Sunday, September 21, 2008

Box Score

            Valparaiso wrapped up its first tournament of the fall season on Sunday morning at the Country Inn & Suites Invitational hosted by Bradley with two more rounds of singles in Peoria, Ill.

            Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) started the day with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Paul Swanson of Green Bay in the number one singles flight.  The senior dropped his second match of the day, 6-1, 6-4 to Ken Nordheim of Saint Louis.

            In flight number two, Phidias Fortune (San Antonio, Texas/Madison H.S.) dropped a 6-2, 6-3 match to Callan Fraychineaud of Bradley in the morning before falling 6-2, 6-4 to Green Bay’s John Brough.  Flight three saw Kevin DeHerrera’s (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) first match of the day defaulted by Adrianno Liccardo.  DeHerrera then faced Bradley’s Evgeny Samoylov, only to fall 6-1, 6-3.

            Kyle Stump (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth H.S.) and Adam Whitmer (Shipshewana, Ind./Shipshewana H.S.) each only had one match scheduled for the final day of play.  Stump lost 6-4, 6-1 to UIC’s Dave Robare in the fourth flight while Whitmer dropped a 6-2, 6-3 match to Jake Hendrie of Saint Louis.

            “Overall I was really encouraged by what I saw over the weekend,” head coach Jim Daugherty said.  “We battled to the bitter end on a long weekend with lots of matches.  I am looking forward to seeing our improvement throughout this year.”

            Valparaiso will return to the courts on Friday morning as the Crusaders host the Valpo Fall Classic.  First serve at the Valpo Tennis Complex is set for 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday.