Jacks beat St. John's, fall to St. Cloud St.

Sunday, March 9

St. Cloud, Minn.

12 p.m.

South Dakota State University

St. John's (Minn.)

3/10/2008 1:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: SDSU Sports Info

ST. CLOUD, Minn. ? The South Dakota State men's tennis team recorded a 6-3 win over St. John's on Sunday for its first victory of the season.

The Jackrabbits dropped a 7-2 match to St. Cloud State later in the day.

"We were really pleased with the effort the men put in this weekend, with a victory over St. John's and a hard-fought match against St. Cloud State," said SDSU head coach Don Hanson. "The score of the St. Cloud match did not indicate the intensity of the match, with a few points at crucial times being the difference between a win and a loss."

In singles action, sophomore Corey Paluch (No. 2) and senior Steve Grantz (No. 4) ? both of Rapid City ? picked up a pair of wins on the day.

Against the Red Storm, the Jackrabbits' No. 1 singles player, Michael Engdahl, beat Trevor Beach 6-0, 6-1. Paluch defeated Ted Lauer 6-1, 6-1, while Grantz beat Dan Ruehl 6-3, 6-2.

SDSU swept the doubles matches against St. John's.

Engdahl and Paluch teamed to win the No. 1 match 9-7 over Beach and Ruehl. At No. 2, Brian Hylie and Grantz came out with an 8-6 win over Lauer and Kevin Goihl. In No. 3 doubles action, State's Jeff Hughes and Wade Kippley beat Luke Odegaard and Eric Holmgren 8-6.

In the dual against St. Cloud, Paluch and Grantz got the lone wins for SDSU.

Paluch defeated Mike Master via an injury forfeit. Grantz prevailed with a 6-4, 2-6, 11-9 win over Kris Johnson.

Engdahl went three sets with the Huskies' top player, Wojciech Batorski, before losing 6-4, 4-6, 8-5.

In No. 1 doubles, Batorski and Master beat Engdahl and Paluch 10-8 in a tiebreaker.

"The men are on the right track to peak for The Summit League Championships to be held in April," Hanson added.

South Dakota State (1-6) returns to action hosting Creighton on March 26 at 1 p.m. at Hillcrest Park in Brookings.

SDSU 6, St. John's 3

Singles

1. Michael Engdahl (SDSU) def. Trevor Beach, 6-0, 6-1

2. Corey Paluch (SDSU) def. Ted Lauer, 6-1, 6-1

3. Kevin Goihl (St. John's) def. Brian Hylie, 7-5, 7-5

4. Steve Grantz (SDSU) def. Dan Ruehl, 6-3, 6-2