Sept. 23, 2005

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette men's tennis team concluded their first of competition at the 30th annual Milwaukee Tennis Classic at the Western Racquet Club in Elm Grove, Wis. The team played Northern Illinois in singles play to start the day and then faced Illinois State in doubles.

Greg Sirotek was the only Golden Eagle to have success in singles play. He defeated David Katz at No. 5, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1.

"In our singles match against Northern, we didn't come out very sharp," said head coach Steve Rodecap. "Greg has been consistent and has been playing as well as anyone."

Marquette was able to pick up their intensity in doubles but was not able to come away with any victories. Eigintas Vedrickas and Ian Kawas played at No. 1 and came up short losing to Luka Marinkovic and Alban Renard, 8-6. Stephen Shao and Pete Van Lieshout played a close match but lost to Djordje Uskokovic and Yohann Nograbat, 9-8.

"In doubles we had more energy and a better mentality," Rodecap said. "We did a much better job of not letting things get to us than we did in singles. We just have to be able to do it on a consistent basis."

The Golden Eagles will be back in action tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. when they face Illinois State in singles. They will play IPFW at 3:00 p.m. in doubles. Full results can be found at http://www.mtef.com/mtef04/milwaukee%2Btennis%2Bclassic/.

-COMPLETE RESULTS-

Singles vs. NIU

No. 1- Mark Tate (NIU) def. Eigintas Vedrickas (MU) 6-4, 6-1
No. 2- Alex Friesden (NIU) def. Ian Kawas (MU) 6-4, 6-0
No. 3- Brian Livingston (NIU) def. Stephan Shao (MU) 7-5, 6-2
No. 4- Adam Ford (NIU) def. Brett Binkley (MU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 5- Greg Sirotek (MU) def. David Katz (MU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-1
No. 6- Diego Zagarra-Balloon (NIU) def. Mario Lopez (MU) 6-2, 7-6

No. 1- Marinkovic/Renard (ISU) def. Kawas/Vedrickas (MU) 8-6
No. 2- Beich/Link (ISU) def. Binkley/Fleming (MU) 8-4
No. 3- Uskokovic/Nograbat (ISU) def. Shao/Van Lieshout (MU) 9-8