Senior day didn’t go as well as the Marquette men’s tennis team hoped it would.
The Golden Eagles suffered a 5-2 defeat in Saturday’s regular season finale against the No. 61 DePaul Blue Demons at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium.
Marquette was unable to battle back after conceding the doubles point to DePaul. The Blue Demons never trailed throughout the afternoon.
Consistency was an issue for Marquette as freshman Dan Mamalat and sophomore Jose Carlos Gutierrez Crowley turned in solid individual performances while the rest of the team struggled.
Crowley and Mamalat claimed the Golden Eagles’ only doubles win of the day, defeating DePaul juniors George Chanturia and Matija Palinic, 8-5.
Mamalat recognized his team’s inconsistency in doubles play and the recurring problems it has posed.
“We have really good days and we have days where we aren’t there and aren’t focused,” Mamalat said of the team’s doubles play. “We always have one or two teams out there playing hard every single time, but we very rarely have all three playing well, and that starts in practice.”
Mamalat also cited the Golden Eagles’ youth as a roadblock against the Blue Demons.
“I think our inexperience showed (Saturday),” Mamalat said. “We have a lot of young guys and a promising future, but we have to work at getting better in crucial situations.”
Mamalat defeated Chanturia 7-5, 6-4, and Crowley won a three-set match over DePaul sophomore Sven Kasper 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 to give the Golden Eagles their lone points.
Sophomore Otavio Perim came close to a third win, but fell to DePaul freshman Filip Dzanko in a one-set tiebreaker, 6-7, 7-6, 1-0.
Senior Jose Manuel Munoz had a day to forget in his last match at Helfaer, losing in singles to Palinic 6-2, 6-4. Munoz and junior Jonathan Schwerin fell in the doubles round to Kasper and senior Bartosz Jozwiak, 8-6.
Munoz knew his team was matched against a very skilled opponent in DePaul but said that he didn’t capitalize on the chances he had all day.
“It’s very important to be consistent,” Munoz said. “We need to keep the energy up throughout the entire match. (Saturday) I thought we competed well, but we just fell short.”
Coach Steve Rodecap knew DePaul would be a tough challenge coming in, but his team’s performance in doubles certainly didn’t help itself against the Blue Demons.
“In doubles, I don’t think we were as sharp as I had seen last week,” Rodecap said. “I really don’t feel like we’ve clicked with all three teams on the same day. It’s only happened once this year where we went in and got the doubles point against a really good team (April 10, against Green Bay). Our third team (Perim and freshman Thibault Troude) that usually plays well for us just didn’t get it done (Saturday).
“That’s just part of tennis.”
