Men's Tennis Drops Season Opener

Jan. 20, 2007

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - In their season opener, the Marquette men's tennis team fell, 7-0, Saturday afternoon to the no.32 Michigan Wolverines at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Golden Eagles were unable to come away with the early 1-0 lead in doubles. The no. 31 ranked team of Brett Binkley and Mark Rutherford endured a tough loss to No. 2 Brian Hung and Matko Maravic, 8-2. Pete Van Lieshout and Trent Hagan fought hard to comeback against Ryan Heller and Andrew Mazlin for an 8-5 victory. The doubles point came down to the no. 3 spot, where Niko Boulieris and Stephen Shao dropped a tight match to Peter Aarts and Scott Bruckmann, 8-5.

"Trent and Pete got a really good win at no. 2," assistant coach Raj Gill said. "They played well all the way through. Niko and Shao had a lot of opportunities and chances at no. 3 but just couldn't quite convert. We had a chance to win the doubles and that's a good sign for the future in doubles play."

The Golden Eagles struggled in singles play against a more experienced Michigan squad. Hagan dropped a close first set at no. 1, 6-4, and then lost in a tiebreaker in the second against no. 59 Hung.

"Trent put himself in a position to win and I was pleased with him," Gill said.

Boulieris played well in his first ever dual match as a Golden Eagle but could not capture the win at no. 5, losing the match 6-4, 6-4.

"Niko played pretty good and fought hard," said Gill. "That was a positive for the team, that everyone continued to play hard. Michigan is a tough team and this was our first match of the season. The guys will learn a lot from this and we will be ready for UIC next Saturday."

Marquette plays their first home match against the University of Illinois-Chicago at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium Saturday, January 27 at 2 p.m.

Singles

No. 1 -- #59 Brian Hung (U-M) d. Trent Hagan (MU), 6-4, 7-6(1)
No. 2 -- #44 Matko Maravic (U-M) d. Stephen Shao (MU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 -- George Navas (U-M) d. Mark Rutherford (MU), 6-0, 6-3
No. 4 -- Ryan Heller (U-M) d. Brett Binkley (MU), 6-3, 6-0
No. 5 -- Steve Peretz (U-M) d. Niko Boulieris (MU), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 -- Mike Sroczynski (U-M) d. Greg Sirotek (MU), 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1 -- #2 Hung/Maravic (U-M) d. #31 Binkley/Rutherford (MU), 8-2
No. 2 -- Hagan/Pete Van Lieshout (MU) d. Heller/Mazlin (U-M), 8-5
No. 3 -- Peter Aarts/Scott Bruckmann (U-M) d. Boulieris/Shao (MU), 8-5