Valparaiso went 4-4 in singles play and one of the Crusaders’ doubles teams advanced to the semifinals on Friday as the Brown and Gold opened play at the Wright State/Dayton Fall Shootout.  A portion of the matches were played outdoors at Thomas Cloud Park before rain forced play indoors at the South Regency Tennis Club.

Chris Baum (Charlotte, N.C./Providence H.S.) and Adam Whitmer (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview H.S.) began play in doubles with a tie-break, 9-8 (3) victory over Erick Bermudez and Edward Spilman of Vincennes.  The duo also played their quarterfinal match on day one of the tournament, downing Alex Hager and Sam Rutter of Northwestern Ohio 8-4 to advance to the semifinals.

In the same “A” flight of doubles, Kevin DeHerrera (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield H.S.) and Eric Honert (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) fell 8-6 to a team from Youngstown State in the opening round.

The “B” flight of doubles saw Carlton Lyons (South Bend, Ind./Clay H.S.) and Egan Hart (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft H.S.) fall to Eastern Illinois 8-5 while Michael Woodson (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft H.S.) and Siddarth Mehta (South Bend, Ind./Clay H.S.) dropped an 8-3 decision to Dayton.

Baum improved to 3-0 in singles play on the season with his 6-4, 7-5 victory in the “A” flight against Gustavo Rueda of Northwestern Ohio.  DeHerrera fell in the same flight 6-3, 6-4 to Josh Malyon of Dayton while Honert was defeated for the first time this season, 7-5, 6-3 against Ricardo Pineda of Wright State.

Valpo won three of its five matches in the “B” flight of singles.  Lyons cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Mike Koscielski of Dayton while Whitmer was an easy 6-0, 6-0 winner against Mitch Chavez of Northwestern Ohio.  Mehta rallied after dropping the first set for a 0-6, 6-2, 12-10 win in a match tie-break.

Hart lost in a match tie-break 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 to Juan Cardenas of Northestern Ohio while Woodson fell 6-3, 7-6 (4) to Spillman.

The Crusaders will return to the courts on Saturday morning beginning at 7 a.m. CDT.