Saturday, April 26, 2008

Box Score

            Valparaiso battled third seed Butler on Saturday morning in the Horizon League Quarterfinals, and was even in three singles matches when the decision was finished, but it was not enough as the Bulldogs defeated the Crusaders 4-0 in Indianapolis, Ind.

            Butler (12-11) opened winning the doubles point from the sixth seeded Crusaders.  Eric Breitenbach and Chris Herron posted an 8-3 victory over Mike Shideler (Valparaiso, Ind./Munster H.S.) and Mike Wanger (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer H.S.) at number one doubles while Ben Raynauld and Bryce Warren topped Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) and Tom Litscher (Eau Claire, Wis./Eau Claire H.S.) by the same score at the second spot.  Third doubles between Valpo’s Dan Brunette (Carmel, Ind./Lutheran H.S. of  Indianapolis) and Kyle Stump (Plymouth, Ind./Plymouth H.S.) and the Bulldogs’ Brandon Bayliss and Ben Shafer was tied at five when the point was determined.

            In singles play, the Crusaders were very competitive.  Brunette led Bayliss 6-1, 0-6, 3-2 in the third set when the match was stopped at fifth singles while Stump held a 6-1, 4-6, 2-1 lead on Brown at number six.  Litscher and Warren were even at fourth singles 2-2 in the third set with Litscher winning the first set 6-3 and Warren taking set two 6-2.

            Butler won at third singles as Herron defeated Wagner 6-1, 6-1 and Breitenbach downed Lau 6-3, 6-1 at first singles to take a 3-0 lead.  Raynauld clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Shideler at second singles.

            “I’m very proud of our team and how hard they played this morning,” Valpo head coach Jim Daugherty said.  “We had a strong start and were very competitive against one of the best teams in the league.”

            Valparaiso (5-13) will return to the courts at 12 p.m. CDT on Saturday to battle seventh-seeded Youngstown State in the consolation draw.  The winner of that match will face fifth-seeded Wright State in the fifth place match on Sunday morning.