Valparaiso did not have any "Bryce Drew" moments this weekend, much to the delight of the Marquette men's tennis team.
Marquette defeated Valparaiso 4-3 in the second match of Saturday's doubleheader at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium. The Golden Eagles also eked past Chicago State, 4-3, in the first match.
Head coach Steve Rodecap used the first match against Chicago State, which forfeited the No. 3 doubles match and No. 6 singles match due to a lack of players, to get some playing time for the team's reserves.
"In the first match, there were a few (new) guys in the lineup and we put ourselves in a tough situation," Rodecap said. "We faced a lot of adversity and I was proud of the guys in the lineup. They competed hard in a difficult situation."
Sophomore Tomek Czernuszewicz lost his spring singles debut, 6-2, 1-6, 4-6 to Chicago State's Abram Mamahit in the No. 5 singles match. Prabowo Imanuel ruined senior Troy Delmege's first appearance in the No. 1 singles position this spring with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Freshmen Brett Binkley (6-1, 6-1) and Greg Sirotek (6-1, 6-4) won the No. 2 and No. 4 singles matches, respectively. Fellow freshman Pete Van Lieshout fell, 3-6, 6-7 to Prakoso Imanuel in the No. 3 singles match.
The forfeited No. 6 match tied the match at 3-3, leaving the doubles point to decide the outcome.
Marquette swept the doubles matches to win the doubles point and the match.
Rodecap inserted his regular lineup against Valparaiso with similar results to the first match of the day.
"They were close matches and we're definitely glad we came out on top," Sirotek said. "We definitely could have focused a little more and maybe have done a little better, but we're glad we pulled it out for sure."
The Golden Eagles repeated their doubles sweep in the second match. Delmege and sophomore Eigis Vedrickas returned triumphantly to the No. 1 doubles slot with an 8-5 win over Nic Kooyers and Ben Dunham-Freer.
Binkley and Van Lieshout, fresh off their earlier win in No. 1 doubles against Chicago State, defeated Joe Venegas and Mike Shideler 8-4 in the No. 2 doubles match
Juniors Ian Kawas and Ricky Servoss squeaked past Shabbi Kahn and Mike Wagner in a 9-8 in the No. 3 doubles match.
Vedrickas lost in the first set, 4-6, in the No. 1 singles match against Kooyers in frustrating fashion. He also lost the second set, 5-7.
Delmege suffered a similar fate in No. 2 singles when he lost the first set of his match, 3-6, to Dunham-Freer before dropping the second set, 4-6.
Kawas, Binkley and Sirotek won their singles matches, giving Marquette the points it needed to win the match.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 22 2005.