Sophomore Cameron Tehrani waited for his opponent’s serve.
DePaul’s Jan-Willem Feilzer rocketed a serve down the right side of the court, but Tehrani fought it off. Feilzer moved closer to the net as the two volleyed back and forth. Tehrani hit a lob shot that dropped into the back right corner of the court, which gave him the 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory and lifted Marquette over the Blue Demons.
The Golden Eagles defeated DePaul 5-2, riding an intense round of doubles play. The No. 1 team of junior captain Dan Mamalat and sophomore Vukasin Teofanovic battled with DePaul’s No. 1 pair and won with a very close 9-7 victory. Freshman Gleb Skylr and sophomore James Stark defeated DePaul’s No. 3 team 8-5, giving Marquette the doubles point.
“I knew doubles were going to be really critical,” coach Steve Rodecap said. “Both teams played well in doubles. We came out and got an early win at (No. 3), which gave a little life to the group.”
In the single’s matches, Marquette had key first sets in the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots. Each player went to the tiebreaker, and Mamalat, Teofanovic and junior Logan Collins all pulled out the victory. The players ended up winning their respective matches, with only Collins going to a third set. Marquette lost the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, but thanks to Tehrani’s victory, Marquette got the win.
Rodecap said the early tiebreaker victories set the tone for the rest of singles matches.
“It typically comes down to who can handle the pressure situations better,” Rodecap said. “We were fortunate enough to get those sets.”
The Golden Eagles finished off their four-game home stand Sunday, squeaking by a talented Wright State program with a 4-3 victory.
Marquette opened the match with a victory in the No. 1 doubles spot but dropped the other two matches, giving Wright State the doubles point. In the singles round, Teofanovic dropped the first set 2-6. However, he regained his composure and won the next two sets 6-1, 7-5. Skylr started out his set with a dominating victory, but his opponent turned it on in the final two sets, giving Wright State the point with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
“Our doubles play put us down a little bit today, but our guys responded well and put out a good effort in the singles portion,” Rodecap said.
The game came down to the No. 3 spot between Collins and Michael Lyzwa. Collins started out the match with a 6-4 first set victory but conceded the next point to Lyzwa by the same score. In the third set, Collins took over and notched a 6-3 final set victory to give Marquette the key fourth point.
Mamalat was in the midst of his three-set thriller during Collins’ victory but couldn’t give the Golden Eagles their fifth point. Mamalat lost the match 6-7, 7-6, 4-6.
The women’s team was also in action this weekend, losing the first game of the road trip to Louisville before heading to Cincinnati and getting the season-ending victory.
The Golden Eagles lost 5-2 to Louisville, which rode a statement doubles round to victory. The No. 1 spot for Louisville defeated the doubles pair of freshman Aina Hernandez Soler and sophomore Ali Dawson 8-0, and the No. 3 of freshman Aleeza Kanner and junior Rocio Diaz lost 8-1. Diaz and Dawson were able to get victories in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, but Louisville was able to get the victory early and coast to a final.
The next day, the Golden Eagles faced Cincinnati and secured a 4-3 victory, battling back from a doubles sweep on a thrilling tiebreaker victory by Dawson. The score was tied at three, and Dawson had rallied from a 6-7 first set to win the second 6-2. Dawson won the tiebreaker 7-6 and gave Marquette the victory.
Both the men’s and women’s team head to their respective Big East Championships next weekend, the women to Tampa, Fla., and the men to South Bend, Ind.
