DAYTON – The University of Dayton men's tennis team will head to Cleveland State Friday for a match against the Vikings. The contest is slated to begin at 12 p.m. at Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion in Cleveland.
 
The Flyers sit at 5-4 this season after dropping a close match to Ball State over the weekend. Dayton fell 4-3 to the Cardinals, picking up three wins in singles play in the process.
 
Senior Steven Karl won in the fifth singles flight, putting him one away from 60 career singles victories, something only nine other Flyers have done in the history of the program.
 
Junior Connor Bruce won his fifth-straight match over Thibault de Negri in straight sets. The junior has won two Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors and is second on the team with nine total wins, with all five of his dual victories coming in the top singles flight. Fellow junior Matt DeMarco also picked up a victory for the Flyers on Court Three. DeMarco has won four straight as well.
 
Cleveland State enters the match at 0-6 on the season, having last competed on Feb. 5 against Penn State and Dartmouth. The Vikings fell 6-1 to both schools, but will play at home for the first time this season against the Flyers on Friday.
 
The Vikings are led by Maxime Mareschal-Hay at No. 1 singles, having played all six matches in the top flight with a 3-3 record in those contests. Mareschal-Hay is tied with Kade Mindry for the team led with 12 total singles wins to this point, with Mindry posting a 11-4 record in tournament play this season.
 
The Flyers are 1-3 against Cleveland State dating back to 2005, with the Vikings taking the last three matches against UD. They last met on February 1, 2019, with Langford Hills and current senior Joe DeMarco picking up singles victories in a 4-3 loss.