VALPARAISO, Ind. - Fighting Leathernecks men's tennis wrapped up play at the Valparaiso Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 29). Western finished the two-day event with success in both singles and doubes play.

"I thought we had a strong weekend at the Valpo Invitational." said head coach Chris Kane, "There were "A". "B", and "C" Flights in both Singles and Doubles, with about 16 Singles players and 8 Doubles teams in each Flight."

Individually for the Leathernecks, true-freshman Bradley Holt battled back after an opening round loss in 'A Singles' to win the consolation bracket. Holt won his last three matches, highlighted by a 6-0, 6-2 victory in the consolation final.

In the 'B Singles' flight, Mitch Granger made it all the way to the finals before falling 6-3, 3-6, 10-1. The sophomore won his first three matches of the tournament, including an impressive come-from-behind victory in the opening round winning 3-6, 7-6, 12-10. Brett Furmanksi made it to the finals in 'C Singles' before falling 6-3, 6-0 to Brian Hickey from host Valparaiso.

Western faired very well in doubles play over the weekend as well. 'A Doubles' featured an all-Western final, with Bradley Holt and Christoph Haertel squaring off against Patrick Hammers and Ben Yue. Holt/Haertel would take the match winning 8-4 over their teammates.

"For the last couple of weeks we have emphasized our Doubles play in practice. That's because, I was not overwhelmed by our doubles showing at our Art Peterson Invitational in early-September." continued Kane, "Christoph Haertel and Brad Holt, playing their first tournament together, were the Champions of the very tough "A" Flight, beating our own Patrick Hammers and Ben Yue in the Finals. I think that's quite an accomplishment---to have the two best doubles teams in the entire tournament."

In 'B Doubles' play, the duo of Tim Worley and Max Cederkall would battle back after an opening round loss to win the consolation bracket. The team won in a close match, 9-8 in the second round, and cruised to an 8-3 victory in the finals.

"We had 1 Champion, and 4 Runners-up in the 6 Flights. That's a good showing against a strong field." said Kane,  "Overall, we were 23-17 in our Singles matches, and 10-5 in our Doubles matches. I'm pleased."

Western will be off for nearly three weeks before heading to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the ITA Midwest Regional. The four-day event will begin on Wednesday, October 17.

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