Saturday, March 21, 2009

Playing in their final non-conference tilt before opening Horizon League play, the Valparaiso Crusaders came out on the short end of a 7-0 decision to Marquette on Sunday afternoon at Helfaer Tennis Stadium in Milwaukee, Wis.

The Golden Eagles opened play winning all three doubles matches.  Dusan Medan and Stephen Shao topped Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) and Tom Litscher (Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial H.S.) 8-4 at the number one spot in the lineup while Mark Rutherford and Jonathan Schwerin downed Kyle Stump (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth H.S.) and Phidias Fortune (San Antonio, Texas/Madison H.S.) by the same score at second doubles.  Niko Boulieris and J.T. Christian completed the doubles sweep with an 8-1 win at number three, ending Adam Whitmer (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview H.S.) and Kevin DeHerrera’s (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) four-match winning streak.

Marquette (10-6) then won five of the six singles matches in straight sets.  Whitmer won the opening set for Valpo at the sixth spot, but his individual four-match winning streak was snapped as Drake Kakar rallied for a 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) win in a third set tie-break.  Lau also played a tie-break, dropping his in the second set to Medan while falling 6-1, 7-6 (4) at the top of the order.  Boulieris was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Litscher at number two singles while Shao defeated DeHerrera 6-1, 6-2 at the third spot.  Rutherford topped Fortune 6-4, 6-0 at fourth singles while Schwerin was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Stump at the fifth spot.

Valparaiso (3-6) will have nearly two weeks off from play before opening Horizon League action on April 4 at Wright State.  First serve is set for 4 p.m. CDT in Dayton, Ohio.