Saturday, September 23, 2006

Saturday turned out to be a solid day for Valparaiso's men's tennis team as the Crusaders posted numerous victories at the Bradley Invitational held in Peoria, Ill. Rain delayed play and forced it indoors eventually.

Mike Shideler (Valparaiso, Ind./Munster H.S.) advanced to the championship of the C Flight in singles play, downing an opponent from Cleveland State 7-6 (5), 6-0 and a player from UIC 6-4, 6-4. Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) also advanced to the championship in the C Flight consolation draw after recording a 6-2, 6-1 win over Western Illinois and a 7-6, 7-6 win over UIC.

In the A Flight, Nic Kooyers (Holland, Mich./Holland H.S.) advanced to the semifinals of the main draw with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sean McManus before falling in the semifinals 7-6 (2), 6-1 against Bradley's Evgeny Samoylov.

Joe Venegas (Saint Charles, Ill./North H.S.) advanced to the consolation finals with a pair of wins on Saturday, downing an opponent from Saint Louis 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and Alex Roby of Bradley 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 in the consolation semifinals.

In doubles action on Saturday, Tom Litscher (Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial H.S.) teamed with Michel Marara-chivili of Bradley to post an 9-8 (4) win over his teammates Shideler and Lau to advance to Sunday's championship in the C Flight.

Valparaiso will wrap up play at the Bradley Invitational with the championship matches on Sunday beginning at 9 a.m.