The Valparaiso men’s tennis team continued its 2012 fall campaign on Friday in the first of three days of competition at the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind.

Friday’s action saw players compete in one round of singles matches and two rounds of doubles action.  Junior Eric Honert (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley) and freshman Michael Savaglio (Kenosha, Wis./Mary D. Bradford) represented the Crusaders in Flight A of singles play, falling 6-1, 6-2 to Green Bay’s Michael Tenzer and 6-2, 6-0 to Purdue’s Mark Kovacs, respectively.

In Flight B of singles, freshman Lucas Waak (Manitowoc, Wis./Roncalli) forced a tiebreak in his opening set, but eventually dropped a 7-6 (4), 6-3 decision to Ali Shabib of Cleveland State.  Also in Flight B, freshman Michael Baiocchi (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) lost 6-1, 6-0 to Sten Leusink of DePaul.

The Crusaders had four players competing in Flight C of singles play.  Freshman Brian Hickey (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) captured his opening set, but lost in three sets to Western Michigan’s Marc Shideler, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.  Freshman Daniel Etman (Highland Park, Ill./K12 International Academy) forced a first-set tiebreak before falling 7-6 (6), 6-2 to IUPUI’s Jacob Hedderig.  Freshman Daniel Oakes (Elburn, Ill./Saint Charles North) lost 6-1, 6-2 to Toledo’s Nicky Wong, while Western Michigan’s Aaron Wong topped sophomore Egan Hart (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft) by a 6-3, 6-2 score.

Doubles play saw Savaglio and Baiocchi team up against the nation’s 13^th-ranked doubles pair in Purdue’s Diego Acosta and Aaron Dujovne, and while the rookie duo took one game, they eventually fell 8-1.  The freshman pair dropped a tight 8-6 decision to Toledo’s Francisco Stuardo and Grant Adams later in the day.  Also in Flight A of doubles, Honert and Oakes lost 8-4 to Shabib and Niklas Jonsson of Cleveland State and 9-7 to Purdue’s Arthur Dobradin and Evan Hawkins.

Due to byes, the Crusaders’ pair of duos in Flight B of doubles each played just one match on Friday.  Etman and Hickey dropped an 8-4 decision to Freddy Abunku and Zach Mueck of Xavier.  Meanwhile, Waak and Hart took on a mixed squad of Western Michigan’s Wong and Ruben Geeraert of Butler, falling 8-5.

Day two of the Purdue Invitational is slated for an 8 a.m. CDT start, with singles play opening the day.  Two rounds of singles and one round of doubles are scheduled for Saturday.