Men's Tennis Travels To Purdue, Louisville This Weekend

Jan. 25, 2008

Milwaukee - The Marquette University men's tennis team (2-0) opens the dual match road portion of its 2007-08 season this weekend at Purdue University and University of Louisville.

The Golden Eagles will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday and will face the Boilermakers at Schwartz Tennis Center at 1 p.m. in a non-conference match, and will take on the Cardinals Sunday at 1 p.m. Last season, MU fell to Purdue 5-2 in West Lafayette, and most recently proved victorious against Louisville with a 4-0 victory at the BIG EAST Conference Championships in the 2005-06 season.

"We are going to be playing in some tough environments against a pair of quality opponents, but I am interested to see where we stand," head coach Steve Rodecap said. "The guys are very excited and ready for the test."

Marquette enters these matches undefeated after opening its season with dual home match wins over UIC and IUPUI. The Golden Eagles are led by sophomore transfer Dusan Medan, who holds the No. 1 singles position, and the No. 1 doubles pair of senior Brett Binkley and sophomore Mark Rutherford. Seven of the nine players on the roster currently own winning records, posting an overall record of 70-53 as a team. The team's doubles mark is 36-17 overall.

Purdue University is commanded by head coach Tim Madden, in his 14th season. Last season, the Boilermakers finished with a 9-14 overall record. At the Boilermaker Invitational this past weekend, the overall singles record was 12-11, and the team won 33% of their doubles matches. Louisville (1-0) dropped the BIG EAST Conference Championship to Notre Dame last season, finishing second in the league. UofL ended with an overall record of 10-15. Current Cardinal freshman Austen Childs debuted in the January 8, 2008 Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings at No. 36. The team is currently ranked 58th in the nation in the latest ITA rankings.

In MU's 2006-07 campaign, the men's team posted a 14-8 overall record and finished fifth at the BIG EAST Conference Championship.