Feb. 20, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Xavier men's tennis team downed the Butler Bulldogs Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Butler Bubble, 4-3. The Musketeers improve to 3-6 overall while the Bulldogs fall to 1-8 for the year.

"This is a good win," said head coach Eric Toth, "We had not beaten Butler since 2003. Hopefully this win will carry over and the guys will continue to gain confidence heading into the second half of the season."

Juniors Doug Matthews, Ra'ees Ismail and Mike Dieciuc all picked up wins in singles for three of the Musketeers' four points in the match. Matthews defeated Eric Breitenbach at the No. 1 position, 7-5, 6-1.

In doubles, the Musketeers secured the first point of the match by taking two fo three doubles contests. Matthews teamed with sophomore Chris Herrlinger to down Butler's Breitenbach and Chris Herron, 9-8(5). Ismail and sophomore Anthony Palmenter played at No. 3, disposing of Brandon Bayliss and Sam Brown, 8-1.

Up next for XU is a home match on Sunday, Feb. 24, against Belmont. The match was originally scheduled to take place at the Five Seasons but has been moved to Mercy Healthplex in Fairfield. First serve is set for 10 a.m. with the women scheduled to follow the men at 2 p.m. versus Bowling Green.

Results
Xavier 4, Butler 3

Singles
No. 1 Doug Matthews (XU) def. Eric Breitenbach (BU) 7-5, 6-1
No. 2 Ben Raynauld (BU) def. Chris Herrlinger (XU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 Ra'ees Ismail (XU) def. Bryce Warren (BU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 Chris Herron (BU) def. J.T. Torbeck (XU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 Brandon Bayliss (BU) def. Brian Starr (XU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 Mike Dieciuc (XU) def. Sam Brown (BU) 6-4, 6-1

Doubles
No. 1 Herrlinger/Matthews (XU) def. Herron/Breitenbach (BU) 9-8(5)
No. 2 Raynauld/Warren (BU) def. Starr/Torbeck (XU) 8-6
No. 3 Ismail/ Anthony Palmenter (XU) def. Bayliss/Brown (BU) 8-1