The Marquette men's tennis team lost to 63rd ranked Western Michigan in decisive fashion Sunday at the Helfaer Recreation Center.

Western Michigan won every singles and doubles match en route to a 7-0 victory that left the Golden Eagles searching for answers after the match.

"I felt like it was a wasted opportunity, playing a good team like that at home," said Marquette's head coach Steve Rodecap.

"We just didn't come with enough firepower," said freshman Pete Van Lieshout.

Van Lieshout's No. 6 singles match was the most competitive bout of the afternoon. He lost the first set, 4-6, and lost an extremely hard fought second set 5-7 to Alejandro Staub.

"I didn't come out with enough firepower," Van Lieshout said.

"If I stuck with my game, I would beat that guy nine times out of ten."

The loss to Staub was Van Lieshout's first singles loss of the season, dropping his record to 2-1.

Western Michigan won every other singles match in straight sets.

Junior Eigis Vedrickas lost 4-6, 3-6 to the flamboyant and sometimes cocky Tommy Dennis of Western Michigan.

Dennis frequently laughed at himself after losing points and even flexed in front of the crowd after winning one game.

Jose Orozco, normally Western Michigan's number one singles player, easily defeated Marquette senior Troy Delmege 6-1, 6-2 in the number two singles match.

Junior Ian Kawas lost to Brady Crosby 3-6, 4-6 in the number three singles match, while freshman Brett Binkley also lost 3-6, 4-6 to Tim Bradshaw at No. 4 singles.

Freshman Greg Sirotek dropped the No. 5 singles match 2-6, 1-6 to Western Michigan freshman Alex Birchmeier.

Marquette suffered a similar fate in their doubles matches.

Vedrickas and Delmege fell behind early against Crosby and Dennis in the No. 1 doubles match. Crosby recorded several aces on route to a relatively easy 8-4 victory.

Binkley and Van Lieshout went down an early break against the combination of Orozco and Bradshaw and lost 8-5. Binkley and Van Lieshout came close twice to breaking Bradshaw's serve but ultimately could not pull off the comeback.

Jeff French and Brian Norville of Western Michigan rallied from an early deficit against Kawas and junior Ricky Servoss in the No. 3 doubles match. French and Norville won the match 8-5.

Afterwards, Sirotek tried to find something positive from the loss.

"You learn from playing better opponents," he said.

"You try to get some experience so you might be able to beat them the next time you play them."

The Golden Eagles play three crucial matches next weekend at home against Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois and Wright State.

The team's record stands at 1-2 after two straight losses to ranked opponents.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 1 2005.