April 24, 2001

Valparaiso, Ind. - The men's tennis dropped a 7-0 non-conference decision to Valparaiso on Tuesday afternoon in the Flames' regular season finale.

But the score is certainly not reflective of the effort that Chuck Cunningham's squad put forth according to Cunningham.

"Once again, we played hard, but Valparaiso was a better team," Cunningham said. "We battled hard all the way, but we came up short."

Four of the six singles matches went to three sets, all of which resulted in defeats for the Flames. At No. 1 singles, Valparaiso's Nate Buckert came from behind to defeat Jon Schmidt, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Valpo's Nick Vuko followed suit with a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3 win over Nick Bodmer at No. 2 singles. UIC's Wade Clark battled hard at No. 4 singles, but fell short to Jeff Vrabel, 6-4, 1-6, 6-0. The Flames' Omar Husain also put forth a valiant effort at No. 6 singles, but Rob Loebel earned a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 triumph.

"We fought all the way," Cunningham said. "We now know what we need to take care of in order to prepare for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament."

The #4 Flames will square off with #5 Cleveland State at 10 AM on Saturday at North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. The winner of that match will meet #1 seed Butler in the MCC semifinals.

Valparaiso 7, UIC 0
Singles
No. 1 Nate Buckert (VU) d. Jon Schmidt (UIC), 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
No. 2 Nick Vuko (VU) d. Nick Bodmer (UIC), 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3.
No. 3 Chris Hill (VU) d. Nesar Nayak (UIC), 6-2, 7-5.
No. 4 Jeff Vrabel (VU) d. Wade Clark (UIC), 6-4, 1-6, 6-0.
No. 5 Mirza Mahic (VU) d. Jason Kerr (UIC), 7-5, 7-5.
No. 6 Rob Loeber (VU) d. Omar Husain (UIC), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Doubles
No. 1 Buckert/Vuko (VU) d. Schmidt/Nayak (UIC), 8-5.
No. 2 Hill/Mahic (VU) d. Kerr/Clark (UIC), 8-2.
No. 3 Vrabel/Loeber (VU) d. Bodmer/ Angel Ochoa (UIC), 9-7.