Marquette University
USF*
Men's Tennis Comes From Behind to Defeat USF
4/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 15, 2006
TAMPA, FL. - Playing in front of a packed crowd on the University of South Florida's senior day, the Marquette men's tennis team came from behind to beat the Bull's, 4-3.
"South Florida is historically very good and for us to beat a program like that is really exciting," head coach Steve Rodecap said. "They play at a very high level and I felt like this was by far the best match I've been a part of. It was unbelievable for a number of reasons."
The Golden Eagles duo of Brett Binkley and Pete Van Lieshout were the only doubles team to capture a win for Marquette and played really well according to Rodecap.
"We lost the doubles point and played poorly at third doubles," Rodecap said. "I knew it would be difficult to come back after being down and we had our hands full."
Marquette regrouped heading into singles but again fell short at no. 1 and no. 2 singles. Eigis Vedrickas lost to Barton, 6-2, 6-1 and Trent Hagan was taken down by Marc Jaeger, 6-1, 6-3.
Down 3-0, and with only one first set win by Eric Fleming at no. 6, the odds did not look good for the Golden Eagles. But the momentum began to swing in Marquette's favor when Fleming closed out his match by defeating Raj Shah, 6-3, 6-2, giving Marquette their first point of the day.
Meanwhile, Ian Kawas, Stephen Shao and Brett Binkley all came back to win their second sets after dropping the first to force a third. Shao got the second Marquette point by taking care of Dillon Brozyna, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, at no. 5. Kawas got the tying point at no. 3 when he beat Juan Barragan, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
"Shao came up really big in the third set and raised his level of play," said Rodecap. "Ian did a really good job in the third set and put pressure on his guy. It was a great win for him as a senior. Shao, Trent and Eric are young and we try to give them a lot of experience and at the same time we are counting them."
The result of the match came down to Binkley and Gattiker at no. 5. Binkley was down in the third set but came back to win four straight points and secure the win for Marquette.
"Brett clinched the win for us, he came back from being down," said Rodecap. "Our team has come a long way and we are really doing some exciting things. We've talked a lot all year about confidence and expecting to compete at a higher level and believing in ourselves. That's when you start winning tennis matches and we are coming together as a team and figuring out how to beat teams."
Marquette closes out their regular season on Tuesday when they play at St. Leo. They then head into BIG EAST tournament play on Thursday which will be held in Tampa, Fl.
"It was a really exciting day and a really big step for our program," Rodecap said. "We are playing better tennis then we have all year."
-COMPLETE RESULTS-
Doubles
1. Brozyna/Jaeger (USF) def. Vedrickas/Kawas (MU) 8-3
2. Barton/Gattiker (USF) vs. Van Lieshout/Binkley (MU) 5-8
3. Barragan/Shah (USF) def. Hagan/Shao (MU) 8-2
Order of Finish - 1, 3*, 2
* Denotes clinching match
Singles
1. Federico Barton (USF) def. Elgis Vedrickas (MU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Marc Jaeger (USF) def. Trent Hagan (MU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Ian Kawas (MU) def. Juan Barragan (USF) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Stephen Shao (MU) def. Dillon Brozyna (USF) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Brett Binkley (MU) def. Mark Gattiker (USF) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
6. Eric Fleming (MU) def. Raj Shah (USF) 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish - 1, 2, 6, 4, 3, 5*
* Denotes clinching match
Players Mentioned
