March 14, 2006

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Despite tough play from the Marquette men's tennis team, taking three singles matches to tiebreakers, the Golden Eagles fell short and were defeated by South Carolina State, 4-3 in Orangeburg, S.C. Senior Ian Kawas, and freshmen Trent Hagan and Stephen Shao picked up singles wins for Marquette.

"We played in a tough environment today," said assistant coach Raj Gill. "I thought our guys did well competing and putting ourselves in a position to win. We lost some close matches and wasn't able to find that extra match that would have put us on top. I am proud of the guys for they way they played and never stopped competing."

In the doubles competition, each team picked up a doubles win quickly with Marquette winning at no. 2 doubles and South Carolina State picking up the win at no. 3 doubles. The tandem of seniors Eigis Vedrickas and Ian Kawas downed Sergey Plotnikoy and Dragen Bisercic, 8-6. Meanwhile at no. 3 doubles, freshmen Trent Hagan and Stephen Shao were defeated by Parantap Chaturvedi and Dimitry Lomakin, 8-5, knotting the doubles point up at one apiece. At no. 1 position sophomores Brett Binkley and Pete Van Lieshout came up short against Andrew Mawire and Ionuc Hurduc in a tiebreaker, 9-8, (7-4), leaving the Bulldogs to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

South Carolina State claimed the first singles win with Hurduc defeating Binkley at no. 4 singles, 6-2, 6-3. Hagan put Marquette on the board with a victory at the no. 3 position as he held on to take down Dragen Bisercic in a tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

Even with a fight from freshman Eric Flemming at no. 6 singles, coming back to win the second set, the Bulldogs took a two point (3-1) lead as Sergey Plotnikoy downed Flemming, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. South Carolina essentially won the match with a victory at the top singles spot when Mawire took a three set win from Vedrickas, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

However, the Golden Eagles did get two more wins at no. 2 and no. 5 singles. Shao held his own against Parantan Chatuvedi rallying after losing his first set to defeat his South Carolina State counterpart, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), at no. 5 singles.

In the afternoon's longest, most exciting match of the day, Kawas used three sets and played through two tiebreakers to takedown Dimitry Lomakin, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, at no. 2 singles.

The Golden Eagles will continue its three-match road tilt tomorrow at The Citadel at 2 p.m. EST.

Doubles
1. Mawire/Hurduc (SCS) def. Binkley/Van Lieshout (MU), 9-8 (7-4)
2. Vedrickas/Kawas (MU) def. Plotnikoy/Bisercic (SCS), 8-6
3. Lomakin/Chaturvedi (SCS) def. Hagan/Shao (MU), 8-5

Singles
1. Andrew Mawire (SCS) def. Eigis Vedrickas (MU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
2. Ian Kawas (MU) def. Dimitry Lomakin (SCS), 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
3. Trent Hagan (MU) def. Dragen Bisercic (SCS), 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
4. Ionuc Hurduc (SCS) def. Brett Binkley (MU), 6-2, 6-3
5. Stephen Shao (MU) def. Parantap Chaturvedi (SCS), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
6. Sergey Plotnikoy (SCS) def. Eric Flemming (MU), 6-2, 2-6, 6-1

Marquette Golden Eagles Men's Tennis

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