "I thought our guys competed well and held their own against a Division I team."
 
Sophomore Stephen Gruppuso registered the lone Yeomen victory of the night as he topped the Vikings' Gabriel Evtimov in three sets at No. 2. The Bayport, New York, product took the first set 6-3 before dropping the second set, 7-5. In the decisive super-breaker, Grupposo prevailed 10-6 to run his career record to 24-8.
 
Classmate Zachary Vaughn also had a tight match at No. 4 against Mirko Radosevic. The Yeomen sophomore was outlasted in a tiebreak in the first by a 7-4 count and he battled Radosevic to a 6-4 loss in the second.
 
Manickam Manickam, Robert Gittings, and Levi Kimmel each had a close set in their respective matches as well. Manickam fell at No. 3 (6-1, 6-4) to Benjamin Slade, while Gittings was on the wrong end of a 6-0, 6-4 scoreline at No. 5 against William Malm. Kimmel was upended by Jack Santilli, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 6.
 
Manickam and Gittings played at No. 1 doubles and fell 6-1. The closest doubles battle was at No. 2 where Michael Drougas and Gruppuso got edged out by Luke Phillips and Malm, 6-3.
 
Oberlin tennis will be back in action on Saturday as it travels to NCAC rival Wabash College for a 9 a.m. clash. The Yeomen will also battle the Kalamazoo College Hornets in Crawfordsville, Indiana.