Joe Kennard
Sports Writer
kennard.8@wright.edu
An atmosphere of celebration filled the court Sunday.
With their sweep of Youngstown State and Cleveland State, the Raiders (18-4, 7-0) captured the first regular season title and number one seed in program history after an unbeaten run through the Horizon League.
“It means a lot,” said Head Coach Sean McCaffrey. “It proves that they’re the best team. We did it by a lot of hard work and a lot of perseverance, and also we did it by understanding that there is a process to the season and we have these steps to take it. We put things in perspective.”
The coronation started with a 6-1 dismantling of YSU on Saturday. In the nine matches the teams played, the Raiders swept all but one: a 6-7, 6-7 loss by Hayden Joblin to the Penguins’ Silviu Mistreanu.
Martin Arguello and the rest of the singles crew—Lauri Makikalli, Michal Lyzwa, Jamison Clark and Ricardo Pineda—all won their matches in straight sets. That theme carried over into doubles, where the teams of Clark/Joblin, Arguello/Makikalli and Myles Harris/Evan Neuman defeated YSU.
Impressive wins became commonplace for the team this season, but even McCaffrey marveled at their play Saturday.
“For the first time in quite a while, all of the guys were playing at their absolute best,” he said. “We knew going into it that it was going to be a tough match. I was really pleased with how efficient they were.”
WSU captured a share of the title after the win and found themselves with an anti-climatic match with Cleveland State the next day.
But they won anyway.
“Because we locked down the number one seed on Saturday in the win against Youngstown State, I don’t know if there was a letdown Sunday, but I don’t think there was a sense of urgency,” said McCaffrey. “It was a close score, 4-3, but I don’t think it had the intensity because the whole season didn’t hinge on that match.”
Though Arguello lost in straight sets along with Neuman and Lyzwa, Joblin, Makikalli and Clark won their singles matches to draw even with the Vikings. The Raiders earned the decisive point in doubles after Harris/Neuman won their match.
When the team returned home, they found themselves in an unfamiliar position: at the top of the pedestal in the conference. But McCaffrey emphasized how fortune can come crashing down without the proper mindset.
“We still have work to do,” he said. “We’re 7-0 in conference, we’re undefeated in the regular season, but we knew from the very beginning what the ultimate goal was, and that’s getting to the NCAA tournament.”
All that remains between the Raiders and the fulfillment of their dreams is two more wins.
They play the winner of Cleveland State and Detroit in the semifinals on Saturday. If WSU wins that match, they’ll face either Green Bay or Youngstown State in the final.
To fight off pressure, the team’s strategy is simple: stay loose.
“Nothing’s changed and we’re just going to keep our same schedule, keep it simple,” McCaffrey said. “The recipe has really worked, so there’s no need to change the ingredients now.”
