Oct. 26, 2008

Milwaukee, Wis. - The Northern Illinois men's tennis team finished its fall schedule as the Huskies won the Flight B singles consolation finals match and advanced to two others at the 2008 Marquette Fall Invitational.

In Flight A doubles, sophomore Matt Hansen (Topeka, Kan./Miami Online (Fla.)) and freshman Ross VanderPloeg (Holland, Mich./West Ottawa) lost to Mark Rutherford and JT Christian (Marquette), 8-4. Then Hansen and VanderPloeg won in the first-round of the consolation draw, defeating Bren Vasalakis and Dan Klingenberg (IUPUI), 8-6, to move on to the finals, which was not played because VanderPloeg had to retire.

In Flight B doubles, junior Javier Bernabe (Segovia, Spain/IES Mariano Quintanilla) and senior Alfonso Monroy (Mexico City, Mexico/Colegio Aleman) defeated John Brough and Zaron Brian (UWGB), 8-5, but lost in the semifinals to Jonathan Schwerin and Nick Boulieris (Marquette) by a count of 9-8.

After receiving byes in the first round of the Flight A singles, Hansen and VanderPloeg dropped their first matches as Hansen fell, 6-4, 6-1, to Gian Hodgson (Wisconsin) and VanderPloeg fell to Rutherford, 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5).

Both Hansen and VanderPloeg received byes in the first round of the consolation draw as well. While VanderPloeg lost his match, 6-4, 6-4, to Zane Smith (Ball State), Hansen advanced to the finals after beating Eric Plaushines (UWGB), 6-0, 6-1, and Paul Swanson (UWGB), 1-6, 7-5, 13-11.

Bernabe and Monroy also received byes in Flight B singles as Bernabe dropped his match, 6-3, 6-4, to Shao Stephen (Marquette). Monroy took down Vasalakis, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8), before losing to Juan-Martin Paredes (Marquette), 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals.

Despite losing his first match, Bernabe would recover to win three straight to win the consolation bracket. After his first-round bye, Bernabe beat Tunis Taylor (IUPUI), 6-0, 6-1, and Brian McCarthy (UWGB), 6-2, 6-0. In the finals, Bernabe defeated John Wegener (Ball State), 6-1, 6-2 to take the crown.

The Huskies begin their spring season on Saturday, January 17 with a match against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. at 10 a.m. CST.