Men's Tennis Completes Play at Day One of MVC Individual Championships
1/20/2012 10:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Des Moines, Iowa - The Creighton men's tennis team opened play for the spring portion of the 2012 season by competing in the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Tennis Championships. Billy Paluch led the way for Creighton, finishing 1-1 in pool play to advance to the semifinal round in No. 1 singles.
"We are disappointed that we did not have more advance to the semifinals," said Creighton head coach Tom Lilly following competition on Friday. "We will regroup and I know the guys will play hard and succeed in doubles tomorrow."
In the opening round of competition, Paluch fell 6-1, 6-1 to Anis Ghorbel of Drake before turning around to defeat Ashton Kalhorn of Bradley 6-2, 7-5. Paluch will now meet Alex Pelaez of Illinois State in the semifinal round.
"I am excited for Billy [Paluch] to advance to the semifinals and know he will represent the rest of the guys well."
In No. 2 singles, Creighton's JT Christian will play in the consolation round against Juan Diego Cuadrado of Bradley, after both finished 0-2 in pool play. Christian lost his battle with Jean Erasmus of Drake, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and then dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision with Illinois State's Tuomas Manner.
Kyle Obermeier will also play in the consolation round, after he finished 0-2 in the No. 3 singles. Obermeier was in pool 2 of the No. 3 singles, and fell to Erick Reyes of Wichita State 7-6 (4), 6-4 before dropping a 6-2, 7-6 (5) match to Ahmed Albitar of Bradley. Obermeier will meet Brandon Florez of Southern Illinois in the consolation match.
Also vying for a consolation win will be Ryan Norman, who competed in the singles play at the No. 4 singles. Norman Will meet of with Hamish Weerasinghe of Bradley after falling 6-4, 6-2 to Tomislav Gregurovic of Wichita State and 6-3, 6-4 to Jordan Badenko of Illinois State.
In the No. 5 singles, Gabe Nagy will meet up with Rafael Cuadrillero of Southern Illinois in the consolation. Nagy dropped a 6-1, 6-2 match to Juan Estenssoro of Wichita State before falling 6-1, 6-1 to Michael Davis of Bradley.
Newcomer Elliott Baker finishes as the No. 6 consolation winner, due to a bye in the consolation bracket match. Baker fell 6-1, 6-3 to Jonathan Hadash of host school Drake before falling in three to Orhan Spahic of Southern Illinois 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. Baker wins the No. 6 singles consolation by default.
Creighton had two players competing in the No. 7 singles, with Joe Nora and Sean Mathison each falling in their opening match. Nora dropped a 6-1, 6-0 decision to Justin Abrams of Bradley, while Mathison fell 6-4, 6-1 to Sean O'Grady of Drake. They will each be in action tomorrow, when Nora faces off against Jordan Snyder of Southern Illinois and Mathison meets up with Grant Tesmer of Drake.
The Bluejays will be in action again tomorrow beginning at 9:00 am with doubles pool play. Creighton's Paluch and Christian will team up to play Pelaez and Manner of Illinois State in the No. 1 doubles opening round and then take on Erasmus and McKie of Drake. In No. 2 doubles, Mathison and Obermeier will start off with a match against Florez and Admiraal of SIU followed by a match against Weerasinghe and Nguyen of Bradley. To complete the doubles pool play, Nagy and Baker will take on Ghorbel and Bracho of Drake followed by a match with Kalhorn and Albitar of Bradley in the No. 3 doubles.
Semifinal doubles matches followed by consolation matches will complete play on Saturday. Finals will be played in both singles and doubles action on Sunday beginning at 9:00 am.
Players Mentioned
