Full Results (PDF)
VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Butler men's tennis team traveled in state for an indoor tournament this weekend to continue play in the 2016 season. The Valparaiso invitational was made up of six teams besides the Bulldogs, and the competition included Chicago State, Iowa, Northwestern Ohio, Olivet Nazarene, Wisconsin Green Bay and the host Valparaiso.
BU saw early success in the A singles. Aviv Ben Shabat won his first two matches, beginning with Northwestern Ohio (6-1, 7-5) and then against Florian Kraezler of Wisconsin Green Bay (6-4, 6-2). Shabat would then fall to Chad Kissell of Valparaiso in the semi-finals of the flight.
Head Coach Parker Ross had praise for Shabat following his performance, "Aviv had a good win against Kraenzler from Green Bay." Ross added, "I thought he competed really well in that match against a very talented shot maker."
Shabat was then joined by Ari Gerstein to compete in A doubles action. The pair would advance all the way to the finals of their flight, defeating tandems from Valparaiso (6-4) and Iowa (6-4).
"Shabat and Gerstein had 2 nice wins to get them to the finals of the A flight; I thought they competed well but still need to work on finishing some easy put aways at the net," coach Ross noted on his A doubles duo.
Mason Dragos saw similar success to Shabat in A single play. Dragos defeated Garrett Gardner of Valparaiso in three sets (6-0, 3-6, 14-12) and topped Jonas Larsen of Iowa (6-2, 2-0, retire). Dragos would unfortunately fall in the semi-finals of the flight to Matej Kostadinov of Wisconsin Green Bay.
Ross pointed to Drago's focus as one of the factors contributing to his success, "Mason was down 3 match points in the third set against Gardner and showed great mental toughness coming back to win that match. He carried that momentum into the next round and had a solid win over Iowa."
Dragos then teamed up with Spencer Lang to complete in B doubles play. Following a first round bye the two would go on to win both their remaining matches against Valparaiso (6-2) and Wisconsin Green Bay (7-6 [2]) to win their flight.
"Dragos and Lang had a couple solid doubles wins en route to winning their flight and I thought they took a step in the right direction with their overall doubles execution, which was nice to see," added Ross.
Both Gerstein and Lang competed well in B singles competition. Gerstein dropped his first set before winning his final two over Tyler Cannon of Olivet Nazarene (6-4, 6-0) and Miles McDowell of Wisconsin Green Bay (6-7, 6-2, 10-7).
Lang went 2-1 as well during singles play, earning wins against Kyle Dunn of Valparaiso (7-5, 6-1) and Gonzalo Martinez of Chicago State (6-3, 2-6, 10-4).
Coach Ross noted, "Spencer had a nice win over Dunn from Valpo, he stepped up in the crucial moments of the first set and played even better in the second set."
In C Singles action Adrian Mag went 2-1 for the tournament. Mag defeated opposing players from Wisconsin Green Bay (6-3, 6-0) and Valparaiso (6-4, 6-3).
"Adrian took a step forward with his singles game this weekend and is playing his best tennis of the fall," said Coach Ross.
Samuel Sullivan was 1-2 in C singles play for the 'Dawgs, defeating Lucas Bolt of Olivet Nazarene (6-2, 6-2).
Sullivan and Mag then took the court side-by-side for C Doubles play. Following a first match bye the team fell to a duo from Valparaiso (6-2).
The Bulldogs will return to action this week in the ITA Regionals. Play will go from October 20th through the 24th and will take place in Knoxville, Tenn.
