Men's Tennis Downed At No. 28 Wisconsin, 6-1

Feb. 20, 2008

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University men's tennis team (7-4) and junior Stephen Shao picked up a victory at No. 3 singles Wednesday, but non-conference dual host Wisconsin - currently ranked No. 28 in the nation - defeated the Golden Eagles 6-1 at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.

"Overall, we got out-played, out-competed and out-hustled," said Marquette head coach Steve Rodecap, whose Golden Eagles suffered a 4-3 setback to 37th-ranked Arizona State last Saturday. "We just got beat by a better team today. We expect ourselves to be at that level and to play with these types of teams. We just need to compete better than we did."

Shao earned the Golden Eagles' lone point of the afternoon by rallying for a three-set victory. He claimed a 4-6, 7-5, 10-8 win over Wisconsin's Jeremy Sonkin, a familiar foe for Shao on the other end of the net.

"He played well today," Rodecap said of Shao. "He had lost to the same kid last year, so it was a nice win for him. He played pretty consistent and raised his level when he needed to."

Shao improved to 12-7 overall, 8-3 in duals and 6-3 at the No. 3 flight. He and teammate Brett Binkley nearly pulled off a win at No. 1 doubles, but fell to Sonkin and Luke Rassow-Kantor 8-7 after a tiebreaker.

Marquette, which had won five straight matches heading into this past weekend, has dropped to 7-4 overall following back-to-back losses to nationally ranked opponents.

The Golden Eagles will open BIG EAST play on March 2 when the team plays host to Connecticut at the Helfaer Tennis and Recreation Center.

No. 28 Wisconsin vs. Marquette
February 20, 2008
Nielsen Tennis Stadium

Wisconsin - (5-5 overall, 0-0 Big Ten)
Marquette - (7-4 overall, 0-2 Big East)

Wisconsin - 6
Marquette - 1

Doubles:
No. 1: Luke Rassow-Kantor/Jeremy Sonkin (UW) def. Stephen Shao/Brett Binkley (MU) 8-7 (7-3)
No. 2: Moritz Baumann/Nolan Polley (UW) def. Mark Rutherford/Trent Hagen (MU), 8-4
No. 3: Michael Dierberger/Michael Muskievicz (UW) def. Dusan Medan/Niko Boulieris (MU) 8-2

Singles:
No. 1: Nolan Polley (UW) def. Trent Hagen (MU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 2: Marek Michalicka (UW) def. Dusan Medan (MU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 3: Stephen Shao (MU) def. Jeremy Sonkin (UW) 4-6, 7-5, 10-8
No. 4: Peter Marrack (UW) def. Niko Boulieris (MU) 6-4, 7-6 (3)
No. 5: Michael Muskievicz (UW) def. Mark Rutherford (MU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 6: Felipe Bellido (UW) def. Brett Binkley (MU) 7-5, 6-1

Finish Order:
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 1, 5, 2, 4, 3, 6

Attendance: 55
Time of Match: 3:10