The Valparaiso University men’s tennis team entered the win column by going on the road and picking up a 7-0 sweep of Chicago State on Friday afternoon at H-F Racquet & Fitness Club in Homewood, Ill. Valpo won every match on a victorious afternoon, allowing the team to garner its first victory of 2020.

How It Happened

• Valpo (1-2) took the doubles point by winning both doubles matches that took place and winning by forfeit at No. 3 doubles. The top doubles team of Brandon Ancona (Belvidere, Ill. / Rockford Christian) and Brian Pecyna (Glen Ellyn, Ill. / Homeschooled) bested Jakov Suler and Jesus Perez Plaza 6-2. In addition, Philipp Leithold (Essingen, Germany / Theodor-Huess Gynasium) and Daniel Langston (Ponca City, Okla. / Ponca City) registered a 6-3 win over Pedja Kolaric and Jesus Sanchez Pradillo of Chicago State (0-4).
• Valpo won by forfeit at No. 6 singles, then came away with wins on the other five singles courts. Three of those occurred in straight sets. The first to finish was Andrej Kalenic (Belgrade, Serbia / Kreativno Pero), the owner of a 6-3, 7-5 win over Kolaric at No. 4. He was followed closely by Gabriel Carvajal (Pembroke Pines, Fla. / Broward Virtual School [Florida Atlantic]), who notched a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Sanchez Pradillo at No. 3. The final straight-set win was at No. 5., where Leithold polished off a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Cody Wurzelbacher.
• The tightest matches of the day were at the top two singles slots. At No. 1, Ancona came from a set down to beat Suler 6-7(6-8), 6-1, 6-2. The last match to finish was at second singles, where a third-set tiebreak was implemented. Pecyna prevailed 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-7 over Perez Plaza.

Inside the Match

• Ancona’s victory came over Suler, a member of the WAC All-Tournament Team a year ago.
• This was the first time this season and the 24^th time in the last five seasons that Valpo has whitewashed an opponent 7-0. Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Valpo has 40 7-0 victories and has lost by a score of 7-0 just once in that span.
• This was the first time Valpo and Chicago State had matched up in men’s tennis since Feb. 20, 2016.
• Valpo has won at least 17 straight head-to-head meetings with the Cougars going back to the late 1990s.
• Ancona is up to 68 career singles wins and 57 doubles wins. The doubles victory on Friday allowed him to move into sole possession of eighth in program history, while his singles triumph allowed him to move within one of a tie for seventh all-time.

Up Next

Valpo will return home to host Northern Illinois on Saturday at 2 p.m. at The Courts of NWI.