Marquette University
Illinois-Chicago
Men's Tennis Defeats UIC
1/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 27, 2007
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Marquette men's tennis team was able to fight from behind to take down the University of Illinois-Chicago, 4-3, today at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium.
The Golden Eagles lost the doubles point with their only win coming at no. 1 from Brett Binkley and Mark Rutherford who defeated the Flame's Adriano Liccardo and Bastian Harbo, 8-6.
The momentum seemed to favor UIC in singles when Eric Fey defeated Binkley at no. 4, 7-6(6), 6-1 and Sebastian Lystad beat Stephen Shao at no. 2, 6-4, 6-4. Trent Hagan and Greg Sirotek gave Marquette hope as they earned victories at no. 1 and no. 6.
The meet came down to the Golden Eagle freshmen, Rutherford and Niko Boulieris at no. 3 and 5. Boulieris took the first set, dropped a close second and outplayed UIC's Andy Lockhart in the third to even up the score of the meet 3-3.
After dropping the first set 0-6, Rutherford stepped up his play to win the next two sets and give Marquette the deciding point they were looking for.
"Mark was down 0-6 at no. 3 and never stopped fighting," head coach Steve Rodecap said. "I told him it was about three sets and to let the first one go. To his credit he hung in there and played clean in the third set. He kept his head up and that is not always easy for a freshman to do."
"I've challenged Niko to step-up and make big plays and he did that for us today," Rodecap said. "This was a great college match. We were down the entire day until the end. It was a special win for us, being that we are so young but I believe in these guys and they know their potential."
The Golden Eagles will play on the road at Indiana Saturday, Feb. 3 and IUPUI Feb. 4.
-COMPLETE RESULTS-
Singles No. 1-Trent Hagan (MU) def. Adriano Licardo (UIC) 6-3, 6-4
No. 2-Sebastian Lystad (UIC) def. Stephen Shao (MU) 6-4, 6-4
No. 3-Mark Rutherford (MU) def. Bastian Harbo (UIC) 0-6, 6-4, 6-0
No. 4-Eric Fey (UIC) def. Brett Binkley (MU) 7-6(6), 6-1
No. 5-Niko Boulieris (MU) def. Andy Lockhart (UIC) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
No. 6-Greg Sirotek (MU) def. Sam Sweeney (UIC) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles No. 1-Binkley/Rutherford (MU) def. Licardo/Harbo (UIC) 8-6
No. 2-Lockhart/Fey (UIC) def. Hagan/Van Lieshout (MU) 8-6
No. 3-Lystad/Sweeney (UIC) def. Shao/Boulieris (MU) 8-6
Players Mentioned
