Saturday, October 01, 2005

Three Valparaiso players earned a spot in the finals as the Crusaders competed on day two of the Windy City Invitational Saturday.

Nic Kooyers (Holland, Mich./Holland H.S.) led the way for Valpo, capturing a finals berth in the main bracket of the A Flight. Kooyers defeated Andy Lockhart of Illinois-Chicago 6-4, 6-0 before beating Chicago State's Nicolas Ortega 6-2, 6-3 to reach the finals.

Reaching the finals in the A Flight consolation bracket was Joe Venegas (Saint Charles, Ill./Saint Charles North H.S.). Venegas beat Kyle Dehne of Grand Valley State and went on to capture a three-set battle with South Dakota State's Zach Lunak 1-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Dan Brunette (Carmel, Ind./Lutheran H.S. of Indianapolis) dominated his two matches to secure a spot in the finals of the main bracket of the D Flight. Brunette defeated Mike Bambini from GVSU before taking a 6-2, 6-2 decision from Alex Winney of the University of Chicago.

In the main bracket of the B Flight, Mike Wagner (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer H.S.) split his matches, winning 7-5, 6-4 over Illinois-Chicago's Enrico Kasjan before falling 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to Jonathan Sutjaidi of Chicago State.

Two Crusaders also split their matches in the main bracket of the C Flight. Dave Bukowski (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect H.S./Oakton CC) won 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 over GVSU's Scott Gregory, but dropped his next match to Abram Mamahit of Chicago State. Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) took a 7-5, 6-2 decision over Justin Sauerbrey of GVSU before falling to Jordan Nestrud of UIC.

The Crusaders will conclude play in the Windy City Invitational on Sunday. First serve is slated for 9 a.m.