DePaul University

CHICAGO The No. 75-ranked DePaul men’s tennis squad won two more matches today at the Lakeshore Athletic Center, improving their home win-streak to 14.  The Blue Demons, who improve to 7-1, first defeated Xavier, 4-3, before shutting out Wisconsin-Green Bay, 7-0. 

In the battle for the doubles point, Austin Doerner and Ben Hartman improved their record together to 6-1, after defeating Chris Herrlinger and Doug Matthews, 8-3.  Alasdair Graetz and Bartosz Jozwiak suffered an 8-5 loss against Ra’ees Ismail and JT Toreck. 

The doubles point relied on the No. 3 match-up between the DePaul tandem of Jose Moncada and Matija Palinic and Xavier pair Bobby Deye and Anthony Palmenter.  The teams battled point-for-point, until Moncada and Palinic were able to break serve and win 8-6.

Moncada and Hartman were the first to earn points for the team, with their straight set wins over Herrlinger and Richard Canelas, repectively.  After loosing the first set 6-3, Graetz fought back in the second but bowed out to Ismail, 7-5.

With the Blue Demons up 3-1, they needed just one more point to clinch the win.  Doerner recorded the point with his win over Matthews, 7-5, 6-3. 

After a short break, the squad returned to the courts to face Wisconsin-Green Bay.  It was nothing but Blue Demon dominance, winning all three doubles matches.  Hartman teamed with Doerner once against in the No. 1 doubles match, while Graetz and Moncada teamed up for the first time since last fall.  With the win together today, the pair boasts a team-high 11-3 record.

Juan Xavier Munoz made his first appearance of the day, alongside Vanja Grgec, who last played at the Vredevelt Invitational last fall.  The time off didn’t seem to effect either, as they won their match against Paul Swanson and Brian McCarthy, 8-4

Doerner was the first to finish his singles match for DePaul. After winning his first set 6-3, he fell behind early in the second to Eric Plaushines, 1-2.  However, the deficient was quickly overcome with five straight points from Doerner to win the set 6-2.

Graetz earned his 11th singles victory of the season after defeating Matt Keesey 6-0, 6-2.  The win put the Blue Demons up by an overall score of 3-0.  Munoz earned the match-clinching point after beating Mike Wesley 6-4, 6-1.

After quickly winning his first set, 6-1, Moncada took a 5-1 lead in the second.  Swanson delivered a late two-point surge to narrow the gap to 5-3.  Moncada proved to be too much, however, taking the sixth and final point to win in straight sets.

Grgec won his first singles match of the dual season against Henning Jess, 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 5 singles spot.  Hartman finished last, defeating Matt Clegg, 6-1, 7-5.
DePaul takes a weekend off, and is slated to return on February 20 and 21.  They face Western Michigan at 6 p.m. (CST) on Friday, while they go up against Illinois State at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

DePaul 4, Xavier 3
Doubles:
No. 1 Austin Doerner/Ben Hartman def Chris Herrlinger/Doug Matthews, 8-3
No. 2 Ra’ees Ismail/JT Toreck def. Alasdair Graetz/Bartosz Jozwiak, 8-5
No. 3 Jose Moncada/Matija Palinic def. Bobby Deye/Anthony Palmenter, 8-6

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles:
No. 1 Austin Doerner def. Doug Matthews, 7-5, 6-3*
No. 2 Jose Moncada def. Chris Herrlinger, 6-2, 6-1
No. 3 Ben Hartman def. Richard Canelas, 6-3, 6-0
No. 4 Ra’ees Ismail def. Alasdair Graetz, 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 Bobby Deye def. Bartosz Jozwiak, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10)
No. 6 J.T . TorbeckMatija Palinic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5
*denotes clinching match

DePaul 7, Wisconsin-Green Bay 0
Doubles:
No. 1 Austin Doerner/Ben Hartman def. Eric Plaushines/Henning Jess , 8-3
No. 2 Jose Moncada/Alasdair Graetz def. Matt Clegg/Matt Keesey, 8-3
No. 3 Vanja Grgec/Juan Xavier Munoz def. Paul Swanson/Brian McCarthy, 8-4

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles:
No. 1 Jose Moncada def. Paul Swanson, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 Austin Doerner def. Eric Plaushines, 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 Ben Hartman def. Matt Clegg, 6-1, 7-5
No. 4 Alasdair Graetz def. Matt Keesey, 6-0, 6-2
No. 5 Vanja Grgec def. Henning Jess, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 Juan Xavier Munos def. Mike Wesley, 6-4, 6-1*

Order of finish: 2, 4, 6, 1, 5, 3
*denotes clinching match