Saturday, February 11, 2012

Valparaiso’s men’s tennis team won its second straight match on Saturday afternoon, opening the home portion of its 2012 schedule at Matchpoint Racquet Club in Griffith, Ind. with a 7-0 shutout victory over Grace.

The Crusaders took control early, sweeping the doubles matches and then surrendered just 10 games total in the six singles contests.  All eight members of the roster participated and earned a win.

“I was really proud of how well we took care of business” head coach Jim Daugherty said.  “We were really focused and did a good job of keeping the intensity levels high the entire match.”

Chris Baum (Charlotte, N.C./Providence H.S.) and Adam Whitmer (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview H.S.) cruised to an 8-2 win at number one doubles against Daniel Sanchez and Jonathan Allen.  At the third spot, Siddarth Mehta (South Bend, Ind./Clay H.S.) and Carlton Lyons (South Bend, Ind./Clay H.S.) secured the point with an 8-1 victory over Ryan Scott and Josh Begum.  The second doubles team of Kevin DeHerrera (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) and Eric Honert (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) added an 8-5 triumph against Michael Humphrey and Jack Wang.

In singles, Grace (8-5) registered just one game in four of the six matches.  Baum defeated Sanchez 6-0, 6-1 at the top of the order while Whitmer downed Allen by the same score at the third spot.  Honert was a 6-0, 6-0 victor over Wang at number two singles while Egan Hart (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft H.S.) blanked Scott at number six as well.  DeHerrera added a 6-3, 6-0 win over Humphrey at fourth singles while Michael Woodson (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft H.S.) defeated Begum 6-1, 6-4 at the fifth spot.

Valparaiso (2-1) will return to action next Friday, traveling to DeKalb, Ill. to face Northern Illinois.  First serve is slated for 1 p.m.