Sunday, February 19, 2006

Valparaiso rallied from a 3-0 deficit to close within a point but Bradley won a pair of three-set matches late to defeat the Crusaders 5-2 on Sunday morning at Matchpoint Tennis Club in Griffith, Ind.

The Braves jumped in front early sweeping all three doubles contests. Wil Lofgren and Alex Roby posted an 8-3 win over Nic Kooyers (Holland, Mich./Holland H.S.) and Mike Shideler (Valparaiso, Ind./Munster H.S.) at the top of the lineup while Matt Metully and Brian Hanus were 8-5 victors over Mike Wagner (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer H.S.) and Dave Bukowski (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect H.S.) at number two. Bradley (2-5) competed the sweep with an 8-7 (4) tie-break victory at the third spot as Marko Marevic and Evgeny Samoylou topped Joe Venegas (Saint Charles, Ill./North H.S.) and Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.).

Bradley increased the lead to 3-0 as Hanus defeated Shideler 6-2, 6-3 and Metully downed Wagner 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets at the third and fourth singles spots respectively.

Valpo fought back while facing elimination though. Kooyers rallied from a set down to post a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Marevic at the number one singles position and Bukowski posted a three-set win, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, over Roby and fifth singles to close within 3-2.

Venegas went three sets at the second spot before falling to Lofgren 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 as Bradley clinched the match. Lau fought hard as well at sixth singles, before Samoylou defeated him 5-7, 7-5 (10-1) in a tie-break for the third set.

Valparaiso (0-5) will return to the courts next Saturday evening as the Crusaders head to Chicago to battle Illinois-Chicago. First serve is set for 7 p.m.