Sunday, April 01, 2007

Valparaiso opened Sunday morning strong, winning the doubles point, but Xavier (Ohio) swept all six singles contests on the way to a 6-1 victory over the Crusaders in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mike Wagner (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer H.S.) and David Bukowski (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect H.S.) cruised to an 8-1 victory at the third doubles spot. Nic Kooyers (Holland, Mich./Holland H.S.) and Joe Venegas (Saint Charles, Ill./North H.S.) clinched the match's opening point with an 8-3 victory at the second spot. At one doubles, Alex Lau (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson Senior H.S.) and Mike Shideler (Valparaiso, Ind./Munster H.S.) just missed a clean sweep, falling in a tie-break 8-7 (5).

In singles play, Xavier (13-9) won the top five spots in straight sets. Wagner fought to a third set tie-break at six singles before dropping a 6-3, 5-7, 10-1 match. Shideler played the next tightest match for the Brown and Gold, falling 6-4, 6-4 at fifth singles.

Valparaiso (2-10) will look to return to the victory column on Tuesday afternoon as the Crusaders head to Fort Wayne, Ind. to battle IPFW. First serve is set for 2 p.m. CDT.