Saturday, October 04, 2003

Their alumni counterparts proved to be too much for Valparaiso's men's tennis team for the second straight year on Saturday morning, defeating the Crusaders current team 7-3 as part of Homecoming activities at Brown Courts.

The Alumni began the day sweeping all three doubles matches. Nate Buckert and Nick Vuko teamed up like they did several years ago and downed Ben Dunham-Freer and Jeff Vrabel in a tie-break 9-8 (3) at the top spot. Marc VeVerka and Dave Castleman then posted an 8-5 victory over Nic Kooyers and Joe Venegas at second doubles while Cliff Barnett and Johathan Huffman downed Nate Gordon and Evan Roller 8-6 to complete the sweep.

The current Crusaders took singles victories at the top three spots in the lineup, but the Alumni won at slots four through seven for the victory.

Dunham-Freer downed VeVerka 6-1, 6-4 at first singles, while Kooyers defeated Buckert 8-6 at the second spot. Venegas gain the current team's third, and final, point in a tie-break 9-8 (8) over Barnett.

Vuko earned an 8-3 victory over Vrabel at fourth singles for the Alumni, while Castleman defeated the Crusaders Jay Adams 8-2 at fifth singles. Huffman posted a 9-8 (4) win at the sixth spot over Gordon, while Doug Gerber wrapped up the competition with an 8-3 win over Evan Roller at seventh singles.

Valparaiso will return to action to conclude their fall season October 23-28 at the Omni Regional Championships held in East Lansing, Mich.