DePaul University
Marquette
Men's Tennis Drops BIG EAST Title Match
4/29/2018 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S TENNIS
CAYCE, S.C. - A rough start in singles cost DePaul at the BIG EAST Men's Tennis Championship title match on Sunday.
The Blue Demons lost the first set in five of the six matches and battled back to force a third set three times before dropping a 4-1 decision to Marquette.
Marquette (17-6) advances to the NCAA Tournament.
The afternoon started out well for DePaul (17-10) as the duos of Boris Spanjaard/Alex Galoustian and Luuk Wassenaar/Tamas Zador won their doubles matches to put their team ahead 1-0.
But Marquette responded with straight-set wins at No. 6 and No. 2 singles to move ahead 2-1.
After dropping the opening set, Tripp Tuff took Greg Anderson to eight tiebreakers before losing the second set 7-6 at No. 4 singles.
Looking to stave off the decisive point, No. 1 singles standout Boris Spanjaard fought back from an opening-set loss to even his match with a 6-4 result in the second set. But the sophomore dropped the third set 6-3 to Alvaro Verdu.
Spanjaard had a sparkling sophomore season going 23-16 overall and 15-11 in the dual-match season.
Fellow sophomores Tripp Tuff and Christopher Casati also put up good numbers with Tuff at 16-10 overall and 11-7 in duals while Casati was 17-12, 12-7.
Freshman Luuk Wassenaar got his collegiate career off to a nice start with a 16-11 overall mark including 13-7 in the dual season.
Senior Alex Galoustian played his final college match and finished with a 64-42 record in doubles including 52-33 in the dual season. His overall career singles record was 47-44.
Marquette 4, DePaul 1
Singles
1. Alvaro Verdu (MU) def. Boris Spanjaard (DPU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
2. Luke Smrek (MU) def. Alex Galoustian (DPU) 6-3, 7-5
3. Luis Heredia Gomez (MU) vs. Christopher Casati (DPU) 6-4, 2-6, 5-2 (DNF)
4. Greg Anderson (MU) def. Tripp Tuff (DPU) 6-1, 7-6 (8)
5. Tamas Zador (DPU) vs. Brett Meyers (MU) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 0-1 (DNF)
6. Brandon Shanklin (MU) def. Luuk Wassenaar (DPU) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
1. Galoustian/Spanjaard (DPU) def. Verdu/Meyers (MU) 6-4
2. Heredia Gomez/Anderson (MU) vs. Tuff/Casati (DPU) 5-4 (DNF)
2. Wassenaar/Zador (DPU) def. Smrek/Christian (MU) 6-3
Players Mentioned
