Chris Baum (Charlotte, N.C./Providence H.S.) earned a victory at fifth singles for Valparaiso, but the Crusaders dropped a 6-1 decision to Toledo on Saturday evening at Laurel Hill Racquet Club in Toledo, Ohio.

Baum registered a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Bryant Dudzik to pick up his second win of the season.  Kevin DeHerrera (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) forced a tie-break for the third set at number six singles before falling 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 against Leonardo Henriques. 

“Chris really stepped up his game midway through the first set,” head coach Jim Daugherty said.  “He was down a break 3-4 and fought back to turn the set around as well as the match.”

Toledo (6-4) won the top four singles contests all in straight sets.  Nutthavit Likitkumchorn earned a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over Adam Whitmer (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview H.S.) at the top of the lineup while Sven Burus topped Kyle Stump (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth H.S.) 6-0, 6-2 at number two singles.  Aleksandar Elezovic defeated Tom Litscher (Eau Claire, Wis./Memorial H.S.) 6-4, 6-0 at three while Leo Sarria downed Arne Deihle (Reutlingen, Germany/Johannes Kepler H.S.) 6-3, 6-1 at the fourth spot. 

The Rockets opened the match sweeping all three doubles matches for the day’s first point.  Likitkumchorn and Elezovic defeated Litscher and DeHerrera 8-3 at first doubles while Burus and Sarria topped Whitmer and Baum 8-4 at the second spot.  Dudzik and Terence Weigand added an 8-7 (4) victory over Stump and Deihle to round out the lineup.

Valparaiso (1-4) will have nearly a month off before returning to action on March 7 against Creighton to begin its spring trip in Orlando, Fla.