CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The No. 73 Western Michigan men's tennis team upset No. 50 DePaul, 4-3, at the H.E.B. Tournament of Champions College Tennis Championships to avenge an earlier defeat this season to the Blue Demons. The Broncos had previously fallen to the Blue Demons (10-5), 4-3, on Feb. 20 in Chicago.
The Broncos (10-8) started off by winning the doubles point as sophomores Michael Calderone and Kazuya Komada picked up their second win of the weekend over a nationally-ranked team with an 8-6 win over No. 38 Austin Doerner and Ben Hartman at No. 1. Senior Kevin Hayward and freshman Zeyad Montasser won 8-6 at No. 2 to clinch the opening point for WMU.
The Blue Demons quickly evened the match with a win at No. 1, but then Hayward finished off a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win at No. 2 for his 178th career victory. That moves him into a tie with Ryan Tomlinson for 10th in career victories at WMU.
Calderone followed with a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1 win over Alasdair Graetz at No. 3 and then Casey Cullen wrapped up the win by coming from behind to defeat Ben Hartman 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
The Broncos are off until March 20 when they begin defense of their back-to-back Mid-American Conference championships at Chicago State.
#73 Western Michigan 4, #50 DePaul 3
3/7/2009 at Corpus Christi, Texas (HEB Tennis Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Austin Doerner (DEPAUL) def. Kazuya Komada (WMU) 6-4, 6-0 |
| 2. Kevin Hayward (WMU) def. Jos? Moncada (DEPAUL) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 |
| 3. Michael Calderone (WMU) def. Alasdair Graetz (DEPAUL) 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-1 |
| 4. Casey Cullen (WMU) def. Ben Hartman (DEPAUL) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 |
| 5. Bartosz Jozwiak (DEPAUL) def. Pablo Olivarez (WMU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1 |
| 6. Vanja Grgec (DEPAUL) def. Zeyad Montasser (WMU) 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 |
| Match Notes |
| Western Michigan 10-8; National ranking #73 |
| DePaul 10-5; National ranking #50 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,3,4,5,6) |
| H.E.B. Tournament of Champions College Tennis Championships |
| T-4:30 |
