Czernuszewicz To Play In Championship Match

Oct. 7, 2006

Louisville, Ky. - The Marquette men's tennis team advanced two doubles teams to the semifinals of the U of L Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky, while senior Tomek Czernuszewicz will play for the championship of the Flight C Consolation bracket.

"Tomek is in the finals of the C Flight which is good," head coach Steve Rodecap said. "I never thought he would be playing at the level he is right now. He's such a good kid and worked really hard to come back from shoulder surgery."

Czernuszewicz defeated Sam Patterson of Western Kentucky, 6-2, 6-0 and Wes Hartig of Dayton, 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8. He will face Brian Schubert of Xavier University tomorrow.

In doubles, the Golden Eagles tandem of Eric Fleming and Pete Van Lieshout took down Ball State's Jorge Rodriguez and Joe Vallee, 8-4. Teammates Greg Sirotek and Czernuszewicz also earned a victory today against Schubert of Xavier and Wipprecht of Cleveland State, 9-7.

"Both our doubles teams won, which I was really happy about," Rodecap said. "Eric Fleming played really well and helped get Pete through the match because Pete's playing with a bad back. I'm pleased with our doubles play. I think we are really making progress."

Stephen Shao and Greg Sirotek had their first singles losses of the weekend. Shao fell to David Simon of Louisville, 6-3, 6-4. Sirotek lost to Ben Clos of Louisville, 6-3, 6-4.

"Shao and Greg lost their singles matches today," said Rodecap. "We didn't play as well as we could have in singles. Things need to continue to get better. I'm certain that they will as these guys get more matches under their belt."

Doubles will get underway at 9 a.m. tomorrow, with singles immediately to follow.

-Day 2 Complete Results-

Flight A Quarterfinals
David Simon (UL) def. Stephen Shao (MU) 6-3, 6-4

Flight A Consolation Quarterfinals
Jeremy Miller (XU) def. Niko Boulieris (MU) 6-3, 6-2

Flight B Quarterfinals
Ben Clos (UL) def. Greg Sirotek (MU) 6-3, 6-4

Flight C Consolation Quarterfinals
Tomek Czernuszewicz (MU) def. Sam Patterson (WKU) 6-2, 6-0

Flight C Consolation Semifinals
Tomek Czernuszewicz (MU) def. Wes Hartig (UD) 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8

Flight B Doubles Quarterfinals
Fleming/Van Lieshout (MU) def. Vallee/Rodriguez (BSU) 8-5

Flight C Doubles Quarterfinals
Sirotek/Czernuszewicz (MU) def. Schubert (XU)/Wipprecht (CS) 9-7