Sunday, September 18, 2011

Eric Honert (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) capped off a perfect singles weekend with two more victories on Sunday afternoon as the Crusaders wrapped up play at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Classic in Peoria, Ill.

Honert, playing in the fourth flight, opened his day with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Michael Rardon of DePauw.  He then wrapped up the 4-0 weekend with a 6-3, 6-7 (2), 10-5 match tie-break win over Southern Indiana’s Rodrigo Flores.

“Eric definitely earns our team’s player of the week accolades for his efforts this weekend,” head coach Jim Daugherty said.  “He played solid all weekend and for him to go 4-0 is a great start to his year.”

Michael Woodson (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft H.S.) earned the Brown and Gold’s other win of the day, doing so in flight six.  The fifth-year senior dispatched of Matt Heidenfelder of Lewis 6-0, 6-0. 

Adam Whitmer (Shipshewana, Ind./Westview H.S.) dropped a tough 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 match to Michael Wojnarowski of Lewis in the second flight while Siddarth Mehta (South Bend, Ind./Clay H.S.) also fell in a match tie-break 3-6, 7-6, 10-6 to Robert Nieters of Southern Indiana.  Mehta also battled David Moss of DePauw to a 7-6 (4), 7-5 defeat in another close match.

“We lost too many close matches this weekend,” Daugherty added.  “We need to figure out how to close out matches down the stretch and get wins in match tie-breaks.”

Valparaiso will return to the courts next weekend in Dayton, Ohio for the Wright State/Dayton Invitational.  Friday’s action begins at 11 a.m. CDT.