COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s tennis team clinched the 2011 Ohio Valley Conference regular season title with a 7-0 victory at Tennessee Tech Sunday afternoon. The Colonels wrapped up the regular season 19-4 overall and 7-0 in the OVC.

“We’re very proud to achieve another one of our goals that we set before the season started, but we still have some bigger goals to meet in the next couple of weeks,” EKU head coach Rob Oertel said. “The two greatest reasons for our success this year are our players’ inner belief in themselves and our team unity.”

Eastern swept all six singles matches while winning four of the six in straight sets. Senior Alex Das (No. 1), junior Hugo Klientovsky (No. 2), junior Philip Janz (no. 4) and junior Parul Verma (No. 5) did not lose an OVC singles match this spring.

This is the third consecutive year that Eastern has won the OVC regular season title. The Colonels have also won 23 consecutive regular season league matches dating back to 2008.

The 2011 OVC championship tournament will be held in Paducah, Ky., beginning on April 15.

Eastern Kentucky 7, Tennessee Tech 0

Singles
1. Alex Das (EKU) def. Alex Chen (TTU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Hugo Klientovsky (EKU) def. Justin Kirstein (TTU) 7-6 (5), 5-7, (14-12)
3. Niklas Schroeder (EKU) def. Vasily Eremeev (TTU) 7-6, 7-5
4. Philip Janz (EKU) def. Arturo Santa Ruiz (TTU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Parul Verma (EKU) def. Lloyd Harris (TTU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Carles Pons (EKU) def. James Crawford (TTU) 7-6, 4-6, (10-3)

Doubles
1. Das/Janz (EKU) def. Chen/Kirstein (TTU) 8-3
2. Klientovsky/Pons (EKU) def. Eremeev/Harris (TTU) 8-4
3. Crawford/Santa Ruiz (TTU) def. Schroeder/Verma (EKU) 8-5

Match Notes: Eastern Kentucky (19-4, 7-0 OVC); Tennessee Tech (8-8, 5-2 OVC)
Order of Finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (1, 5, 4*, 3, 6, 2)